by Sarah Johnson, a Pathways Intern
Each day of my Pathways Summer Missions Internship with Team Expansion, I saw or did something that I had never done before. I served in a sensitive country (meaning, it’s not safe for the missionaries there to disclose the location). The culture was so thick around me, it seemed I could breathe it in. And I did breath it in when my indigenous roommates burned incense every morning to the idols in the room! Although the sights and sounds were SOOO incredibly different, I found myself adjusting well. I didn’t hit highs and lows of excitement or frustration. I was just cruising – until we traveled to the other side of town. There, we covered our faces.
The visit itself went well; it was the ride home that got me. We were riding in public transportation, so the four of us American girls climbed into one row and faced the stares of the four local men across from us for the 30 minute ride. I had done this before. I knew the drill: avoid eye contact, look out the window, count the cows and monkeys. But this time when I looked out the window, I saw the reflection of my face. It was still covered, wrapped so that I would blend in. Everything was covered: my hair, my mouth, and my neck. Only my eyes peered out. It was weird. Really weird. But a thought crossed my mind, like it had every other time I experienced culture like this, “It’s okay. It’s just the way it is. You can handle it.”
But this time, I caught the thought before it could fly away. Yes, I could handle it. I had been handling it. But then I realized that just accepting the broken bits of culture and processing none of it meant that I was callusing my heart. It looked like I was adjusting well, but really, I was withdrawing, avoiding thinking about any of it.
In that moment I realized how dangerous this was. To simply put on my tough front and “handle” everything meant that I couldn’t truly sympathize with the culture. To accept everything because “that’s just the way it is” meant that my heart couldn’t weep with the people over the things that weren’t right. And more than that, it meant that I couldn’t truly dream about the change that could come. To experience the emotions that spur actions, I had to start letting myself really feel the culture around me.
Life got harder from there. When my roommates fought and screamed in their native language, I cried. When the girls in the hall made fun of me for my broken limited language, I was exhausted. I was so fully accepted into culture that my roommates pushed and bossed me around like they did with each other, and I didn’t want to go back into the room. But everyday my teammate and I would pray and pray and sing and read the Word of God and beg for strength. Everyday God gave us the strength to be fully immersed in culture for just one more day. And that was enough, because one day at a time is all we could take.
So how do you face culture shock and come out on the other side better because of it? You let the culture cut you. Because sometimes, it is sharp. Don’t be afraid of letting it scar you, because the scars that this country left on me make me get fired up about their need for Jesus! Culture shouldn’t be easy. It should shock you – if you let it. And if you do, you’ll find that the shock it delivers starts a spark in you that God can use to light a mighty fire.
