Last summer I had the phenomenal opportunity to study at the Florence Academy of Art in the City of Florence, Italy. It was only a brief summer course, but it was still some of the best art instruction I've ever received, and in one of the coolest cities I've ever gotten to go to! I'm sad to say that I totally failed to blog about how INCREDIBLE it was at the time, but here I am a year later with some very cool, very unexpected news... I'm going back!! Not quite yet, and not back to Florence, but back to Italy. Last summer was one of the most fun I've ever had, but there was something about it that appealed to me far beyond the fun of European travel. I unexpectedly fell in love with the country and the culture, and God began to give me a heart for the Italian people. I prayed that I would get to return someday, and I began to teach myself Italian but had no idea how soon I would get to use it. Flash forward to earlier this year, when God led me through a long season of prayer and fasting which culminated in a journey of blind faith back to the island I used to call home - Kona, Hawaii. I showed up on the island without any plans or place to stay, and God showed me such mind blowing faithfulness at every single turn!! I got to be prayed for by Todd White, I got to make a wonderful new friend who happened to need a roommate for the exact amount of time I would be on the island, and I also had a number of meaningful divine appointments during my time there. The most pivotal of these divine appointments was with a couple working at the YWAM Ships base who just so happen to be working towards planting a new YWAM base in Pissa, Italy! We hit it off right away and we all took some time to pray about the prospect of me joining their team next year. I'm still totally terrified by how big of a change this will be, but I actually have complete and total peace about joining them and the rest of their team. <3 <3 I'M MOVING TO ITALY!!! <3 <3 Of course, I won't be going anywhere right away. I still have a commitment to my current job (that I totally love and am deeply sad to be leaving) through this calendar year, so I won't be joining them until 2020. At first, the 9-12 of us will all begin by working at the YWAM Ships base in Kona to get to know each other better and get a solid game plan in place. I will most likely take charge of the accounting for our new base, so the first chunk of my time in Kona will be spent working with their accounting team to get up to speed with their systems. Our Pissa team will also be investing a lot of energy into art ministries since that is such a major inroad to Italian culture. I'm so excited by the prospect of using my skills and my passion for art to create works of beauty as well as to introduce people to the loving heart of Yeshuah the Messiah. I believe that art is a powerful way to communicate experiences and emotions beyond words, and I've long known that I was meant to use it as a tool to help mend broken hearts and bring hope into an increasingly pessimistic world. I hope to be able to use my abilities to help teach our future students how to use their own unique gifts to reach out to others, and I also hope that I will be able to take time to further learn from the masters that have shaped centuries of breathtaking Italian art. Just living and breathing in a country with such rich history is such a gift!! It's a whole new adventure that feels tailor made for the artist God has made me to be, and the funniest part about it all is that I totally never saw it coming. =) I am currently saving everything I can so I can go into this new season with a little bit of savings behind me, but I still have no idea how God intends to provide for this new venture. While we haven't made a concrete budget yet, I'm estimating that I'll need something around $2,000/month in order to cover all of my travel, housing, food, and ministry costs. I have complete faith that what He has called me to, He will provide for in one way or another - perhaps by monthly church support or by a part time job on the side if I can find one. Please pray with me to have patience and wisdom in this process of preparation and fund raising that lies before me. I know and trust that God is good, and that He has a plan in mind on my behalf. While it's not much, I am currently selling copies of my art prints in an effort to raise funds. Every piece I've ever drawn or painted can be turned into gliche prints in varying sizes, so if you have had you eye on one, now would be the time to hit me up! ;-) I'm also looking for other ways to raise funds in the midst of working full time, so if you have any creative ideas, let me know!!
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March 2023
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