RE: Dear Starbucks Representative

Well, it took a little time, and I like to believe it is because they are scouting out the new locations, but Starbucks did email me back. Here it is…

Hello Joel,

Thanks so much for your suggestion regarding a potential Starbucks store location.
We’re always looking for great new places to open stores, so I’d be more than happy to pass along your comments to our store development team for their consideration.
Thanks for taking the time to contact us. We appreciate your interest and look forward to seeing you in our stores soon!

Warm Regards,

Madeline A.
Customer Relations Representative
Starbucks Coffee Company

Now begins the next phase of the campaign to bring Starbucks to Rome. Here is the general outline of how we are going to do this:
STAGE 1. Write In Campaign- anyone who has ever been to Rome or has Starbucks stock or has ever enjoyed one of their tasty brews writes a letter to Starbucks expressing how great of an idea it would be to have a Starbucks here.
STAGE 2. Petition- now this is gonna take a massive effort involving lots of clipboards and pens
STAGE 3. Protests- nothing gets the ball moving faster than a loud mob of people chanting in unison “bring the life blood of champions to Rome!” I could use a little help with making posters.
(if previous stages were unsuccessful then move to next stage)
STAGE 4. Starbucks Coup. This is not for the faint of heart. Once we move to this stage there is no going back. A corporate coup could involve buying large quantities of Starbucks stock and initiating a hostile takeover or it could involve deposing current Starbucks president, Jim Alling, and placing myself not as starbucks president, but as Starbucks Supreme Ruler (kinda of like a dictator, but nicer and only over matters that involve coffee)

That is the general plan of how we are going to bring Starbucks to Rome (or if necessary stage a corporate takeover). I am gonning to need volunteers to help me, so picture me on one of those Uncle Sam posters pointing at you saying “We want you for Starbucks Coup!”

questura debacle

Who knew being legal could be so difficult?

Let me tell you a little bit about our two fun days registering at the police station. First a little background information. We arrived in Italy as tourists, but in order to get a 90 day tourist visa to legally stay in the country, we had to register with the police within eight business days. Sounds simple right? Not so fast. We are one of the first STINT teams in Rome to do this, so we had very little information to do this. Thankfully there is a Campus Crusade for Christ staff couple here that gave us advice along the way. So here goes…
We first rounded up all the documents and such that we needed (copies of passport, passport photos, $19 stamp called marca di bollo, letter of invitation, copy of credit card, copy of insurance card, ect.). The US Embassy told us that we could register at any local police station and that it is a long process so get there early, so we did. The next day we got up at 6:00 AM and headed to the police station which opened at 8:30 AM. We got a number and sat in line waiting our turn. At 10:30 AM it was our turn, so we went in to get our paper work processed only to find out that you cannot register at anypolice station, but rather you had to go register at this police station way out in the “sticks” outside the city.
We were told that the place opens at 3:00 PM so we decided to go ahead and get it over with and headed out. We took the metro to the very last stop way outside the city and then took a bus even further out. After a bit of walking around and searching, a sigh of relieve, “oh good, we found it.” Not too bad eh? Just wait a few more hours in line, oh wait, no line, just a bunch of people herding around the gate like sheep waiting to go out to pasture. People were literally crowding around the gate waiting to get in, so not wanting to be last, we decided to join in the mob of eastern Europeans wanting visas. About an hour and a half later they opened the gates and the stampede began as men, women, young and old began sprinting to the front, kinda like the day after Thanksgiving real early in the morning when every wants to get the early bird specials. We eventually got to the front of the line with all of our papers and stuff. Hurray!! Let the doxology begin! Not so fast my friend. Once again our hopes were let down as we got to the front of the line only to find out that they were only answering questions and not processing paperwork. A huge letdown. So nine hours after we arrived at the first police station we decided to throw in the towel and pick it up again the next day.
Day two of our adventure started off like a bad case of déjà vu, getting up early and heading to the police station, only this time we knew to which police station we needed to go. Hopping on the metro (figuratively, not literally) and taking it to Rebibbia, the very last stop, and then taking a bus even further out of the city, and waiting in line like sheep going out to pasture, and fighting to the front of the line (once again figuratively, not literally) we finally got to where we needed to be at the time we needed to be there. Praise the Lord! We got our numbers and began to wait in line. This time it took about an hour and a half to wait and then another couple of hours for them to process the paper work. So three police stations, a couple of early mornings and 14 hours later we got our 90 day tourist visas. Lets pray that we don’t have to go through that process again, but if we do, at least we know the logistics and it will be a simpler process. We are praying that Campus Crusade for Christ staff members will be able to work out a way for us to get a longer visa without having to go through that same process.

The Lord is good and got us through the process and praise Him for His faithfulness.
Please pray with us that God would continue to provide for all of our needs. I am convinced that He will and He wants to, we just need to ask him.

Dear Starbucks representative

I thought you might like to know that there is not a single Starbucks in the city of Rome or in the whole country of Italy. I know, right? Shocking. Who would have thought that Starbucks would have neglected a whole people who absolutely love coffee. It wouldn’t even be that hard for Starbucks to start a franchise here, after all even the Starbucks menu is in Italian. latte, cappuccino, espresso…
With that, I thought I would write Starbucks and express my feelings and suggest a few settings in which a nice tasty brew might be enjoyed. Here is what I wrote…

Dear Starbuck representative,

My name is Joel Hardman and I recently moved to Rome, Italy. I am shocked at the lack of a single Starbucks in the whole city of Rome, let alone the country. The prolific tourist industry would not only be able to sustain a Starbucks but also cause the retail location to flourish. I live with ten other Americans and know many others that would frequent the local on a daily basis. Also, a retail store would allow Italians to experience how great your coffee is and would provide an avenue for an ever-increasing market share here in Rome. May I suggest a few locations here in Rome for your consideration? 1) Spagna- near the Spanish steps a great tourist sight and a great setting for an amazing caramel macchiato. 2) Pantheon- a beautiful evening stroll into this piazza would be topped off by a warm Sumatra brew. 3) Piazza Navona - a gorgeous open space allowing a quiet morning read of the newspaper or your favorite classical novel over a vanilla latte, or a great place to gather with group of friends and order a mocha frappuccino in the evening as the performers and artists fill the cool crisp air with their joyful melodies.

I hope this might inspire you to consider expanding your operations to Italy and specifically Rome. A constant influx of tourists, a large American population in Rome, and the Italian’s love of coffee would provide a great market in which you could invest.

Thank you so much for your time.
Sincerely,
Joel Hardman

noi apartamento

So this is what we call home, at least for now. We, the four guys on the team, live in a three bedroom, one bath apartment on the third floor of a building about five or six blocks from Termini station. Currently one of the bedrooms is believed to have bed bugs, so we let them have that room to themselves. Our kitchen is not too bad, but we haven’t had a chance to venture into the grocery so the cupboards and fridge remain pretty empty. Our bathroom is interesting, with a tub that has two levels. All of us have decided that it is best to stand on the top level because all of the water backs up in the lower level. So in order to take a shower, we have to stand with our head about a foot from the ceiling and holding the shower wand while trying our best not to cover the entire room in water because there is no shower curtain. We also have a bidet, but that will forever remain unused. The room in which i sleep is ok. Right now I sleep on a smelly matress on the floor, but at least it doesn’t have bed bugs. I have a desk and a window, so I can’t complain too much, except for the market that sets up every morning. It is nice to be able to walk outside our door and buy fresh fruits and vegtables and shoes and socks and clothes and jewelry ect., but it is not so nice that they begin setting up around 4 AM! I say all of this not to complain, but light heartedly because we are looking at a couple of much nicer apartments in which we could live. Please pray that by the end of September we would be able to find a decent apartment at an afordable rate. The two apartments we looked at today are in a quieter neighborhood and are quite a bit nicer but they are also more expensive, so we are going to try and talk them down a bit.

here are pictures of 1) kitchen 2) my bedroom 3) living room/bedroom and 4) bathroom with bidet and bilevel bathtub.

first things first

Bon journo from the eternal city of Rome!

I apologize to everyone who has tried to contact me over the past few days and has been unable to do so. Our Vonage modem has yet to arrive and our linksys wireless router is currently unemployed due technical difficulties. I hope that after those things get worked out and my team and I settle into a routine, I will be able to communicate better on a individual basis.

I’m Leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again!

So I left on Saturday morning at 10 AM from the Dayton International Airport and met up with my team in Washington Dulles Airport. It was an emotional and difficult farewell to my family and friend Mindy, I now know how my Aunt Sese feels when saying goodbye. I took comfort in my friend Aaron French’s reminder that these feelings I felt were normal and not to run from them. I also flipped in my Bible to Mark where Jesus talks about those who leave their families will be blessed 100 times over! Lets just say that it was a tough flight to DC.
I met my team in DC and randomly met another Miami Grad, Christy Staats, who is going on staff with Crusade in the UK. She is way cool and it was a blessing to be graced by her presence ☺. So we were waiting around for our flight to Frankfurt when we found out that our plane was over booked and they were offering 700 euro for each person and they would put us up for the night and have a seat for us the next day on another flight to Frankfurt. This would have been amazing not only because we would have each received 700 euro, but also because I would have gotten to watch the OSU vs. Texas game. I wish it would have worked out, but unfortunately it didn’t and I was forced to wait until we got to Rome to find out the outcome of the game.
Now I am in Rome, the Buckeyes did win, and life is good. I can’t wait to tell you all about my first few days, but I will save that for tomorrow and for when I have more energy but now I must be off to bed. Ciao

A great day

Today has been a great day for many reasons.
“How so?” you ask.
“Let me tell you why this day has been so great” I excitedly reply.

1. Well for starters, I got to have lunch with my bro. I cannot remember the last time we ever got lunch together, just the two of us. In fact, I’m not sure if we ever have gotten lunch together, but I suppose it has happened. Anyways we went to Larosa’s for pizza, had great conversation and then ran some errands together. It was pretty sweet.

2. Next, my best bud Eric came over and helped me set up my slingbox.
“A slingbox?” you might ask, “what is a slingbox?”
A sling box is a pretty cool piece of hardware that you hook up to your cable at home and to an internet connection, and it allows you to watch TV on your computer from anywhere in the world. So basically I can watch OSU football this year as they move toward another national championship.

3. Most excitingly, I made some phone calls to potiential ministry partners. I know, this doesn’t sound like much fun, but hang in there with me. When making these calls, there are always people who you can never get ahold of no matter what time of day it is. After calling someone all summer you begin to think you will never get ahold of them. Well today I called a potential ministry partner that I just have never been able to get ahold. I dialed the phone and to my amazement they answered the phone. I had already prepared myself to leave another message, so I almost didn’t know what to say. We chatted for a bit and he said that my persistence showed how much I believe in what I am doing. He then said because of that, he is gonna support me $500! I was amazed at how God provided. With only a few days before I leave, I was beginning to think that I would never get to talk to this supporter, but the Lord is always providing in unexpected ways.

4. Right after I got off the phone with that ministry partner, another ministry partner, who happens to be my brother’s boss, brought over his Dodge Viper and we went cruisin. Let me tell you, the Dodge Viper has been my dream car ever since I was in elementary school. I even use to have a folder with a red Viper on it. It was such a blast to go around on country roads and watch all the looks we got.

5. To top off my day, I got to watch one of my favorite movies with one of my favorite friends, Mindy. It was a great day!

one week and a few thoughts

If there is one thing I have learned, it is that I cannot do things out of my own strength. I’ve tried it over and over again but believe me, I can’t. Fortunately enough for me (and for you brothas and sistas in Christ) I have a Dad who can do anything and chooses to use me despite my stubbornness and propensity toward sin. So with that, I figure it is a good thing to ask God to use me and to empower me with His spirit, sound good to you?

“Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” Ephesians 6:19-20 (NIV)

I am making Ephesians 6:19-20 one of my prayers this year. This passage of scripture has spoken to me for a number of reasons. First in foremost, the power is in the gospel. I have been out sharing many times. When I do a great job of presenting gospel and make it very clear and bring a person to a point of decision, it is not I who speaks to their heart, but rather the Holy Spirit who does so. I have completely butchered a gospel presentation before and thought to myself: “there is no way this guy is gonna trust Christ,” but then to my amazement they place their faith in Christ.

Believe me, it does not depend upon me or you. We are not responsible for a person’s response to the gospel, what we are commanded to do is to fearlessly share the gospel. So often we gage our success upon results (ie- did the person trust Christ), but this critera for success is incorrect and unbiblical. The results (whether or not a person trusted Christ) is completely up to the Lord. Successful evangelism is “taking the initiative to share Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and leaving the results to God.” I don’t know about you, but that takes a huge load off of my chest. All I have to do is share my faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. God takes care of the rest.

Would you join me in praying this prayer for me and my team. I mean, if Paul asked the Ephesians to pray this for him, it must be a good prayer!

single digits (yikes only 8 days to go)

Today is September 1. To most people it is just the start of another month, but to me, it is the start of the last month in which I will be in the states. Things got very real for me when I opend the mail box and found my airline tickets. The good news is that the tickets came, I get to leave out of Dayton and every thing seems to be in order. The bad news, and I mean really bad news, is that I leave at 10:05 AM. This means that I will miss possibly the biggest Ohio State football game of the year. This is devistating. Ok, maybe I am being a bit over dramatic about it, but seriously, I am really sad to miss the game. When people ask me what I will miss most about being away from home I have a hard time answering them. I mean yeah, I will miss my family and friends, but secretly I think Ohio State football.

As far as support goes, I still have $5922 to raise before I leave for Rome. For some reason I am not panicking. I trust that God will provide and that if it is his will for me to go to Rome, then He will make it happen and He will bring in the support. If he doesn’t want me to go to Rome, then no worries, I don’t want to be there if that is not where He wants me. With that said, I really do believe that God wants me in Rome. I haven’t had a light from the sky moment or a burning bush moment, but as I have sensed the Lord prompting me toward applying for STINT and support raising, I have taken steps of faith toward that end. Who knows from where the rest of the support will come? Not me. But if I knew, would that be faith?

single digits (yikes only 9 days to go)

Lord make it happen. If it is your will for me to go to Rome, then make it happen. That has been my prayer ever since getting back from STINT briefing in Colorado a few weeks ago. As Bob Wiley so eloquently said: “I’m baby stepping. I’m doing the work. I’m not a slacker! Give me! Give me! I need! I need! Give me! Give me!” I guess I kinda feel like Bob and some of the people I call feel like Leo Marvin.

If it is not the Lord’s will for me to go, then I don’t want to go, but I believe whole heartedly that Rome is where the Lord wants me at this point in my life. That is why I am not panicking right now about support. I truly believe that the Lord will provide and that He wants to provide, I guess that by providing so last minute means that God will get all the more glory. But that is just me trying to understand an indescribable and unfathomable God,
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9