Cross Cultural Training

 

While our commissioning in June of 1982 was the end of our application process it began a new phase. Our application seemed to take a long time but after conferring with mission colleagues, we had nothing to complain about. Actually, I found the process worthwhile in that it helped us to confirm our calling, define our beliefs, examine our motives and overall discern if we felt we were right for not only a new career, but a whole new life.

Looking back, I marvel at how culturally ill-equipped and inexperienced I was. I was born and raised into a typical lily white suburb in northeast Ohio in the 1950s and 60s. I was never around an African-American until college. Grade school through high school the only Asians I remember seeing were the Taketa sisters. April Taketa was my age in elementary school, but I could only look at her from afar since we were assigned seats alphabetically by our last names. She was always on the other side of the room. The only person I remember from some other country was a British kid that showed up at my school bus stop for a year or two. In the era of the Beatles, simply speaking with his British accent made this kid super cool. All the girls would swoon and us native born males had no defense.

Cities for me, were exciting to drive through but scary to be in. For food, I only knew meat and potatoes, hamburgers and French fries. Pizza was about the only “foreign” food I’d had. I don’t remember any Mexican restaurants until the Chi Chi’s chain came to Ohio around 1980. Likewise, Chinese restaurants were rare to non-existent and I don’t think I ever went to one until near the time we went to Thailand. Thai food? Maybe there were some Thai restaurants in the major cities but certainly not in northeast Ohio. We couldn’t even find books on Thailand in our local libraries. The Karen people? We could find no information on them at all.

Fortunately, while I’ve never been cured of all my character flaws or lackings, I think I have at least mellowed some. International Ministries must have seen some hope for me and in an effort to smooth out the rough edges, after our commissioning we began some cross cultural training programs.  I don’t remember now what all we did but I know there were books to read and sessions to attend.

The most memorable of these programs was the Missionary Orientation Conference (MOC) held at a conference center called Cedar Glen near Toronto, Canada. We attended along with American Baptist colleagues Robin Harvey and Gary Bennet and the 4 of us are pictured above. MOC was an interdenominational program, with people from a number of denominations and organizations. Growing up in American Baptist Churches, I understood that among the Baptists, we were perceived as leaning toward the more liberal side. But the group at MOC saw all Baptists as blood shot eyed, finger pointing, foot stomping, pulpit pounding, altar leaping, fire and brimstone preachers incapable of talking about anything other than hell and damnation. While I must confess, I admire a little damnation every now and then it was an odd feeling to be put in such a box. For us and our IM colleagues the MOC wasn’t a very positive experience, but it did serve to expose us to a variety of cultures and was a step in learning something of how to get along with people different than us.

Toronto was also a fun place to be and we had some free time to explore. China town was exotic and looked a lot like China (as far as we could tell). There was also a China exhibit at the Toronto Science Center which we were able to visit (Photo above with Marcia and Robin Harvey). We also got to do some regular touristy things like look up at the CN Tower which was the tallest structure in the world at the time and we even got to see Roberta Flack in concert.

Looking back, I’m not sure just how or where we learned it, but maybe the main lesson in cross cultural training is to always be a learner. We need to keep in mind that we don’t have all the answers. Where ever we go, the people have already been there for centuries or millennia and they are well equipped to thrive and survive without us. So, we need to watch and learn then contribute as we can and as God leads. God created us as cultural beings so culture must be good even when it is different from our own. We need to find the balance between letting people be who they were created to be culturally but at the same time be agents of change for the better. What’s right and good, what’s wrong and bad, and what is our own cultural bias is not always easy to discern.

The other part of the training I remember is about what to expect when experiencing culture shock when moving to a new country and culture. Various authors have different ways to explain it, but for me, I would summarize it by breaking it down to three general phases:

1.      Everything is new, exciting and fun for the first few months (we like everything)

2.      It might be new, but nothing is exciting or fun for several months (we like nothing)

3.      After a time, it feels like some things are good, some are less good, but it’s all OK, I can live here and adapt ( gradually it all feels “normal)

Eventually, we spent about 20 years living in Thailand so I suppose we adapted well enough that it felt like home to us. We still miss being there.