FOWLERS’ UPDATE FOR JULY 2013
Linda’s whirlwind tour. We asked you to pray for our daughter Linda and her return to Italy for a first visit after 35 years of being away since she left for college. Linda was able to revisit old familiar sights and see some old friends during her time here. We even stumbled onto the son of our former landlord in Palese and saw our old apartment house. Surrounded by apartment buildings, it was almost unrecognizable. Italy had changed and so had we. Thank you for praying for her trip.
A whirlwind preaching/teaching tour. Some of the people who welcomed Linda included believers in the churches of south Italy. So, we actually drove from church to church, enjoying the hospitality that folks in each church offered us. In some cases they asked Harold to preach and/or teach. One church has set up a “prophet’s chamber” for receiving guests. (Have you read 2 Kings 4:8 ff lately? Then, how about 3 John 1:5-8?). Their generosity included Italian dinners twice a day in different homes! The fellowship was especially dear since they are our old friends too.
Back in Matelica. During the last months we have had several new visitors in our church in Matelica, most of them women. At the prayer time when we express our requests and ask about other needs, one lady asked us to pray for employment for her husband. As she continues to attend worship, we discovered that her car was in desperate need of repair, they have three children and no food to eat. Some of the church people were hesitant about giving her money, so others went ahead and started buying food for her. Others gave her vegetables. Pray for Amelia because her husband just left her and disappeared. Some really understand the Christian message of loving benevolence; others who grew up very poor, think that everyone should have to earn everything and so they have trouble accepting what the Lord means about giving loving care to others who have needs.
TAXES IN ITALY. Please pray for us as we seek to learn whether or not the Italian tax system can tax our mission salary and social security income. An evangelical expert made a first trial run and discovered that, unless some other solution is found, we may have to pay roughly $ 13,000 each for the 2012 and 2013 tax years! Needless to say, this would hit us very hard. So we pray and trust the Lord to keep us calm as we try to sort this out. We need some informed local guidance here to know where to turn with this problem. Would you please join us in prayer?
Thanks again for your loving trust that encourages us to keep going as long as the Lord would have it.
Harold and Enid Fowler