Closing a Journal

I wrote on the last page of a journal I have been writing in since Jan. 2009. I always like going back and reading all of the places God has taken me, all the low and high moments I have experienced, and the ways I have grown. Most of its contents are between me and God, but I wanted to share a couple of things it reminded me of.

First, this summer I worked on Summer Staff at Young Life's Sharp Top Cove camp in Georgia. Every Sunday morning, after the campers had left Saturday night and before the new campers arrived Sunday afternoon, we would all get together and worship and be encouraged for the upcoming week. One Sunday, Jim Branch (speaker and director) had us all take a nametag and write down the name that we believe most of the time about ourselves and stick it on our shirt. We looked around and realized who most of us believe we are. "Not enough," "Trash," "Failure," and "Unlovable" were just a few. Then he had us tear up the name we call ourselves, write the name that God calls us on a new nametag, and stick it on. I realized that I call myself "fearful, falling apart, needy one" whereas God calls me "whole, healed one" and "mine." Just last week, I came to the realization that while I let the Lord heal my life before, I expect it to be over for good and then wonder why I continue to struggle so much. He did heal me from my pain and from myself, but also wants to be my daily healer and when I live my life on my own, I am ultimately refusing to let him be my healer. Healing can be a one-time event, but it is, more than not, a daily process. So, this week I have been calling God my "daily healer."

Secondly, the Lord has brought me to so many places this year that I have been before. He has brought me to these places as a way of reminding me of his underlying, constant faithfulness in my life.

• I went to SharpTop as a camper in May of 2008--happy to experience Young Life and unsure about college. I met Lindsay Oaks for the first time and got to talk with her. My grandparents came to visit the very last day of camp. I returned to SharpTop in June of 2009 happy to serve the campers and excited to get to know my fellow summer staffers. Lindsay was there as a head leader and we shared life stories and future hopes. My granddad had died since I was at SharpTop and my grandmother moved continents.
• I returned to Windy Gap (YL camp in NC) in the fall of 2009 as a leader with Sweetwater after going for the first time in the fall of 2006. First time, I sat behind a garbage can and wrestled with with my issues and with God and coming back I realized how much peace and life God had given me since then.
• I shared Urbana 2009 with close friends and I asked better questions. Urbana 2006 was great and 2009 built on what I learned. In 2006, I was looking for a short-term opportunity and in 2009 I was looking for opportunities after college. In 2006, I was exposed to issues such as human trafficking and in 2009 I was impressed with the amount of collaboration between mission organizations, the enablement of local missionaries, and the holistic view of missions.
• Every time I come back to Bryan after a break, I am reminded of all the things God has done for me in this place and all the things I have learned. I am grateful for the friends I have, the skills I have learned, and the person I am becoming.

Finally, Psalm 62 has really inflitrated my life and thoughts this year.

Psalm 62
For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath. Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them. Once God has spoken; twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love. For you will render to a man according to his work. (ESV)

Cultural Assumptions, Culture Shock

I am currently taking a class entitled "Intro to Teaching ESL." The class meets once a week on Tuesday evenings with a mixture of mission-minded people, education people, and communication majors who don't want to take a fourth semester of Spanish. I love the class for several reasons. The main reason is the teacher, Mrs. Becky Young. This lady is really quite amazing. She grew up as an MK in Ethiopia and moved around some before settling in Dayton, TN where she is the director of ESL at Dayton City Schools. Her passion, love, and concern for ELLs (English Language Learner) is readily apparent.

Every class period is a medley of a student presentation on one of our texts, her lectures, and some sort of hands-on activity. I look forward to class, but tonight was especially enlightening as we discussed the relationship between culture and language. We talked about the definition of culture, patterns of culture, the pitfalls of ethnocentrism and relativism, the damaging qualities of stereotypes, and culture shock.

Culture shock is defined as "the process of emotional responses and physiological reactions that a person experiences upon arrival or placement in a new cultural setting." Culture shock usually follows a pattern of 7 main stages including elation, anxiety, rejection, regresssion, re-entry, acceptance, and appreciation.

Elation is characterized by exitement, hope, anticipation, and opportunities are assessed wtih unrealistic optimism. This is where you love everything about the culture and think it is so enthralling and exciting. Generally, 2-week short term missionaries and tourists stay in this stage.

Anxiety follows elation as you realize that the culture is not as idealistic as you first made it out to be. If elation is overly optimistic, then anxiety is characterized by ultra-pessimism. As you realize the challenges before you, you may begin to think, "Wow! Not only am I not going to save every single soul (which is why I came), I may not even make a friend."

Continuing in the negative spiral, rejection enters the picture and the person begins to alienate themselves and exhibit some anti-social behavior. A very negative attitude towards the host culture pervades. As Mrs. Young described, "You look for and gravitate towards the McDonald's."

It gets worse before it gets better as regression hits. People that are forced into a culture often get stuck on this stage. The regression stage is the lowest emotional point during the transition as the newcomer realizes the permanence of the situation and becomes submissive on some level and bypasses opportunities for interaction and has a very hopeless attitude.

Re-entry happens when you rediscover the positive aspects of the host culture. Re-entry is apparent when you can look back and laugh at a deep faux pas, you begin to be more involved with others in the culture, and hopefulness begins to return.

Acceptance and appreciation soon follow with the development of friendships and becoming emotionally settled as well as building a support system in your new culture and you begin to take pride in the host culture and its accomplishments.

I really enjoyed be re-exposed to the idea of culture shock with our trip to India coming up. We will definitely experience culture shock at some levels, so it is good to think through the stages and realize where you are. On the other hand, we are also going to another culture for a short, definite period of time so the stages (especially regression) may not be as strong because (like it or not) we know in the back of our minds we are not staying forever.

Then came the best part of the class: the hands-on activity. We divided up into groups of four and were given a list of rules and a deck of cards. After we read the rules, they were taken up. As the game began, we were not allowed to talk or communicate with each other at all (we broke this rule numerous times). So, we played a round of the game and then two people moved on and we played a new round. Each time new people came, it seemed as though they did not understand the rules well. Amidst a rising level of frustration and confusion, the game continued. After four rounds, Mrs. Young stopped us and asked for feedback. After sharing our frustration, she revealed that each table had received a different set of rules.

She showed us the connection between our furstration and how we each were convinced we were abiding by the "right" rules and how we often enter into cultures in this way. We take our cultural assumptions into other cultures and assume that everyone there are operating on the same "rules." In entering other cultures, we have to be aware that others are operating on a different set of rules. We need to decide whose rules are going to set the tone, who is going to concede, and where compromise is possible.

I really appreciated the practical way of seeing how our cultural assumptions effect our perceptions.

(to enlarge, click on the slide)

(all credit given to Mrs. Becky Young of Bryan College and slides Culture and TESOL and to Dr. Patricia Davis-Wiley of UTK and her material Coping with Culture Shock)