Missions in Italy
3. Fiats, Florence and furloughs
In this electronic book (e-book), "Pasta, pizza and Pinocchio,"
Howard Culbertson answers questions he has been asked about missionary work in Italy.
Originally published for the Nazarene Missions International mission book series, this
Nazarene Publishing House publication carried ISBN number 0-8341-0612-4. Some material
has been updated for this e-book edition.
- Is Fiat really an Italian car? Somebody told me they were made in Russia.
- Fiat is the major Italian car manufacturer. It dominates
the Italian market even more than General Motors dominates the American automobile market.
Its 127 model car has been the largest selling car model in all of Europe for the past several
years. Fiat has sold complete factories to other countries, including Spain and the former Soviet
Union. Cars made in these countries, however, are not marketed under the Fiat label.
Interestingly enough, Fiat also owns La
Stampa, one of the world's most influential newspapers, and is the owner of one of Italy's
top professional soccer teams, Juventus.
- What does Fiat mean in Italian?
- It's simply the first letters of the factory's name, like
GE for General Electric or GM for General Motors. The letters stand for Fabbrica Italiana
Automobilistica di Torino. Fiat is a bona-fide word in English where it means "sanction" or
"decree," but in Italian, "fiat" is meaningless apart from it being an acronym.
The main Fiat factories are located in Turin and many of the
Nazarenes in that city work for Fiat.
- Isn't Italy famous for its traffic jams?
- Even with smaller cars, those old cities built for horses
can get jammed up. And it has been said that inside every Italian is an ancient charioteer trying to
get out. To the outsider they seem to drive with unparalleled ferocity, with no quarter given or
expected. That seems to include pedestrians.
- Will you take the car you're now using on furlough (home assignment) back to Italy with
you?
- No. For several reasons: First, it's an eight-year-old
Chevrolet with over 100,000 miles on it. Finding parts for it and a mechanic to work on it in Italy
would be a major problem. Secondly, it consumes too much gasoline for Italy. Third, it's too big
to maneuver well in the older central parts of many of Italy's cities. Driving and parking it would
be major problems.
- What kind of a car do you drive?
- We had a Fiat minivan during our first term. The
Longs have a Volkswagen bus and the Lovetts have an Opel which the Fullers owned before
them.
Because of the high gasoline prices (a gallon costs about
four times what it does in the U.S.), we do ride the train a lot. Buses are also used ... and I have
both a bicycle and a motorcycle which I use to get around in Florence.
- Is Florence on the sea?
- No. But it is cut in half by a river, the Arno. This river
runs westward about 50 miles to Pisa. There it flows into the
Tyrrhenian Sea.
- Is Florence the city with all the canals?
- No. Venice is the Italian city which has 160 little
canals instead of streets. The sidewalks of this "most glamorous city in the world" (according to
writer Kate Simon) use 400 arched footbridges to cross the canals.
We do not, as yet, have a church in that island city which
served as the setting for one of Shakespeare's plays, "The Merchant of Venice."
- Wasn't Florence the city that had that big flood years ago?
- Yes, a disastrous flood in 1966 destroyed or at least
damaged many of Florence's art treasures as well as homes and belongings.
Several Nazarene families were caught in that flood. One
elderly member of the church was forced up on her rooftop by the rising waters. There, in that
cold November weather, this elderly believer had to wait for three days before being rescued.
- How big is the Church of the Nazarene in Florence?
- It runs about 45 in Sunday morning attendance with a
building capacity of about 100. While it's never had more than 45 members since its inception in
a living room in 1948, the Florence congregation has been a productive one. From its ranks have
come four pastors, District Superintendent Scognamiglio, and the man who heads up the Billy
Graham Italian film ministry.
- Are the services in English or Italian?
- It's practically an all-Italian church. One German-French family and an English lady who
married an Italian make up the "foreign section." So services are conducted exclusively in
Italian.
- For how long are you home?
- The standard term of service is four years in Italy,
followed by a year of home assignment (or furlough).
- What changes did you notice in the U.S. on your return home?
- The affluence of the U.S. really hit us hard. Nearly
every little church now has six microphone outlets on the platform and a giant sound control
panel in the back with 57 knobs on it!
People are talking about entertainment stars and sports
heroes I've never heard of.
Even the names of the cars have changed. Recently, in one
city, someone was pointing out their house to me. "It's the one over there with the aspen in front,"
she said. "Hmmmm. I really can't tell the trees apart too well in the winter, I replied. Then I heard
a snicker. I turned around and she laughingly told me hers was the house with the Dodge Aspen
in front.
- Who makes up your deputation schedule? Does the department tell you where to go?
- A missionary can make up his slate of services any
way he chooses. He can set it up totally on his own. Or he can let the Department of World
Mission office do it for him ... or any combination of the two. The Department has a full-time
person who helps missionaries with their scheduling. Missionaries never go anywhere unless
they are first invited. The initiative always lies with the local church or district in scheduling a
missionary speaker.
- Don't missionaries on home assignment ever get any time off?
- A missionary's speaking schedule will never be any
fuller than he himself allows it to be. Most missionaries on home assignment will have at least
two weeks off at Christmas and New Year because there's very little
demand for missionary speakers during that time of the year. There will also be other times
throughout the year when they will block off time to be with their families and to rest.
- Aren't your travel expenses on home assignment paid by the general church?
- No. These come out of deputation offerings given by
local churches where we hold services. Whatever is left after the travel funds are deducted goes
into an equipment fund for our work on the field.
- Doesn't the general church furnish you with a car to use on home assignment?
- No, it doesn't. Transportation is always one of the
major problems facing a missionary coming home on furlough. (The other one is housing.) To
ask the General Board to furnish automobiles for missionaries on home assignment would mean
that funds would have to be diverted from other global outreach programs. . . . [ continue reading ]
Page: <<
Prev | Introduction |
1. The Leaning Tower, the Lira, and
Women's Lib | 2. Italian, Illegal Drugs, and Insulated
Buildings |
3. Fiats, Florence, and Furloughs |
4. The Military, Missionaries, and the
Mafia | 5. Marco Polo and Ronald McDonald&
nbsp; | 6. The Cerratos, Alabaster Churches, and&
nbsp;Work Crews | 7. Communism, Catholicism, and the Chari
smatics | 8. Sincerity, Self-support, and Sowing the&
nbsp;Seed | 9. Books, Broadcasting, and the Bible
College | 10. Culture Shock and Carpeting
| 11. A Word from My Heart &n
bsp;| Next >>
|
The military, missionaries and the Mafia
 | Does the
Mafia give you any trouble? . . . Do we need more missionaries in Italy? . . Does the church face
any restrictions from the Italian government? . . . . [ read
more ] |
SNU missions course materials and syllabi
Howard Culbertson, 5901 NW 81st, Oklahoma
City, OK 73132 | Phone: 405-740-4149 - Fax:
405-491-6658
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License. When you use this material, an acknowledgement of the source
wouild be appreciated.
