Coming Together Thursday, September 18, 2008

Friday September 12th

Excitement was in the air as the groups from nine different countries arrived at the camp. Once each group was checked in, we were quickly loaded into buses for a short tour of Verona. Just as the buses started to leave, a downpour flooded the streets while strong winds beat against the bus. We were safe inside, but a little worried about our tour of Verona.

The rain stopped just after we arrived. Praise the Lord! We piled out of the bus and headed for the middle of Verona. It didn't take us long to get to know our new friends, and by the time we made it to the city center, we felt like we had known each other forever. We paused and took a group picture on a wide stairway before moving to the next stop. You can see from the smiles on our faces that this camp was already more than we had ever hoped for.

The next stop was the Arena of Verona. This 2000 year old Roman arena is still used today for operas. As we walked by the great walls our minds drifted to the many martyrs who lost their lives inside. Unfortunately, the storm damaged the building, and it was closed when we arrived.

Our guides then took us to a historic structure which had a winding stone staircase in an enclosed courtyard. While climbing the staircase to take another group photo, we started singing songs to the Lord. One brother reported hearing the singing from several blocks away. A crowd of people formed below the staircase as we sang, and then they applauded when it was over.

One stranger said he had never heard people so young sing like that, and another commented that this site may be 2000 years old, but it has never seen such worship before. Many tourists stopped to video our singing with their camcorders.

Later on we were told that the staircase was built as a place of judgment. The courtyard was for the accused party, and the long stairway was for the judge to climb, pondering his decision along the way.