I finally know that I belong....

For those of you who started your stint year in August or September, you're finally reaching that time of year where you might find that you're starting to "normalize" in your new culture. Maybe you hit bottom around the holidays and now you're discovering that you have good and bad days... just like... like, uh... like home.

What's more, as the end of the (stint) year rapidly approaches you'll start realizing that there are things about this culture that are YOURS and you want to take it home with you. Or maybe you realize that this is home more than the good Ol' US of A.

As for me, I like songs that put a smile on my face and remind me of how I'm feeling today. And so, allow me to introduce you to Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele and "Oh, Paris!"

RIP OFF!

One of the hardest things for me to deal with on STINT was when someone totally ripped me off. A few of you may have heard my story about the Overpriced Potato that caused me to go insanely off my rocker and yell at an entire market full of people that I was being unfairly treated.

Here's a little news item that caught my attention: A couple on vacation in India was charged TWO HUNDRED bucks for some street food.

In other news, Mmmmmmm, samosas!

How about you guys? And good rip-off stories this year?

When the dinger goes off...

This has nothing to do with the title, I just got this picture in a batch of animals dressed up for Halloween and it cracked me up.

My wife Kim and I have a saying for when we feel like we are done with something -"the dinger went off". Its that emotional reaction way down inside that tells me I want to bail out and do something else, that I've hit the wall, that I need a break.

Well, many of you have been gone for 2 months now. From my experience, this is about when a stinter's dinger goes off. For some of you, it's already happened. (The earliest I ever heard was a woman in her first week on location, because she had just got the worst haircut of her life the day before she left the country.)

But Now is a normal time to wake up and wonder "where am I, what have I done?" The adrenalin is gone. Newness has worn off. You've learned stuff about your roommate that scare you. You long for your favorite...food, chair, TV program, ice cream, football games, coffee shop, whatever. You're tired of a hearing/speaking a new language. And for the 90% of you that have been on a summer project of some sort before, this is about the time when you get ready and go back home.

Except you're not going home, and the favorite ____ is not there. Weloome to the stress cycle. Welcome to home sick.

How do you move through this time? here's a few suggestions...(oh, and check your stint playbook..)

As a team, talk about where each one of you are with this. Give it a rating, a number, a letter grade. Call it an animal. Doesn't really matter. Just get it out there objectively.

Remember, this is normal. You are not going crazy. You are not WRONG, BAD, or unfit for STINT.

Don't check out and spend all your time watching all your videos or being on facebook all the time. That can become medication to keep you from really dealing with what you are feeling and opening up your heart to the Lord and others near you...not to mention understanding yourself better.

Take time to pour your heart out to God and your friends. Write the honest thoughts of how you're doing in your journal. Tell your team. Lean on each other. And go somewhere and laugh about all of this together Its okay. So you hate the fact that you haven't had consistent hot running water and you fantasize about hot showers that last 30 minutes and blast all your skin off. That's actually pretty funny stuff.

Some of you may really be spiraling down and feel like you're drowning. Tell the Lord exactly how you feel. And tell your team leader. They want to help you. Team leaders, tell your team about your self. They want to help you too. (And let your coaches in country and in the US know too. We all want to help, but can't if we don't know.)

I can often feel like the dinger is going off, even while in the US. To paraphrase the disciples in the boat with Jesus - "Jesus, uhm, we're about to die here; could you wake up and help us out a bit? Do you not notice or care what is happening?" I find his response kind but firm. "Why so timid, you men of little faith." I'm learning Jesus is teaching me about His constant involvement and protection in my life. And that He is wanting my faith to grow. (Mark 4:36-41)

Oh if your dinger has not gone off, do 2 things. Listen to those in need, and get ready. Your turn will be coming.

One Dog Allowed

Lima, Peru has just passed a law that residents in the city can only own one dog. This is an interesting clash of values for us as residents of the U.S.A. What can we learn about Peruvian attitudes toward community, personal responsibility and concepts of freedom from this legislation?

And what can we learn from the fact that no similar ban exists for cats?

Meanwhile, in China we see winged cats. I'm not kidding, and no, it's not a hoax. *

Also in China we can see evidence of the difference between a guilt-based and shame-based culture as a major city decides the easiest way to deter jaywalkers is to post pictures of the jaywalkers in the newspaper.

*It's just matted hair. Sorry to wreck the illusion.

Learn A New World with Cheryl Boyd

First, Cheryl started out by sharing with us her obsession with the Olympics. In great detail. Because she loves the Olympics like crazy.


She started having a burden for Eastern Europe as she learned about Nadia... that she wanted her to be happy, that she wanted her to know Jesus.


*Defining Culture: The customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious or social group.

* Remember that there are good and bad parts of culture, but hesitate to label these things quickly. Some things are neutral, even, and make us uncomfortable so we want to label them as bad.

*Here's the Kwast model of culture.

* Being a servant. Philippians 2:1-16. What did Christ give up to "minister cross-culturally" to you? What things have you already given up or do you anticipate having to give up in order to serve the students in the culture where you are going? What do you anticipate being the hardest sacrifice to make?

* If culture is hard for you, that can be God's gift to stretch you and help you grow. Don't give in to the temptation to abandon learning the local language.

*Don't make "Little America" in your flat. "We'll let our culture ROAR in our flat tonight." Enter into the world of your students rather than trying to re-create America and bring your students into it.

*We are looking for a Biblical culture.

*Cultural Ministry Cycle:

Honeymoon is when you say, "I'm so glad to be eating roaches today! What a great story for my blog."

Pit of Despair is when you walk through the market and think, "This could be like a video game and I'll see how many people I can kick in the shins."

Normalization is when you start to balance these things out, and move to a good place of recognizing the good and bad things about your culture and your host culture.

*Cheryl shared the story of a student who came to Christ through a stinter who was used by God to enter into culture and get to know, love and share the gospel with her.

At the Denver Airport!

I saw this little fella today at the Denver airport. It's a gargoyle coming out of a suitcase. The write up on it said that it is designed to be above a person's head to "watch your baggage" and make sure it arrives safely.

I am sure this teaches us something about the culture and religion of the people of Denver. That and the enormous blue horse bucking out in a field with glowing eyes. Didn't get a picture of that one, though.

These are the sort of observations that can help us as we "Learn a New World" in the culture we're headed to. Okay, so maybe it would be false to assume that the people of Denver are supersitious and really think that gargoyles will watch over their luggage. In fact, it probably shows the opposite... that they feel comfortable making jokes about belief in the supernatural in some way. Of course, the colored murals near the baggage claim tell us other things about the people of Denver as well... everything from a desire for peace, a distaste for war, environmentalism and more is revealed in that art. And of course the fact that there is a rotating baggage claim for skis tells us a little something about the culture as well.

When we see these strange little oddities that make us say, "This is not like my airport back home" we can take an opportunity to learn more about the culture that has created the airport we're in!

The Great Peruvian Guinea Pig Festival

Here's a great photo essay about the Peruvian festival of the guinea pigs, in which the little guys are dressed in fancy clothes, fattened up and then... eaten.

Warning: There are before and after pictures at the link above.