GBU Turin

Tempo di lettura: 2 minuti

Beginning this year, the International GBU and the Italian GBU have joined together so we have therefore have made some changes in how we organise the various events. We held a Welcome to Italy evening event for some people, and a Welcome to Piedmont event for others. We also translate all the various notices so that everyone understands.
It is a great opportunity for everyone to get to know new students and other cultures as a result.

This year the number of group coordinators has gone up, and they have also been supported by a committee which deals with a multitude of different aspects, some of which are more practical than others. Although many members are new compared with last year, we managed to work harmoniously from the onset, dividing up the tasks well.

We are very grateful that there are so many students, some on the Committee and others not, who help us in various ways: some cook, some go shopping, some help prepare the evening events and the studies of the Word. This group provides fundamental support, allowing each one of us to focus on one organisational aspect only, meaning that coordinating the events is compatible with the various commitments that each one of us has.

As there are numerous universities within the city, the presence of a high number of foreign students is guaranteed, which always makes us very happy and not only allows Italian students to practise their English, but also to get to know very different cultures from our own.
We’re also grateful for there being so many student believers, who may not come regularly to the GBU meetings, but are an invaluable help in creating a good atmosphere in the evening events we run.

We would particularly like prayer for the inductive Bible study evenings we are doing. Compared with other events, these tend to attract less students, but they are of course the ones closer to our hearts. Let’s ask the Lord to keep bringing more students to these evenings and that this would be a stimulating and reflective time.

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GBU Turin

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto
Praise

This last month and a half we’ve been offering out various activities to reach and involve new believing and unbelieving students, and we’ve seen good involvement and a desire to return.

For example, an Iranian young man who we met in September during the welcoming week, has not only started coming to GBU meetings but is also joining some Church services, and we’re really grateful for this.

Prayer

We’re now about to start up some Bible discussions and we’d like prayer for this, that God would give us wisdom and the right words to enable us to speak to students about Jesus and what He did for them too.

We’re also aiming to meet up for breakfast in the faculty more often to pray together. Our prayer request might therefore be for this small project we’re trying to run to continue at least once a month.

To be recognised again by the Turin Polytechnic as a Student Association, we need to follow a set procedure and submit various documents which we pray will be accepted without there being any problems.

Rocco Dalia

Sicilian by birth, but raised in Piedmont, Rocco graduated in Educational Sciences in Bergamo and then studied theology both in London and in the USA. Serving alongside other GBU students full of passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ – in Turin first and then in Bergamo – had a profound impact on his life.

After ten years abroad and working with other student ministries and as a pastor, Rocco returned to Italy also to serve in student ministry. He is deeply convinced of the strategic importance of the evangelistic and discipleship work among university students. His desire is that they may become faithful followers of Christ with a distinct evangelistic passion for the rest of their lives.

Rocco has been married to Madalina since 2011.

GBU Turin

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto
  • We give thanks for the conference which we held on 14 March, called “Study, memory and focus”, at which 250 students were able to take part, especially non-believers. We’re praying that those who showed an interest would take part in our meetings.
  • Another reason for giving thanks concerns the believer students who were involved in the various GBU activities and who helped out with preparing them.
  • We’d like prayer that the new people we were able to talk to about Jesus and also what He has done for them would come back to the meetings and perhaps start on a journey with us.
  • A final prayer request is especially that the student believers would have a heart for inviting their friends to take part in GBU activities, whatever event is being organised, from more informal evenings through to Bible studies. The aim in any case is that they would get to know Jesus.
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Valentina Ferraris

Valentina was born in Asti and from a young age begins to devote herself to three great passions: studying literature and history, singing, and reading the Bible. At the age of 14 she decides to follow Jesus and from that moment began a journey of growth and continuous discoveries that still fills her life.

A lover of Latin and ancient Greek, she studies Classical Literature at the University of Turin and in 2018 begins attending regular meetings of the GBU group in the same city. The GBU’s mission involves her more and more, until she works as the group’s coordinator between 2020 and 2021.

She receives her master’s degree in April 2022 and, in the same year, she also starts working as a teacher at secondary schools and gets married in July. Once she finishes her studies, however, she wants to continue her contribution in the GBU-she has learned so much through the GBU that she feels she wants to serve God in this area. She therefore decides to begin the path of staff in training in Turin.

In addition to her involvement with the GBU, Valentina is also involved in service at her home church, where she is in charge of leading worship and youth group. She also still cultivates her passion for singing by singing in a Christian-based gospel choir, the By faith.

GBU Turin

Tempo di lettura: < 1 minuto
Praise
  • That we started the year enthusiastically, in person;
  • For “seeker” students, who are getting close to God through the various activities and
    through the socials;
  • For the student believers who continue to collaborate with the GBU with hearts for God.
Prayer
  • Pray for unity and growth in the group, that this would be the result of the students’ personal growth;
  • Pray for the committee, the GBU steering group, that we would grow as a team and work well this year, glorifying Jesus;
  • Pray for the new people we’re meeting, that the Lord would speak through us and our
    activities into their hearts, leading them to Him.

GBU Turin

Tempo di lettura: 2 minuti

As a GBU group we’d like to thank the Lord for how He is guiding us in this first part of the year and for all the activities we’ve run so far.

Praise
  • We thank God for how He blessed our mountain retreat 16-17 October. It was a wonderful weekend where we were able to learn a lot about the topic of evangelism and the character of God. We were also able to spend a lot of time together as a group, which meant we were able to return home feeling filled up, ready to face everyday life.
  • We also thank the Lord for our weekly meetings, virtual cafés, where our group subdivides into lots of smaller groups to read a Bible passage together and try to understand its meaning within the group. We’re pleased because these sessions are well attended, and we see that the young adults are very interested in getting to know God more and more and are also encouraged to face life and its various challenges.
  • Finally, we thank the Lord for our final event, a webinar (an online conference streamed live on YouTube) titled, “Get the most out of your university experience”, which took place on 11 November with Professor Phil Bishop. It was well attended, and those who took part left feeling encouraged and at peace over embarking on a university career.
Prayer
  • We would also like to ask you to pray for us as a group. Let’s pray that there could be increased unity among all young adults in the group. Let’s also pray that there would be non-believers included, so that they would come to know Christ through our activities and events.
  • Finally, we’re also asking for prayer for next month’s activities, that the Lord would show us how to achieve great things for Him.

Thank you for your prayers. Sending hugs and also praying for all of you who are reading this.

GBU Turin

Tempo di lettura: 2 minuti
Praise

We, as GBU Turin, wish to praise the Lord for how He has blessed us thus far and thank all those who prayed for us.

Recent months have been truly fruitful from many points of view. Indeed, in December we managed to gain recognition as a Student Association for the GBU, both in the Polytechnic and at the University of Turin. We see this as a great response from the Lord, because we will definitely have new opportunities and it will make our ministry within the university easier.

Then, during the winter period we eased things up a bit, but did not stop. It was great to support one another in prayer as the exams approached, study together in the virtual lecture theatres, meet up online some evenings to chat and still read the Bible together between exams.

Springtime is now bringing many new things for GBU Turin.

Since March, we have started up our activities properly again, arranging all kinds of events: games evenings, prayer meetings, biblical discussions and webinars.

In particular, we have been trialling the opportunity to study the Bible in small groups. We have got our Virtual Cafes and weekly meetings going, which are currently taking place online, where we meet in small groups with a cup of coffee to read a Bible passage together. Virtual Cafes are a great way to get to know the individual group members as well as being a format for involving everyone more and it makes it easier for new friends to join in who are not yet believers.

Prayer

In April we will organise a webinar on the topic of anxiety, open to all students in the Polytechnic and the University of Turin.

  • Please can you pray for us that a lot of young people would join in and be intrigued by what they hear.
  • We are also asking for prayer for the group of young people who are starting to get to know God, that the Lord would continue to speak to them and lead them to Him.

GBU Turin

Tempo di lettura: 2 minuti

Things really did start out very well this year in Turin.

We thank God for the various Christian young people who have had a heart for the GBU and are giving a valuable contribution to organising our activities.

In October we were able to go on an outing with them (see the photo); which allowed us to get to know one another better and start being a team.

We also prayed together on the World Student Day: it certainly was encouraging to see how many young people like us in the world want to speak about God at universities and it was moving being able to pray for them.

 

We organised an online games evening as our first event of the year, open to everyone. It was incredible to see the great interest drummed up, particularly among the Polytechnic students who had been sent an invitation in the post. A huge number of people joined the GBU and this meant we were able to explain what it was as well as throwing out the challenge to them of getting to know God and the Bible better.

Some of them are still continuing to join in our meetings and in general the new young people approaching our GBU group are different ones, eager to know God more. Pray for them that they’d come to embrace the Gospel message and for us, that we’d have wisdom and sensitivity to accompany them on this journey.
 
Moreover, we have started up our weekly bible discussions again, sometimes in groups with reduced number of people and sometimes in larger ones.

On 12 November we held a webinar on the subject of time management and in this case too, there were a lot of people interested, so pray that this event too will bear its fruit.

Sadly, we cannot see each other in person anymore because of the health crisis which Piedmont is experiencing, currently in the red zone, and we recognise that we are really missing being able to spend “live” time with other GBU members. Therefore, we’re asking for you to pray for us that the Lord would protect us and guide our online activities over the coming weeks.

Alice Larke
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Alice Assis dos Reis (Larke)

Alice came to Italy from the UK two years ago to work with International students in Turin, only for one year.

But recently she decided to stay and serve in Italy for 3-5 more years.

Before this, Alice studied music at the Royal Holloway University of London (2014-2018) and served as working student with UCCF in London for one year.