Culture Training

During our training session with the MacLeans we learned about the culture and the area that they are serving. Scott said to describe it in 3 words he would use:Beautiful, Needy, and Hard. Beautiful is the obvious word since Domodossola is in the valley of the Alps.

Needy-the city where they live is in a central location to many little villages. This area has about 70,000 people and of them the city of Domodossola has about 20,000. In all that area there is only about 100 evangelical believers.

Hard-people's hearts are very hard to the gospel. They are not hostile to it, just apathetic (they just don't care). They are Catholic because they are Italian. Beyond the sacraments of youth their religion does not affect their life, it is more of a cultural thing. This is why it takes a while for someone to become a believer. The most effective witness is to build a relationship with people and then they notice that our faith is one that makes a difference in our life.

We learned that depression and suicide are common in Italy. To go along with that cheating is quite accepted and they tend to be very suspicious. Some things that they value are family, food, and their appearance. They never go out sloppy. Some things that they don't value is time, they are never in a hurry (unless driving), tactfullness, they say what they think, and to my personal horror, ice. They drink warm drinks! They won't go out with wet hair or dislike fans and drafts.

It was great that we were able to speak to the MacLeans while they are still in the states. This is such valuable information to prepare us for this cross cultural ministry. Tune in to the next post to learn what the benefits of our trip will be.