By Bella Cooper, base staff during Cammino DTS 2021

Ciao! My name is Bella and I’ve recently joined YWAM Trentino. It’s been a blessing to be part of this base and to see the development of a Discipleship Training School (DTS) running in Italy! I have spent a lot of the last three months alongside the Cammino DTS, serving in the kitchen and enjoying fellowship with the staff and students. Although I haven’t been directly involved with the DTS I really can say I’ve gotten to see and experience some of the beautiful things God has been doing within our base and with all the new people that took the opportunity to be here this season.

Before coming to Italy I was staff at a base in Norway and I think it’s amazing to experience the diversity God brings into each school, with different nationalities, vision focuses and ways of living.

The new group arrived in September, a week after I had arrived and everything was in full swing! We spent a day in the kitchen prepping pizza dough and then welcomed the DTS with time around the table, which is really something we like to bring as it’s of course an Italian mandate but it also represents how Jesus has made a place for us at the table, welcoming us and inviting us into fellowship with Him.

From that, I can really say that community and fellowship has been something I’ve appreciated most about the last three months with everyone here. The school seemed to just jump into life in Arco, going out to eat, inviting others and taking the time to also meet people in the region with kindness and conversations.

I think this has been an awesome way to not only be focused on DTS and what God is doing within the group but also holding the focus of wanting to embrace the culture of Italy and where we have been placed for this time.

Now, fast forward to December and the Cammino DTS is off on outreach in Albania and onwards to Georgia and Uganda. I think the way the team has developed fellowship with each other and with God is going to bring a lot during outreach. The way that they walk together and love each other is not a small thing, it’s beautiful and when experienced by people that do not know Jesus, that alone can make an impact! Then from that place I can imagine they would take steps to meet new people with the same love.