Buongiorno dall’Italia! We finally made it, in His perfect timing!

These last two weeks have been quite full. I am overwhelmed at how much can be packed into such a small space of time. Here are some key words that summarize these past weeks:

Jet lag- The travel went quite smoothly, as smoothly as it could have gone. We took 6 people, 14 checked bags, 12 carry-on and personal bags, and a dog in a travel crate, which totaled less than 1000 lbs. We said goodbyes to Grandma Mary and Paw-Paw Ken in the airport. We traveled on Turkish Airlines, which hosted amazing flights! We were well fed and the hospitality far exceeds any other airline that I have traveled on recently. Unfortunately, I do not sleep on airplanes but I did manage to get about three hours of sleep in the Istanbul airport on the floor. It took 36 hours it took to travel. The kids were amazing and I am so proud of them. I had some anxiety about the travel ahead of time but God reminded me the morning we set out, “I am with you. Do not fear. I will make a way. The enemy cannot stop My will for you and John to arrive. I will guide you. Trust Me.” He is faithful and He paved the way! We are still trying to establish a stable sleep schedule but we are finally catching up.

Saying goodbye to Grandma Mary & Paw Paw at the airport.

Second leg of our journey from Istanbul, Turkey to Naples, Italy.

5 baggage carts and a dog required each of us to push, including Tirzah!

Setting up our home- My landlords, Nonna Maria and Nonno Lino went above and beyond to set up this newly renovated home for us. They furnished it with some bare necessities, like beds and a kitchen table. My friends, Joyce and Herb Zick, filled in the gaps with some bedding, towels, kitchen items, and even some additional furniture. We arrived at a home filled with love! We may have come with only our suitcases, but God lavished His love over us through these people. Since then, we have had more people donate basic items like kitchen things and organizational items. We met a family who told us to take what we need from their apartment (furniture and other items) and donate what we want to them. He told me a year ago that He would take us to Italy and fully provide for us when we arrive. His faithfulness overwhelms me.

The view from the front balcony of our rental home.

Establishing residency- We have been working on applying for our “permesso di soggiorno”, which is our sojourner’s permit and gives us legal status to stay in the country. When we came on PCS orders 11 years ago, the military handled all of this. As a civilian with an approved visa, we have to do all the work ourselves and navigating it is not an easy process. Joyce and Herb were amazing to help guide us but it took days of paperwork, printing documents, visits to local government agencies, and prayer to accomplish this hurdle. On the day when we finally had to turn in our very thick application, Joyce and Herb even called to pray over the phone before we went in. The Lord parted the waters. We arrived at the office and were greeted by a nice woman, who had compassion on us. It cost ⅓ of what we thought it would cost, we got an appointment for the next step in 3 weeks (not the 3-6 months we were told to expect), and God’s faithfulness to empower us to finish it was made evident. Now on to buying a car…

The view from inside the Poste Italiane where we applied for our Permesso!

A challenging day requires un’ cappucino!

Welcome receptions- The welcome from old friends and new has been exciting! Michelle Menzel, a friend from WA who is now stationed here, picked us up in her van from the airport and has helped me pick up furniture from places too. It is such a small world and her help has been so gracious! Joyce and Herb bought a giant mozzarella ball for each person and a huge jar of Nutella for my kids, which caused wide eyes of glee. All the local store owners of the shops, coffee bars, and stands nearby remember us and were joyful in our reunions even though it has been 6 years! The owners of our favorite pizza place we stopped at weekly, Cassina di Rossa, made over our kids with lots of food gifts, hugs, and memories. There are several friends restationed here, and we plan to have meet ups in the next few weeks. We attended church at Celebration Italia as well and were warmly welcomed with hugs and smiles. We did have a bittersweet reunion as well. My favorite farmer, Giuseppe D’Andrea, who we helped establish as a viable business with the military before leaving, died a year and a half ago. He left his wife and 4 daughters behind to grieve and carry on the torch of maintaining his farm and business. They still deliver to the bases regularly. I cried many tears and they invited our family out to their home for a welcome back dinner. I love them deeply and I feel a pull from the Lord to care for this widow, Stefania, and her orphans, Cecilia, Daniela, Marianna, and Giuglia, however He leads. Perhaps our family will help work out at the farm and we will certainly begin buying food from them again.

Our beloved family, the D’Andrea’s, who have the farm in Caianello, where we can get raw milk, fresh meat, and produce at a fabulous price!

The girls had so much fun holding all the animals and eating the produce right off the trees, while we waited for pizza to be made out of their own pizza oven.

Anna Rita, the daughter of my landlords and a good friend of mine, sent us a welcome home gift of café and cornetti from the bar across the street.

Establishing territory- We prayed over our new home room by room and walked the perimeter of the land. We have been praying as a family everywhere we set foot. We have been taken to places I expected and new places never seen. As my mentor Sylvia suggested, we have been declaring trust in Him everywhere we go. God often tells me, “Do not fear.” and I can feel His joy and peace enveloping us all. The warfare has been tangible but nothing like it was years ago as I have been taught tools to navigate it differently this time around. I can see my own growth and I have been able to fight the enemy’s lies and conflict in myself and within my children. This is our purpose for the moment until He activates us forward. Acts 17:26 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation…”

Divine Appointments- The Lord has been highlighting some important friendships to begin to develop. Dear friends, Chip and Erica Noonan, from long ago here in Italy are buying a home close to my house! They will also be attending our Passover Seder that I am hosting tomorrow evening. Gloria and her family, the sweet family who is donating so much of their household goods to our home, are people we hope to host in the near future and develop friendship with. There is a teacher at the Dodea school named Akila, who works with Joyce in the Ogni Cosa Nuova ministry (in outreach to trafficked women), and when we met we both knew that it was a divine appointment. I am excited to get to know and work with her! Sabrina Groves & Amanda Land, friends at the local Classical Conversations community we will join, invited us into the community. They have friends for my children and are leaders that I hope to help support this next fall and they just recently arrived. A woman named April, who arrived the same week we did, is a Challenge B director with a daughter in Challenge B and she is interested in hosting my daughter to finish their school year out. This is a miracle! Nathanael has a class next year but I am praying that perhaps this mom and her daughter would be a fit for a class for Lauretta. Even if they decide to put their daughter in the Dodea school, perhaps it would be a viable friendship for Lauretta, as 13 years old is a tender age to move overseas away from your friends. I happened to run into my old landlord, Clemente, and his family. He has our old home empty and available and I was able to pass this possibility on to my dear friend, Kelly Hendricks, whose family is being stationed here this summer for a tour of 3 years. Our sons began school as 4 year olds in TN a long time ago and now she will be leading our sons in the fall for their final year of high school. I am thankful for God’s faithfulness in connecting us with these important relationships to accomplish His great work.

I introduced Chip & Erica Noonan to my favorite aqueduct walking/biking trail.

We hosted our first Passover Seder at our new home with the Noonans!

Jessie Davenport, Sabrina Groves, and Amanda Land, some families that we will be working with in Classical Conversations next year.

Sabrina hosted an end of the year ceremony for school for the kids and invited Tirzah and Miriam to participate even though we arrived for the last two weeks of their year because we transferred in from TX.

These girls are Harper and McKinley, sisters. Tirzah and Miriam’s cousins are Harper and McKinley also. The Harpers are both 12 and look similar in coloring and beautiful smiles! Such a cool coincidence.

The littles participated in a language school nearby. We hope to put them in once John gets a job. They taught each other their native languages and played games together. The teacher loved the excitement in the kids that Miriam and Tirzah caused and invited them to come again!

Van Gogh’s The Olive Trees- I love looking at these trees here in our valley!

Podcast Announcement- Please check out our recent series on Divine Appointments with the Lord, including the feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits. These important invitations of the Lord begin April 12, 2025! The Worker Bee Podcast — Classical Tools 4 Change

Thank you!- Thank you to Ken & Mary and my mother, Charlotte, and all who have been a support to us these last months as we waited for this next chapter to begin. We invested time and love with our extended families this last year, our biological and adopted, and we miss everyone dearly, even though we are excited to move forward where God has called us. Change is not easy. We couldn’t have done it without you all!

Support: Prayer Requests & Donations-

Please pray with us:

For a car and the ability to register it with the Italian government!
A job for John… he begins applying for jobs again this next week.
The sale of our items listed, which would help ease some financial burden.
Enough renters for our Airbnb in WA so it can be self-sufficient.
Our daughters, Sara and Maggie, who stayed back in the states to begin their own new chapters in life (a new job for Sara and school at Life Pacific University in CA in the fall for Maggie) and our hearts as we miss them a lot.
Language lessons and a good teacher for us all so we can improve our Italian.
Our friends, Joyce and Herb Zick, as they travel back to the states to spend the holiday season with their family.
Our friends, Kelly and Kent Hendricks, as they prepare to arrive here this summer.
Daily guidance and direction as He establishes us here in “our appointed times and the boundaries of our habitation”.

Please donate financially to help support us in this ministry:

We are grateful to you in advance for your financial support as we begin the work of minstering and caring for God’s people, whether it be our Italian friends, our military friends, or the precious men and women in bondage that need to experience what Christ died for:

Luke 4:18 18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,

that the blind will see,

that the oppressed will be set free,

19and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

Indeed, the Lord’s favor is here!

Whether it be a one time donation or a monthly contribution, we are so grateful to you!

To learn more about what we are doing here in Italy, please read our introduction letter, or the previous blog post, Moriarty Missions Begins.

Contact information

John & Rachael Moriarty

Via Villanuova 19,