OAC Publications
Borderlines
April 1998

FROM LUINO TO LUKE

An interview with Michela Piccolo

I was born and grew up in Luino, a little town on Lake Maggiore in North Italy. My father became a Christian in Germany - he'd never come across Christians in Italy - and after his conversion he went back home and started a church. Someone told him there was a Bible school in Rome, and the Lord provided the money for him to attend. That is where he met my mother.

I started to think about becoming a missionary when I was twelve, when I met an evangelist from Australia. At first I thought this meant becoming a nurse, because that is what all the biographies I read suggested. Then I asked the Lord, "Do you want me to be a nurse?" and he said "No!", but I started to study to be a nurse anyway.

To cut a long story short, I ended up becoming a fashion designer. Afterwards, the Lord called me to stay in Italy, where it is easier to find work as a fashion designer than as a nurse, so it seems God was right after all! I worked in Switzerland and Italy, and really enjoyed my job.

When I was twenty, I began working with children in my church, and also doing evangelism. Kurt Jost, who was the leader of Operation Mobilisation in Italy at the time, came to visit us, and I asked him if there was anything I could do. He told me about various options, including the Logos ship ministry and the LUKE programme in Britain. The same evening, he told my parents he thought I should go to LUKE. I was shocked, and my parents as well!

The next eight months were very hard. Many people were unhappy about me going so far away, but it was incredible how the Lord spoke to me during this period. The Lord has been very good to me. I went to England in 1994.

After my year with LUKE, I went back to work with the OM evangelistic team in Italy, which was in its last year of operation. While I was there I met Rob and Traci. I thought that I would never return to England, having only just got back to Italy. But Rob and Traci's prayers were effective, and here I am in Nottingham! After I've finished my training, I want to go back to Italy to serve the Lord. I would like to be involved in evangelism, particularly in motivating yong people to evangelise.