A Special Seport from James "Jay" &
Piera Young
October 10, 1997
Dearest Christian friends at Great Falls,
Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We first of all want to make all of you aware of our new phone number in Italy which is (when dialing us from the States): 011-39-573-27699. We have had the service only for a few days. Our postal address continues to be the same: C.P. 99 - 51100 Pistoia (Italy).
Thanks to a new innovative and inexpensive offering by our E-Mail server, CompuServe, now you can contact us by dialing the following U.S. phone number: 1-703-995-0419. You can leave us a brief voice mail message by calling this number, or, you can send a fax directly to this number which, in either case, will automatically be sent to our E-Mail server and when we check our messages (which is every day), we'll get your message (or your fax). Please take note, then, of our two new numbers: Our phone in Italy (dialing from the U.S.): 011-39-573-27699. Our permanent Voice-Mail Box in the U.S.: 1-703-995-0419.
Yes, it seems that every year the Italian Christian Leadership Retreat which Piera and I organize and manage gets better and better. We had a great group and all who attended grew in the Lord from the experience. Piera and our friend, Anna Ventavoli, worked 14-hour days in the kitchen to prepare 3 delicious meals everyday for all of us. I organized the teaching schedule and managed the event. This year we used Maurizio Pezzanera (whom we had sent to Bible School in England) to bring the lessons to the adults, and he did a good job. This event represents several weeks work every year in planning, preparation and managing the retreat itself in August, but it bears much fruit for the Lord. August went by so quickly.
September, too, has passed in a hurry. Moving into another apartment characterized the first part of the month. This was, without doubt, the most arduous and difficult move we have ever made. It exhausted us terribly. We know many of you were praying for us, and we appreciate this. Our work continues for the Lord and this is the important thing.
of 5 lessons by Robert Oglesby is soon to be a reality in the Italian Language. We devoted several days in September to working on the Italian version of "THE ONE STORY." This, in my view, is the finest tool (apart from the Bible itself, of course!) available today for evangelism. The producer, Tom Moore, of Richardson (Dallas), Texas, flew to Italy and spent 8 days with us to complete the Italian version's total dubbing-procedure of the sound-track. It went perfectly! Brother Moore, a veteran TV and film producer said the Italian version is the best he has done to date. The master copy in Italian will be ready by Thanksgiving and the first viewing of the series in Italy will be in January. We plan to visit as many churches in Italy as possible during 1998 conducting personal evangelism seminars using "THE ONE STORY" and teaching the Italian Christians how to use this very good evangelistic tool effectively. "THE ONE STORY" was filmed last year in Israel, Greece and Turkey, presenting God's plan of salvation from Genesis to Revelation. In our view, never in the entire history of the Italian work have we had in our hands such an effective tool for evangelism as "THE ONE STORY." It has taken a lot of work to put it together, but we're sure that our labors in this project will bring much fruit for the Lord.
Christians from Anzio, Aprilia, Bondeno, Monfalcone and Prato converged on Pistoia Sunday, Sept. 28, to worship and encourage one another in the Lord. There was standing room only in our building! We worshipped, preached, sang, ate a most delicious Italian meal, preached and sang some more and much glory was given to God! Tom Moore filmed the entire event which will be part of a professional video he is helping us to put together about the Lord's work in Italy, so, hopefully, many of you will be able to receive a copy of it when it's completed. The Aprilia church came 60 strong with both elders. All who attended were much encouraged to grow in the Lord and glory was given to God in the Highest.
In just a few days, we leave for Kiev, Ukraine, where we will spend the month preaching and teaching. We will present a series of special lectures at the University of Kiev Mohila Academy on the subject, "Original Christianity and World Religions." We'll also visit Odessa to encourage the brethren there. The Religious Affairs Office in Odessa, however, has denied the Odessa church of Christ's third official request that we be permitted to conduct a public series of studies for the church. This office even refused to allow me, Jay, to preach for the Church on the Lord's day. Dima, the young man whom we helped to train and then sent on to study at British Bible School, is now preaching in Odessa. He is arranging for us to receive the entire church by groups at his apartment for encouragement. We'll also check on all the children who are part of the child sponsorship program we direct in Ukraine. We are quite saddened by this decision refusing us to have a public role in the church's work in Odessa. We feel that Ukraine will probably make similar decisions to that of the Russian Federation about religions other than the Russian Orthodox Church. As you may have heard, churches of Christ are no longer considered legal in the Russian Federation and all foreign missionaries will be forced to leave the country before long. So, as we have always said: "Let us do what we can while we can in those countries, because the open window may not be open for long."
We will be in Washington, D.C. for Piera's foot operation on November 25. While waiting for Piera's foot to heal so we can return to Italy, I will travel among some of our supporters. Currently I plan to visit churches the Dallas, TX; Flint, MI; and Washington, D.C. areas.
I will begin traveling on Saturday, November 29, and won't be back in the Washington area until December 8. I would like to speak for the evening assembly at Great Falls on Sunday, December 14. I have been invited to speak to the morning worship assembly at the Arlington church on that day, so Piera and I would not be available to be with you until that evening. I will, of course, contact you once I get into town for Piera's operation on November 24. We are eager to see you again. Please confirm you received this message.
Please contact us by leaving a message in our Voice-mail box by dialing the U.S. number: 1-703-995-0419. God willing, we hope to be back in Italy by the middle of December.
So long for now, and know of our deep appreciation for your support and for your prayers.
God bless!
The Lord's and your servants, always, in Christ,
James "Jay" and Piera Young