Isn't Italy famous for its traffic jams? ... Is Florence the city
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]ebook: Pasta, pizza, and Pinocchio: Questions and Answers about missionary service in Italy (part 3)
Missions in Italy
In this ebook, Pasta, pizza, and Pinocchio, Howard Culbertson answers questions he has been asked about missionary work in Italy. Originally published by what is now called The Foundry for the Nazarene Missions International mission book series, this book carried ISBN 0-8341-0612-4. Some material has been updated for this ebook edition.
Historical note: These answers reflect our experiences as missionaries in Italy during the years described in the original book. Some details have been updated, but many observations describe conditions at that time.
Latin was originally spoken in and near Rome and spread with Roman rule over much of ancient Europe. Over the centuries, regional varieties of spoken Latin developed into the Romance languages, including Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Romanian.
Latin remained an important language of scholarship and church life throughout the Middle Ages and well beyond the Renaissance. It also had a central place in the worship and official documents of the Roman Catholic Church. Its influence on European literature has been extensive.
During our years in Italy, we encountered many regional dialects and languages alongside Italian. All of our church services were conducted in Italian, the country's common national language.
Here is John 3:16 in older Italian wording:
Iddio ha tanto amato il mondo, che ha dato il suo unigenito Figliuolo, affinché chiunque crede in lui non perisca ma abbia vita eterna.
One little word serves both purposes among close friends: ciao (pronounced "chow"). Evangelical Christians in Italy often greet each other by saying "pace" ("peace"). In more formal settings, people say buongiorno ("good morning" or "good day") and arrivederci ("goodbye"). Remember the classic song Arrivederci, Roma?
Italian is often considered relatively approachable for English speakers. Even so, learning to speak it well takes time, practice, and a willingness to make mistakes.
Language learning involves a great many mistakes. It helps to follow Paul's admonition: "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought" (Romans 12:3, NIV). You're going to make mistakes, and people may laugh about them. How you react will help determine whether they're laughing at or with you.
During our years in Italy, our children spoke Italian almost better than English!
During our years in Italy, we encountered a wide range of attitudes toward the United States, from strong admiration to sharp criticism.
Some Italians saw the United States as such a paradise that, given the choice between going to heaven and going to the U.S., they might have chosen the U.S. We also encountered anti-American feelings. At times, I sensed resentment of America's wealth and political and military power. Some people also pointed to the mistreatment of Italian immigrants in the United States. Whatever its source, that resentment could become a barrier to communication.
I confess that at times I cried out in prayer, asking the Lord to hide my American identity behind His cross so that people would see Him. I wanted them to see me simply as a man, a sinner saved by grace who wanted to share that grace with them.
Sometimes we encountered contempt expressed in words like these: "You rich American, what do you know about life? Why don't you go back home and preach there? You've got enough problems in your own country."
During the late 1970s, illegal drug use was becoming a more visible concern in Italy. In the families we knew, respect for elders and close family ties played an important role in young people's lives. Many young adults continued to live with their parents until they married. We felt that these family relationships could help counter some of the pressures young people faced, although they did not eliminate the problem of drug use.
We found good medical care, although practices sometimes differed from those we knew in the United States. Those observations belong to the period of our missionary service and should not be taken as a description of current Italian health care. Italy's childhood vaccination schedule now includes protection against whooping cough, measles, mumps, and rubella.
One feature of Italian hospitals that surprised us was the number of visitors. During visiting hours, wards could be crowded with relatives and friends, some of whom brought food for the patients. These visits reflected the importance of family and friendship and could provide patients with comfort and encouragement.
Since our daughter Rachele was born in Florence, we had personal experience with Italian hospitals and patient care.
During our years of service, medical missions were not the focus of our work in Italy. Because Italy already had an established health care system, we concentrated our missionary resources on other ministries.
Our experience was primarily in Florence and central Italy. Winters tended to be wetter and summers drier, although conditions varied from place to place and from year to year. The sea helps moderate temperatures in coastal areas, while inland and mountain areas can have quite different weather.
Summers could be hot, and dry conditions made irrigation important for many crops. Our experiences in central Italy should not be taken as a description of the climate throughout the country.
During our years in Italy, many of the apartments we knew had central hot-water heating systems fueled by oil or natural gas. Because fuel was expensive, heating often operated on timers for limited periods in the morning and evening.
Some homes and church buildings we visited had little or no heating. People wore plenty of sweaters, and sometimes even wool underwear!
During the energy crises of the 1970s, high fuel costs affected daily life in Italy. In the communities we knew, people were accustomed to conserving energy. Air conditioning was less common than we were used to in the United States, and many people walked or used public transportation. Homes were often kept cooler in winter than American visitors expected.
These are observations from that period, rather than measurements of present-day energy use.
Many buildings we encountered were old masonry structures, some dating back several centuries, with little insulation. During our years there, government efforts to encourage energy-efficient construction and high fuel prices gave people reasons to improve insulation.
The renovations we carried out on the Florence church and parsonage included making the building more energy-efficient and less costly to heat. We added eight to ten inches of fiberglass insulation to ceilings that had none. We installed some double-glazed windows and added weather-stripping to windows and doors. Much of the building had never been caulked, so we used about twenty tubes of caulk to seal out cold air. We also doubled the insulation on pipes carrying hot water for heating.
Apartment living was well established long before our arrival. In the communities we knew, many people lived in apartments, including some farmers who lived in villages and traveled to their fields each day. The Italian homes we visited often seemed smaller than the American homes we were accustomed to.
Moving an entire house was not something we commonly encountered in Italy. Many buildings we knew were masonry structures, often with clay-tile roofs. Some older buildings used wooden ceiling joists or roof beams, while newer construction often used other structural materials.
Moving a masonry building would be a much more complicated undertaking than moving the wooden houses we had seen transported in the United States.
During our years in Italy, shopping centers were less prominent in the places we knew than they were in the United States. Naples and Milan had historic covered shopping galleries, but these differed from the large suburban malls familiar to many Americans.
Many shops occupied the ground floor of apartment buildings. People often shopped at neighborhood stores within walking distance of home or at an open-air market. These observations describe our experience at that time, rather than the full range of shopping options available in Italy today.
Continue reading: Fiats, Florence, and Furloughs
Isn't Italy famous for its traffic jams? ... Is Florence the city
with all the canals? ... Aren't your travel expenses on home assignment (deputation) paid by the
general church? ... [ more
]
