A couple of years ago, Jeff decided to get a pizza oven - his mid-life crisis purchase. He has enjoyed learning how to make pizzas and sharing his new found love with family and friends.
This summer we prayerfully decided to do a once a month neighborhood pizza night in our driveway as a way to get to know our neighbors. We have lived in our home for 11 years and shamefully had not met many of our neighbors. We invited everyone on our street and those behind us on the other street. We put flyers in their doors not knowing if anyone would be interested. The first night, as we were setting up chairs and tables, we were anxious and felt a bit silly wondering if anyone would come. We were shocked to have 8 households show up and several we had never met before. We were surprised at how much they enjoyed meeting each other. We had neighbors and even their children asking us when the next pizza night was. The last pizza night of the summer, so many came that we ran out of pizza. I think Jeff made around 20. AND that final night, the rain that had lasted throughout the day stopped an hour before we started and began again an hour after we ended. Thank you Lord!
We have been able to build on some relationships since then which is what we had been praying for. Our desire is to be a light, presence and a blessing within our neighborhood.
If we could offer any encouragement, it would be this. We were blown away with the desire people had to know their neighbors. People do want community. We are grateful for the relationships that have continued and deepened since the pizza nights. Lastly, we did nothing fancy...just chairs and tables in our driveway, pizza and water to drink. By the end, people were bringing their own dishes to share! Now we have names and faces with houses in order to better pray for them.
-Janet Leman
