We have had an interesting and unique start to the year. Near the end of January, we were out soul winning and decided to stop by a park for the kids to take a break and play for a moment. William, who is now 17, is often sensitive to his younger sisters and will help create a fun time for them at the park, but this time, his competitive side came out. He saw a plastic carousel that was tilted at about 25 degrees. He looked to his brave and gullible father and dared him to try to walk around the outside up to the top. With the first two steps, the rotating plastic seemed to barely move, so I thought for sure I could make it to the top and go down in fatherhood lore forever. But things began to speed up, which meant I had to move faster to get to the top. Unfortunately, my “down in fatherhood lore” was more literal than figurative. I fell off and apparently, while trying to get my feet under me, kicked the ground pretty hard. At that moment, my pride hurt more than anything. We were able to get back to the car and back home, but I ended up going to the hospital that night. My foot was swollen and black and blue, but thankfully, only one toe was fractured. I borrowed some crutches from our neighbor for a couple of weeks, and now I am almost back to normal. My wife and family pampered me for several weeks.

Shortly after “the fall,” we took a few days to go to Sicily with my mother-in-law to see where her mom was born. We were able to meet up with a couple of second cousins and go down the street where Amy’s grandma was born. We met another relative whose father had moved for some time to Akron to work in the same tire plant where Amy’s grandfather worked. We went to the graveyard and saw the graves of some relatives. Everyone was very kind to us. One of our cousins is about 40 and just recently got his first job. They said that work is hard to find there. The town has a little less than 3,000 citizens (down from about 7,000 in the 1950s). The cousin who took us on a tour of the town showed us the little Evangelical church, and when he took us to the café, he said that the young man behind the counter was a member of that church. Please pray that our family would accept the Gospel. If anyone would consider being a missionary, Sicily is a beautiful place. It was an entirely different world compared to what we are used to around Milan. There were mountains on one side and the sea on the other.

When we returned, we scheduled an appointment to get our family pictures taken. It took some time to get the files, but if you are receiving this by email, you will see the updated photos. It is going to take a bit more time to update our website and printed letterheads.

I also got my permission to stay in the country renewed. Since Amy and the children are citizens, I was able to apply for a different type of permission to stay and was granted one that doesn’t expire for five years. We are thankful for this, as it means less paperwork and appointments every other year, and it is less expense. Before it expires, I will be able to apply for citizenship myself.

We have a busy few months ahead, with several pastors and friends visiting this year. There is also a camp near Rome in late June and early July for our kids to attend. They have never had the opportunity to go to something like this, so it will be wonderful if we are able to work it out. Things were a little slower these months because of hobble-along, but we look forward to a fruitful year of soul winning to the lost and a year of edifying the saints.

Missionaries to the people of Italy,

Christopher, Amy, William, AnnMarie, and Charlotte Yetzer