February 14th, 2012

Dear friends and family,

I hope that you are all well. We have just finished (fingers crossed) 15 days of the famous/infamous Trieste "Bora" winds. Most days have had wind gusts between 120 to 170 kph (75 to 105 mph) with an average speed of around 90 kph (55mph) in temperatures from -5° to -10° C (23° to 14° F). In simple words...cold. I have included some pictures of the "fun". The first is a Semi that was blown over. We also had campers turned over, roofs blown off, balconies flying and just about anything else you could imagine soaring through the air. The second is our main pier. Note that this is not snow, just the sea water from the wind that froze on the pier:) It was pretty amazing. The locals have said it the worst/best (depending on your point of view...I might vote for the latter..though my car is still on its four tires) Bora Trieste has had in 50 years. I can affirm that this is true from my 11 years here.

Besides meteorological excitement, we have had some other exciting news. First, Elio, Gavin, and myself went to a conference (the second in a series of 6 over the next two years) that is giving us a great idea on how to structure our outreach. It has been very interesting!

Second Barbara and I have been having some Bible studies with several people who are interested in the faith. One in particular, is from a country that is under heavy persecution against Christianity. Please pray for these studies as there are very "real" consequences to the decisions being made.

Finally, I have news form the organization that handles our support. They have asked me to communicate the following changes as they have changed address:

1. Please contact your donors and make certain that checks are being sent to the new IMUSA office in Worthington, Ohio. Sending them to Oregon will delay the processing of their contribution. I am asking that the current PO Box in Oregon remain open for another month, but then a "change of address" will forward the checks here for a period of time. But it is the responsibility of your donors to update the information.

IMUSA
5625 N. High Street, Suite 5
Worthington, OH 43085

2. Additionally, I would like you to please encourage them to write your last name in the "memo" field of physical checks. There are a number of checks that have been received without giving any indication of who it is intended for. Review the list provided below and let me know if any of these are your donors so that their contribution can be sent to you.

Thanks to all for your partnership in the Gospel!

Matt, Barbara, Simone, Zoe, and Stefano

January 2, 2012

Dear friends and family,

Happy New Year to all! Our church in Trieste greets all of you and we are all very thankful foryour prayers, support, and advice for us this last year. I read this morning :

Philippians 1:3-5 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

How true this is that we love the fact that we are partners together in the gospel. It causes us torejoice.

Some praises and prayer requests:
1) Lyme's disease: I am thankful for that tick that passed on this bacteria to me as my latestresults show that though I recently picked up the disease at the end of the summer, they alsoshow that it is not the first time that I have picked up the bacteria. I have had the disease foryears probably and I did not even know it. Now that I know it I get regular checkups to makesure things are OK.

2) Andrea (the son of a member in our church) has finished his chemotherapy. He will bechecked out soon to see if they find any more traces of the tumor. Please continue top pray forhim and his salvation.

3) We are meeting soon as leaders of the church to try to establish a plan for our ministries. Wecontinually struggle (like most I am sure) about wanting to do a ton for the Lord but strugglingto find balance in all our commitments. We really need your prayer in this.

Thanks again for all your "partnership" !

Matt, Barbara, Simone, Zoe, and Stefano

November 6th 2011

Dear friends and family,

Greetings to all. We had a great month in October as we celebrated our youngest son's, Stefano's, first birthday. I also found out this last month that I am officially diagnosed with Lyme's disease. It seems a neighborhood tick has gotten the best of me, but thanks to its VERY identifiable bulls-eye rash, I caught it early and have already finished a 3 week treatment of it. I have an appointment in December to check to make sure things are progressing fine, but all seems under control:)

The conference that Elio and I went to was great and we will be using this material to try to improve our small group studies (both with the adults and with the youth). Andrea seems to be doing fine in his chemotherapy but we ask for your continued prayers for he and his family.

We have been asking prayer for a very close contact named Lorenza. Barbara is doing a weekly Bible study with her and she is very excited about salvation in Christ though she is working through some big questions. Please continue to pray for her.

We had another packed house at our service this morning so we are beginning to pray and look for a new larger location to meet. Our rent were we are is very low, so it will take some time and prayer to see were next to move to. We thank you much for your prayers and support and we too are praying for you all as we colabor for Him.

Praise:
1) Conference
2) Lyme disease situation
3) Growing attendance
4) Andrea's attitude
5) One year of life for baby Stefano

Pray for:
1) Preparation for our small groups
2) New church location
3) Andrea and his family
4) Lorenza

Together for the gospel,
Matt, Barbara, Simone, Zoe, and Stefano

September 25th, 2011

From August 11, 2011

Dear friends and family,

We are busy with all the new activities that begin with the new school year. In our services we are half way through a 12 week series on Jesus in the Old Testament. We looked this morning at Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel and the Psalms.

Next week Elio and I will be attending a training about leading small groups. Please pray that we would have great fellowship together and learn practical ways to lead studies in our homes.

Also we would ask that you would keep praying for Andrea who is in the middle of his chemotherapy.

Pray for:
Conference with Elio
Andrea

Together for His gospel,

Matt, Barbara, Simone, Zoe and Stefano

From August 11, 2011

September 18th, 2011

Dear friends and family,

Please continue to pray for Andrea (a 15 year old boy who has just started taking chemo). He is having a hard time eating now but he is in mostly good spirits. Please pray for his salvation and his family.

Also keep praying for our scheduling for this year. We have a ton of great ideas but a lot less time so we are praying that we do a few things really well. Our question is which of the dozen things we want to do each week will be the best for His glory.

The women in our church are organizing an event to join the women from 2 other churches together. Please pray for them as well.

Pray for:
1) Andrea
2) Our schedule
3) Women's event

In Christ,

Matt, Barbara, Simone, Zoe, and Stefano

September 11, 2011

Dear friends and family,

We are excited to be back in Trieste and ready to get to our normal routine. I am taking a pause in our studies in the gospel of Luke to look at how Christ has appeared on the pages of Scripture from the beginning. we are also praying for our program for this year and are thankful for you praying for us as well.

We had some difficult news as a church. A young teenager (15) Andrea who is not a believer but has been with our church for 7 years, has been diagnosed with Lymphnodal cancer. He will be starting chemotheropy on wednesday. Please pray for him and his family in this difficult time.

Finally, please also pray for our children that begin school tomorrow. We are very thankful for all of you and are praying for you all as well.

Please pray for:
1) Andrea and his family
2) Our church programs for this year
3) Our kids as they start school

Sincerely,

Matt, Barbara, Simone, Zoe and Stefano

April 3rd, 2011

Dear friends and family,

Sorry for the super long delay in my communication. We moved into our new apartment at the end of January and we are thankful that we are just about all set up. We have it all painted, the bathrooms redone, and have signed all our papers. Our new address is :

Via San Mauro 16
34151 Trieste Italy

Our phone number is still : +39 040 300 534

We also are getting used to having three kids. Stefano has proved to be an easy child but we still feel "older" this time. I will attach some recent pics of him. He is still huge!!

Ministry is going well but we do have some hurdles in front of us. Thank you all for your prayers in these days. We will be finishing before Easter our study of Joshua and then will begin the gospel of Luke.

Pray for us also as we are trying to create a wise "strategy" to reach out into this community.

Thanks for all!

Matt, Barbara, Simone, Zoe and Stefano