Hope Garnish

Building Christ-centred discipleship in Turin Italy

What’s it like…preparing to go

“You’re moving to Italy? When can we visit?!” Whenever we share that we’re re-locating to Tuscany, people’s eyes light up. Rolling hills, cypress trees lining winding roads, guaranteed golden sunshine, endless vineyards and olive groves, and of course the world-famous gelato ... who wouldn’t want to live there?

I wasn’t cut out for mission

‘Would you ever consider going abroad to be, you know, ... a missionary?’ Two years ago, if you had challenged with me with that question, I would probably have just laughed.

Focus on…Italy

“Let’s get one thing straight. Your Italy and our Italia are not the same thing. Italy is a soft drug peddled in predictable packages, such as hills in the sunset and olive groves. Italia, on the other hand, is a maze ... you can go round and round in circles for years.”

A New Culture!

After a few years in northern Italy, we have moved ‘home’ to Sicily. Here I grew up, here my parents laboured. Palermo is the 2018 Italian ‘Capital of Culture’. And what a feast of richness in this city, capital of Sicily, with over 1 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area, defined by many as ‘the most conquered’ of world cities.

Learning to Love Others as God Loves Us

It was late on Christmas Eve when I got the call. Fabiano’s Mum was furious. Fabiano had just wrestled her to the ground to prise a dog out of her embrace and thrust his sister flying back towards the door as he stormed out back to his Dad’s.