A couple of weeks ago we learned all about the significance of the place where we're staying and also got to go on an excursion to learn about the Waldensian people who were front-runner missionaries in the Body of Christ who became martyrs for Jesus. Their sacrifices allow us as the Church to have access to the Bible and the truth of the Word of God, in addition to the opportunity to worship, pray and read the Bible freely without having to do it in secret...
For specific information aside from what I will write in this blog, I would encourage everyone to read the little brief history about the place I am so that you appreciate the simple freedoms we take for granted everyday!
http://www.om.org/en/article/r12046
http://www.forterocca.it/
The place where we are staying is called Forterocca which means, "solid rock." It's a very plain burnt orange building and the rooms are a bit small with two single beds in each room, a window, a closet dresser for two, two end tables and a bathroom. It's a cute little place, but definitely a place of quietness and solitude. Sergio and Anna are the people who built it and they are little old people with spunk and Italian passion! I love them so much. Anna is the cutest thing ever and I want to smuggle her home in my suitcase hahaha. They are absolutely selfless people and the hardest workers and kindest people.
Anyways...where Forterocca was built is very significant. The very first missions training was done here in this valley where we're stayng, so it is significant that several years later we are being trained in missions. David (our leader) had us look up into the mountains at two particular areas to show us where the missionaries were pushed off the mountain cliff for not denying their love for Jesus by the Catholics who were unhappy that these people were teaching against their doctrines. Hundreds of people were pushed off the mountain and died for their faith right behind Forterocca. The significance of the valley is that the blood of the men that died for the cause of Christ flows down the mountain when it rains or when the snow melts to cover the valley and that's why this place is so special...we are on holy ground.
We also went on an excursion during the day/night to see the area where the first Christians--the Waldensians--settled after coming over the mountains from France. These people were getting killed for their faith and sought shelter and protection hidden deep in the valley. Where the Catholic church wouldn't allow people to see the Bible, people would come afar to the valley to read a single Bible in secret so they wouldn't be killed. They woudl gather secretly in a room with a single Bible opened and faced toward them so they could all read what the truth said, not what theh Catholics preached. (Sidenote: the Catholic church in Italy is very very very different from the Catholic church in the United States, which is more rooted in Christianity.) We got to see their dwelling place and drink from the well. The valley was so incredibly beautiful that words cannot even express. The Waldensian people would read the Bible and receive training to go out and preach the good news, knowing that once they went out, they woudl not be returning as they were typically killed for their faith; they were martyrs for Christ. It is absolutely amazing. These people died and paved the way so that we can have the freedom to read the Word of God and declare His truth!
We also got to see their church and the Bible faced outward to the congregation so the people coudl see the Word for themselves, unlike the Catholic church at the time that faced the Bible toward the Father/Priest so no one coudl see it. Outside the church was another little well and the metal thing that you see in the picture is symbolic...can't remember the exact meaning, but it also comes down and parallel so that little babies can be baptized.
We then went on to another excursion to a cave where the Christians woudl meet in secret, but who were one day found and were killed as torches were thrown in from the top of the cave and hundreds of them died by being burned and torchered to death. Although I felt a bit disconnected from everything I had seen so far, this portion of the excursion hit home a little more--I was standing in the place where people would have to meet in secret to worship God, study His Word, and who literally died by flame on the very ground I was standing on. Wow...this really puts some things into perspective even though I still cannot imagine what that life and that experience would have been like. In the cave we sang a couple of old hymn worship songs all together with just two tea lights giving us a bit of light to see in the cave. It was so annointed. We flowed in the Spirit and some people felt led to pray. I felt like God wanted me to start to sing another song after the prayers so I opened my mouth and stepped out in faith and began to sing, "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus." It was awesome becasue I was a little nervous but I just stepped out anyway, and everyoen immediately joined in to sing--it was just such a sweet and annointed time. We prayed one last time and then left the cave, helping one another back to the vans since it was dark outside and we didn't have much light...what an amazing moment.
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