Wow! A lot has changed in the last two days since I wrote my last blog.

First a quick update on John-Cabo... His real name is actually John-Carlo. You have to give me credit, I was pretty close on his name. Their accents are very thick here. I've seen him at the park everyday. He is a believer in Christ as our relationship grows maybe there will be a chance where he opens up to me. He is one of the many friends that we have made down at the park.

Speaking of friends at the park, Mick and I met a guy named Marco on Friday. (he insists that we call him by his American name, Marcus). He is a 17 year old kid with a really good heart. He loves basketball. The only thing he wants is to come to U.S. I admit sometimes I take things for granted and seeing "Marcus" share his dream with me really made me stop and think of how blessed we all are. Marcus shocked us all when he showed up at church this morning. He took two trains all the way from Pompeii to make the morning service! He spent the rest of the day with us. He ate lunch, went to the park and even stayed for dinner. I am very proud of him and am looking forward to spending the rest of the week with him and the rest of our friends down at the park.

At the park today we noticed that one of the rims was nearly torn down. It was hanging by one bolt. Luckily Drew, Mick, trevor and I found the missing pieces on the ground and were able to fix the goal. This really took some team Chemistry. Drew was sitting on trevor's shoulders and I was Sitting on Mick's shoulders. (really funny site to see) after we fixed the goal, all of the guys were very appreciative.

This whole trip I've been learning a lot about Italians and their culture but I've also learned a lot about some of my teammates as well. It's crazy how you can learn more about them in 3 days during a mission trip than you would after spending an entire season with them on the court. This shout out goes to JJ, Trevor, and Wes. We have all been getting pretty close and I am happy we are. We are like a family.

I absolutely love Italy but there are somethings that I will never get used to... The first one is the walking. I feel like if we complained on every blog post from now on it still will not do it justice. I have probally walked more here this week than I did my entire semester at Belmont! One other thing that is foreign here is there are no refills on drinks. Refills might be the best invention in the world. Drew and I have been coming up with business plans that would start a revolution here. My favorite idea is, chicken Parmesan (they don't put any meat on their pastas) they would love it!!!

- Adam