Weekend in Rome!

By Bruce

 

 

On Friday we got to Rome around 11.am. An exhilarating taxi ride with "Marcello" was in store for us . What a treat it was to have such a personality driving us to the hotel. Marcello was a stereotypical Italian GQ dude . He spoke very broken Englisha with a blitz of hand motions during the drive, and topped it all off with a bigga ola smila that was very welcoming. This dude could win any nascar race driving his van. Over half of the time we are weaving in and out of traffic, he was facing backward speaking and motioning to us. (what a great time for prayer) About 30 minutes later we arrived safely and invigorated by the first of two once in a lifetime trips; both from and back to the airport. Our very capable and always on top of "special price for a special friend" Mike had negotiated a deal to good to be true. 30% off the first trip and 60% off the return.

 

After a few moments of checking in, a time of settling was in store for the team. Once settled, a period of exploration was next. Always on call Mike "the  negotiator" was scoring a bus pass deal for the team which was both a savings and very convenient. The area we stayed at was literally grand central station. A central bus terminal and train station were only one block away. ([people everywhere!) Both Saturday and Sunday were spent wandering and touring, and of course the girls got some shopping done.(imagine that!) The sun was shining both days and with great joy, the open air upper deck of the bus was used. What an amazing finale to an incredible trip of meeting new refugee believers from Iran and serving and laughing with them, to unwinding in Rome.