Ross and Lindsay Stowers
Pod or Goat? Does that title make you curious? Well, that’s the point! A few months ago, both missional teams on campus at the University of Florence came together for the iPod o Capra outreach. It lasted three days and took place on three different campuses of the University - Careggi, Novelli, and Architectura. We gave students on these campuses the
opportunity to sign up to win either an iPod or two goats for a needy family in Afghanistan, their choice. The purpose of this outreach was to help Agape Italia become more well-known amongst students on campus and to meet new people. Though we were not sure how we would be received as we invaded campuses dressed as iPods and goats, it turned out to be a huge success!
The students loved our costumes and were drawn to the confidence it took to come to campus looking so, well, silly! There were also extremely curious about the connection between iPods and goats. During the three days of this outreach we had 174 students sign up for the contest and had even more conversations with students about who we are and why we are working on their campuses. These conversations went better than any we have had all year (even better than most in the last four years, or so we were told by some of our teammates who have been here longer than we have)! Once students understood what we were doing they were genuinely interested in who we are, and we were able to communicate our mission to them without any awkwardness. Many students expressed interest in getting involved with us, partnering with us in humanitarian aide projects, and promoting our events to their friends and networks. That is absolutely huge here, where students are most often skeptical and distant. Praise the Lord! In the end, the two students who won our drawing both choose to give two goats to a needy Afghan family instead of keeping iPods for themselves.