u w m

United World Mission in Charlotte, NC

Spent one of my Saturdays this month talking with UWM as a potential mission-sending organization for our family to Italy. Talks included a wide range of people: everyone from a peer-level observer, folks just signing on board with UWM, a potential supervisor in Europe, the executive VP of UWM and even the president of the organization. All the way around, I felt like we would be very accepted as a mission-family and our heart for the Italian people was well-received. I had ample opportunity to share my vision for Italy with the entire chain-of-command and there was a grand sense of resulting affirmation.

Currently, the UWM executive team is devising a potential budget for our family in Northern Italy, after which we will take a scouting trip to Rome and Mantua to dialogue with some national contacts they already have on the ground there. While there are no current UWM missionaries in Italy, potential partner ministries may include Campus Crusade for Christ (http://www.ccci.org/) and a national Italian called Italy for Christ (http://www.italyforchrist.it/). Both organizations have a strong presence throughout Italy and would be very collaborative partners for us – giving us access to a wide range of resources, personnel and initiatives already underway.

An interesting side note is that our own Italian teacher and missionary-mentor, Patrizia Franklin Nelson of Italian For Fun here in Nashville (http://www.italianforfun.com/) is a former associate of Italy for Christ and good friends with their founder and president. So, the connections we’ve made this month appear to be both providential and foundational to our progress towards Italy. We solicit your prayers along this line as well: the connections as well as the partnerships that we’re forming now will become the foundation upon which we’ll conduct ourselves as missionaries later on. We need additional supporters, the right Italian contacts and a very clear, precise vision.