Wong family: spiritually alive and honored to serve in Italy

The Wong family (l-r): Shante, Jaene, Xavier (standing), Demire, Josue, Fred, Alise, Debora and Desiree. Photo by Karen Lim.

Writing for the Western Territory’s website, Captain Debora Wong described her family’s life:

We are the Wong family. I, Debora, am Italian; my husband is American-Chinese, and we served seven years as officers in the Western Territory in various appointments. I am editor of our publications and my husband is in charge of Youth/Candidates/Training.

We came to Italy years ago and we enjoy the work and the people a lot. Our children, ages almost 14 and under, are well integrated with the Italian kids now; they go to Italian school and they speak the language fluently…but it wasn’t always like this. In the beginning they could not understand a word and for a few months it was very hard. The culture of change was tremendous, but we overcame all the odds and God helped us all along.

Italy has very few officers—there are a little over 30 of us and there is an enormous need for them. We don’t have a lot of resources either, but we work with what we have. Compared to third world countries, we are very blessed in every way. We don’t lack for food or clothes, but we lack computers and organization. We have a nice apartment and a beautiful chapel, but we lack money to finance children’s camps and programs. We try to run social services but we don’t receive any financial aid or help from the state or the people.

The Salvation Army has been in Italy for over a hundred years; it is sad there are so few officers. And yet, many of us are very alive spiritually and feel as if the Lord is about to do great things to make us grow, perhaps not numerically, but spiritually. We are honored to serve in such circumstances and thank God for this opportunity.

Please pray for Italy.

Recently Captain Debora requested prayer for the future of Il Grido di Guerra (Italian War Cry), for the youth of the Italy Command—future events including the Italian Youth Congress and summer camps, and for health concerns within their family.