Hey Everybody we are finally back from Roma, Italia(Rome, Italy)! And before I say anything about the trip I would like to thank The Lord for using us and also thank you guys for your obedience to The Lord with donating, praying, encouraging, and sending us out! This whole trip would not have been possible without the Lord using every single one of you. Even if you "feel" like you didn't do much I can assure you that just agreeing and backing us up with your spirit did wonders!
I would like to say that this trip to Italy is not what I expected and probably not what you guys were expecting for us. After this trip I know that GOD will do what HE wants to do, but we are invited to help HIM hasten HIS plan and be a part of "The Big Picture". So with saying that I will confidently say we went with ONE MISSION and ONE MISSION only, to Bring more Glory and more Praise to GOD sooner! The only reason we do "mission trips" is because worship doesn't exist in all nations like it is supposed to before Jesus returns (Revelation 15:4). I'm positive that GOD's WILL will be done no matter who HE uses. And I am so thankful that HE chose this small team of 12 people to serve in a country that has turned its back on GOD because of the distorted image of Christ that "The Church" itself paints. What I expected is that I would be different and people wouldn't be open to Christ. What I didn't expect is that the students that came to the camp would be so hungry for that Love that GOD offered after the first day! And even though we didn't advertise the camp as a "christian camp" we had a lot of students come that were hungry for something real…
So If you guys are expecting an awesome testimony full of miracles and hundreds being saved then stop reading, but if you want to know the truth and hear just an awesome testimony about how GOD really worked on this trip then dive on in! Earlier I said that our main goal was/is to "Bring GOD more GLORY". But how could we do such a thing without a game plan? GOD planted a few missionaries in Rome with breaking their hearts for the Lost and hurting in that beautiful city. Peppo, Jane, Mary, and Joe are a few of the Lights over in that dark area. After spending close to two weeks with them I can see why they are there and why their hearts were broken. GOD is using these four servants to connect with walking dead among the streets of Rome. Music is a language spoken by all so, God used this vehicle to spread the Gospel in a way that can be understood by the hungry. And we did have the privilege of seeing a few lives changed, but all in all it has burdened me to pray and intercede even more for Rome with not seeing the fruit of the planted seeds. So beyond these few lives changed I know that there is a lot of unfinished work in Rome that we will see come to pass in this lifetime, if we are obedient to GOD. My heart's message behind this post is not to tell you guys how awesome the trip was just so you can have an easy heart and feel good about supporting the trip. I'm not writing this to please man. I'm writing this to set a bigger burden on your heart by telling you that Rome is still messed up in a big way. And I know that this one 12 day missions trip wasn't meant to change all of Rome. We simply did what GOD sent us to do which was go and plant seeds in different types of soil (Matthew 13:1-8). But even though we did that, I'm not content with the state of spiritual slavery that ROME is stuck in. And I'm positive GOD is not content either. Whether GOD has a plan for me to go back to Rome or not, it is not in my control, but either way there is no doubt that the people of Rome will be in my heart forever.
~Whit Hagemann for the Rome team 2011~
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