A Year Later

I stand here amazed. Amazed that I made it through 2 1/2 years of school and floored by the range of lessons God has taught me through his Spirit, his Word, his people, and the many varied cirumstances he brings into my life.

I am also incredibly thankful for my friends that I have at Bryan. Freshman year I floated from friend group, avoiding some people and trying desperately to make it in other friend groups. I found my niche at the close of my sophomore year through my friends in the ACTS project and through the girls on my hall. Although I am no longer in the ACTS class or on the same hall, I have been overly blessed by the friends and relationships I have. One special friend in particular decided she needed to add herself to my to-do list since I have a habit of making and abiding by them.

One of the coolest things this year has been rooming with Rachel. I can't even describe what a hilarious, encouraging, diligent person she is and how much I have benefited from sharing a room with her and walking through college life with her. It's funny because we've known each other since freshman year when we were in an assigned CLF group together and we have had interactions with each other along the way, but never really had the chance to get to know each other further until she and another RA approached me and my awesome roommate from last year about rooming with us.

(This is Rachel very excited about eating cinnamon rolls and sporting her new engagement ring)

The first great thing that blessed my socks off this weekend was a visit from my beautiful sister Summer. She didn't come visit at all last semester and I wanted her to come visit before things got too hectic in the semester. A summary of some of the things we did:

• watched 4 movies/shows (I fell asleep during each one)


• talked for at least 3 hours straight on Saturday


• made 2 trips to Walmart

• 1 trip to Sonic, 1 nursery session at church, 1 ride home
  
  (that would be Summer, Mom, and me back at the ranch)

The second great thing that happened this weekend was that India Team 2010 got together and hosted a dinner and sharing time for India Team 2011. It is hard to believe it's been a year since we formed our team and began the intense process of getting to know each other and praying for people and situations we had not yet met. It was wonderful to look at India pictures from this summer and hear some of upcoming India team's questions. I just was blessed to be there tonight and am so expectant about the things the Lord is going to teach India Team 2011 through India and each other.

(Shannon, Andrew, Andrew, and Katlyn)

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)

So, what are you doing this summer?

Dear Friends and Family,

If you are reading this blog, then first let me thank you. Thank you for the significant, meaningful role you have played and are playing in my life. I am so excited to share an upcoming experience in my life with you.

As many of you know, I attend Bryan College where I am a sophomore planning to double major in Biblical Studies and Communications. Last semester, I attended an interest meeting for an opportunity Bryan features called the "ACTS project." The ACTS project is a missions class during the spring semester which culminates in an overseas "intership" in the summer. I went ahead and applied and before long, one of the directors talked to me about my interest and said he thought based on my past mission's experience, India would be a helpful, stretching experience. I prayed about it and agreed to become part of a four-person team headed to India this summer. My team and I have already begun to earnestly pray for each other and the people encounters we will have over the summer.

What will we be doing?
Good question. Word for the World is a an Indian-run ministry established by a man named Augustine of Asir. Bryan has partnered with Word for the World for the past several years. We will be working alonside them and under their supervision in a variety of ways.
Some of those ways include:

• visiting Chennai where Word for the World has their headquarters and ministering in leper colonies nearby
• teaching slum kids at a school in Mumbai
• ministering to elderly people and handicapped children in Mandurai; visiting villages still recovering from the effects of the 2004 tsunami

In spite of this list, the trip is not about us and what we are "doing." It's all about God, from beginning to end. It's about what God is doing around the world; how he is bringing people to himself from every race, every social status, and every living environment. We just have the opportunity to witness this up-close with India as the focus.

In light of this, I invite you to join me as I embark on this next step into what God is teaching and showing me. I especially ask for your prayers now and over the summer. I am realizing more and more that nothing happens, nothing changes, without first asking our heavenly Father and him changing it in the heavenlies. My team and I will be facing spiritual challenges and physical realities we have never experienced before and your prayer and support is needed.

With all affection, Savannah Stroud


Andrew, Kristen, Seth and Savannah