KDLItaly's Xanga

pictures and video

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:50:38 GMT

I've been in the States for 3 1/2 weeks, and must say that it's been busy, and it's been a blast. It has been good to see many friends and make a lot of new ones as well. Obviously the family is being missed, but just 2 more weeks... So the point of this entry is to let the friends and supporters of the Joneses know that for the most part we will not be using this sight to post video and pictures. This sight will be used to give other general less sensitive information about our the work in Italy and to some degree, our family. The point is: in our next circular letter I will be letting you, our friends and supporters, know where they can get this insider information.
Your friend,
Keith

Italian Summer

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:53:50 GMT

I'm sitting here in my living room sweating. I want to update our blog quickly saying that July has been an eventful, fun, ministry filled month. Apart from the work we did in the schools and the parks with the team from the U.S. we are continuing to see relationships move forward with many neighbors and friends. Recently I had a really good conversation with someone who is struggling with whether they are doing enough to enter into Heaven. I'll be meeting him this week and hopefully God's truth will break through in his heart. One person at a time...

Debby is especially busy this time of year as she spends a lot of time with the neighbors - building relationships, teaching english, and other things.

It was good to have my parents from Spain visiting for a week..we had a blast and were especially thankful that Luca and Chiara could be around Grandma and Granpa...something neither Debby nor I had the priveledge of having.

We'posted some more videos and pictures of our family so please check them out...

Your friends,

Keith for the Joneses

Spain beats Italy

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:47:07 GMT

Spain hadn't beaten Italy in an official game in almost 90 years and yesterday they finally did. As you can imagine I was in an awkward place yesterday when Spain beat Italy in the 1/4 finals of the European championship (for all of you Americans we're talking about soccer - that sport where you're not allowed to play with your hands). So who were we rooting for? I was going to wear my Spain jersey but a couple of factors overruled the possibility 1. it's 100% polyester and wouldn't have held up well in the 33 degree (90 degree) heat 2. I might not have made it out alive from where we were watching the game. Even though I did get Luca on my side (Chiara sided with her mom's squad) we were still grossly outnumbered.
So Italy is mourning over their loss (believe me they REALLY are mourning) and I'm getting menacing looks from the neighbors. Life is good. Italia, la proxima vez sera...
VIVA ESPANA!

Springtime

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:24:43 GMT

Hi,
    It's great to be back on the summer schedule. Milan winters seem LONG. People just don't want to be outside of their houses. Here in our neighborhood people leave early to go into the city to work and then get home when it's already dark. It's possible to run into them in our buildings' shared garage but other than that people stay a bit to themselves. When the time changes it's a different story, it's like people are out of their state of hibernation and want to hang out. So to make a short story long...it's good to have a few more hours of light.
    March was a good month. Luca and Chiara had their birthdays, and a good time was had by all. Chiara is now one, and is ready to rumble. She walks around outside and of course wants to pick up all the cigarette studds and gum. Luca's birthday party was a blast. He's recently discovered strawberries and wants them all the time, so he was pleased with his strawberry cake. Thanks to those who sent birthday cards and gifts.
    A few weeks back I was invited to go to another gathering of the Jehovah's Witnesses. I was blown away again by the gathering of over 500 people from our area. What is it about those guys!? I've gotten to know a few of them and one talked me through the session. My "elder" friend did the main speech and one of his sidekicks explained to me the customs (i.e. why they celebrate the Lord's Supper once/year, why they don't eat or drink the elements, why they have 2 classes of believers, etc.) The speech was "biblical" but I was interested in pointing out to them the parts of the passages they skipped over or spiritualized. I'm starting to realize that when they say "oh that's really deep doctrine" it usually means "we'd rather not deal with that".
    We're thankful for the work God has called us to do here in Milan. We praise God for every chance He gives us to sow the Word and know that it's His job to "convince the world" of their need for Him. I leave you with a few prayer requests.
Thank God with us for
1. The encouragement He gives us to plow forward in the work He's given us to do
2. His provision of our needs (health, life, finances, family) so that we can be here
3. The confirmation He's given us that this is where He wants us (does anything else matter?).
4. A good time had with Don Marshall, EBM Europe coordinator

Please pray for
1. The many friends/contacts we are seeking to bring to bring to Jesus (I don't write names here for privacy sake)
2. Deeper knowledge of God - if we have the right perspective of Him and His power we won't be discouraged or lack faith
3. Wisdom as we prepare Luca and Chiara to live in this world
4. The building we are asking God to bless us with
5. Patience/Endurance- We need to fix it in our minds that this work TAKES TIME: many don't make it
6. Fruit among the J.W.'s: a ministry to that group is strategic and not much work is being done among them in Italy. With them it is possible to go directly into the Word into the claims of Christ. In some ways they're very close...and at the same time infinitely far away from the Truth.

Thanks for your friendship
Keith Debby Luca Chiara

Feb. New

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:45:53 GMT

I just came across this article: The Jehovah's Witnesses are (or report to be...) growing at an incredible rates.

Religious News

Feb. 19 , 2008

Jehovah's Witnesses fastest-growing of U.S. faiths

By BRITTANI HAMM
c. 2008 Religion News Service

    (UNDATED) Jehovah's Witnesses are the fastest-growing church body in the U.S. and Canada, now with more than 1 million members, according to new figures that track church membership in the U.S. and Canada.
    Although Jehovah's Witnesses ranked 24th on the list of 25 largest churches, they reported the largest growth rate -- 2.25 percent -- of all churches. The badly divided Episcopal Church, meanwhile, reported the largest drop, at 4.15 percent.

    The Roman Catholic Church, with 67.5 million members, remains the largest U.S. church body, with a 2006 increase of 0.87 percent. The second largest church, the Southern Baptist Convention (16.3 million) has more than twice the number of members as the United Methodist Church, the third largest, which documented 7.9 million U.S. members.

    Only the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Catholic Church, Southern Baptists, Mormons, the Assemblies of God (2.8 million) and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (1.4 million) reported increases; all others either posted declines or flat membership from 2005.

Here in our neck of the woods they are a huge reality. The Lord has given me a burden for them and I'm thankful to be able to meet with some of them to talk about Jesus. Pray that God would reach out to some among their group for His Glory.

Otherwise our life and ministry continues forward. My parents were here to visit last week, and we had a really great time with them. I just realized that I hadn't posted some of the pictures from Debby's 30th b-day party so some of those are up. We'll be in touch soon, thanks for your interest in our family and the Mission here in Italy.
Keith

Good Works Not Enough - Latest papal document urges Roman Catholics to win souls.

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:08:41 GMT

!-- if (! pageNum) { var pageNum = Math.round(Math.random() * 100000000); } document.write(''); document.write(''); //--> I thought this article might be interesting to some of you...

Roman Catholic missionaries should aim to convert people and not restrict themselves to humanitarian good works, the Vatican said on December 14.

A 19-page document, which was personally approved by Pope Benedict XVI, draws on the controversial Vatican declaration he issued in 2000 that asserted Catholics alone have "the fullness of the means of salvation." The document aims to correct a "growing confusion" among theologians who argue that "it is enough to build communities which strive for justice, freedom, peace, and solidarity."

The document comes as the Catholic Church faces increased competition from Pentecostals and evangelicals, particularly in third-world countries, and charges of improper "sheep stealing" from Orthodox churches, especially in Russia.

"[T]here has a been a cooling of missionary spirit in recent years," said Archbishop Angelo Amato, undersecretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's top doctrinal office.

Amato specifically cited the work of three Jesuit theologians—Jacques Dupuis, Roger Haight, and Jon Sobrino—suggesting that their work had undermined missionary spirit by casting doubt on the uniqueness of Christ as the universal Savior of humankind.

"The fundamental problem is a pluralistic theology of religion, which essentially states that all religions are equally valid in leading a person to salvation," the Rev. Agostino di Noia, an American who serves as another undersecretary of the Congregation, told Vatican Radio.

The statement rejects conversion by force or by means "which do not safeguard the freedom and dignity of the human person." It also stresses that evangelization among non-Catholic Christians should be undertaken with "true respect" for their traditions.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:13:26 GMT

One of my new year's resolutions is to keep this sight updated. I'm going to try write something about our family or ministry.
Since the last update we've had some interesting experiences. For one, we were glad to be in the home of a friend and his family. It's amazing how God works. This guy was one of the first people I met. It was "coincidental" you would say in that I met him at the library - my office away from home because I don't get to meet too many lost people in my home office. Anyway, I met this guy and just last Saturday we were in his home discussing God, the Bible, the meaning of life, what's up with the "evangelicals".
Every tribe is represented in Milan. Last weekend I spent about one hour discussing the incarnation with some Jehovah's Witnesses, then on Monday I was with some Gnostics who were studying "Karma". These folks are eatingcow dung ("watchtower" and "karma") and thinking it's food saying "hmm that's good" when Jesus offers a real feast. But, they're open to talking about Jesus, faith, God...
Today I had to get some work done on the car. We put together a little piece of literature that talks about the faith of one of the main soccer players in Milan from the angle "why would this give a rip about Jesus?" It was interesting to go into the car shop and see this piece of literature hanging on the window of their shop. The title was "Is Jesus irrelevant to your life?" Many people will be confronted with this question when they go into that shop.
Thanks for your interest in our ministry.
A presto

New Year

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:06:21 GMT

We're back to normal life after the Christmas Holidays. We're going to keep this sight updated so that those of you that wish to can keep up with the goings on in our family and ministry. Yesterday and today it has been snowing here in our town. It really is a beautiful sight. Not easy to get around in but beautiful nonetheless. Debby and the kids spent the morning building a snow man with the neighbors. We're thankful for the many friends God has given us in this place.

You might want to check out some family pictures taken over the Holidays. We were able to get all the cousins together which was amazing.

As far as prayer items, please do pray for our 2008 goals. We are praying that God would work greatly to accomplish His work in this place. Of course our main prayer is that God would bring many to a know Him personally.

Till next time,
KDLC

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:18:40 GMT

Hi everyone,

Debby and I felt it was time to send just a couple of family pictures since it's been a while since we did this. Thanks for your prayers for and involvement in THE MISSION.

Please pray specifically...

1. for our neighbors I and M, E and G, and others

2. that we can find a place to do ESL (English as a Second Language) to start in January

3. for the 2008 calendar distribution to be fruitful

4. as we seek a ministry center/building

5. Debby's womens' breakfast in Southern Italy Nov 23

6. that our marriage and family will be strong and united

7. for our finances - the dollar is plummeting... gas and rent are spiking

Coworking in THE MISSION,

Keith and Debby

Welcome Chiara

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 19:33:52 GMT

It's been some time since I updated this sight, so I thought what better opportunity than with the arrival of Chiara. She was born last Wednesday the 21st in Pavia a town about 25 minutes from our home in Rozzano. She's really great. Doesn't cry a whole lot, but does have her days and nights mixed up. We hope that will change soon.

Luca has taken quite well to her. He enjoys hugging her and poking her in the eye. He does seem to be a bit more sensitive than usual and although he is usually more of a mama's boy he's really taken to his dad lately. Which of course dad doesn't mind. Luca's birthday is coming up this Friday. We're glad his grandma and aunth (Minders) will be here to celebrate with us. We really enjoy both of our little ones. We've put some pics on this sight and we'll be putting more little by little. Please drop us a line if you feel like it.

the joneses