This summer, we sent a team of three families back to Palermo, Sicily to support our missionary partners there. Steve and April Brown have been in Italy for 15+ years and are working with a small local church that is the only evangelical presence in that community. This little church loves the Lord and greatly desires to shine a light in its community to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.  

Last summer, a team traveled there for the first time and were able to lead a kids camp every afternoon. The goal was for this camp to draw in kids and families so that the local church and missionary partners could make connections and build gospel relationships. On paper, the kids camp was not very successful in that very few neighborhood kids actually came out. However, the Lord was faithful in that several relationships were sparked and over the last year, several people have joined Bible studies and English discussion classes. A few families have started attending church, and they have even seen a couple people commit their life to Christ.

This summer, the camp switched to a carnival model and moved it to later in the afternoon to avoid the heat of the day. To the team's joyful surprise, it was a huge success with around 150 kids attending each day. The community of Borgo Nuovo is quite poor and the central park we used was in really rough shape. They offered face painting, multiple carnival games, prizes, raffles, and a fun theme song with hand motions that all the kids learned and were singing by the end of the week. They also had a 2-on-2 soccer cage set up with the older kids playing a tournament.

At one point, Danny Beech, who led the team, looked around and saw parents, grandparents, strollers, and kids everywhere. There had to have been 350 people bustling in the park that day. Every evening after the fair, the church hosted family events, including a movie night and cookout. On their final night, they handed out 1000 glow sticks and sang the theme song of the week: “He is the light, light, light, - light of the world!” The gospel was proclaimed many times and many in the community asked “why are you doing all of this?” Though the church in Borgo Nuovo is small, their light is shining like a city on a hill for all to see.

Praise be to God for the work He is doing is Palermo, Sicily. The Grooms, Carper, and Beech families thank you for your support and prayers.