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Culture Shock Revisited

A. W., South Asia

In our first short-term missions trip to a small country in South Asia, there were so many new experiences that our whole family of four suffered some degree of culture shock. There were new foods, new customs, and a new language. We saw a poisonous snake our third night there. The two lefties among us had to learn to use their right hands for eating, giving, and receiving. Having servants dismayed me. Dark-skinned women would surround us, reaching out to stroke the blonde heads and pinch the pale cheeks of our five-year-old twin boys. Sullen men stood around us, just staring. We were offered food that was unclean, or too spicy, or unknown. Vehicles of all sizes played “chicken” on the one-lane roads. It didn’t take us long to realize we were experiencing culture shock.

Going through our first four-year term as full-time missionaries, I felt a euphoria that helped me gloss over the difficult things. It was exciting to have finally achieved our dream—to be serving the Lord in this country, to be learning the language, making friends, adapting to the culture, and getting involved in various ministries. I thought to myself, I did three short term trips to South Asia and one full term, and each trip has felt easier. Re-entry to the mission field after our first, year-long furlough should be no problem.

Boy was I wrong. Our furlough in the United States made me realize how much I had missed my freedom as a woman in America: the freedom to go where I wanted, to dress as I wanted, and to talk to anyone. My husband and I savored privacy and intimacy anew—we hadn’t been able to walk holding hands in a Muslim society! We were also happy to get back to a place that had diet foods, all kinds of labor-saving products, and helping organizations. Laws and mechanical things worked! So a year later, at the end of our “home ministry” in the United States, I was not happy to have to leave all these good things again.

When I stepped back into life in South Asia with that reluctance and without the “first-term euphoria,” the negative things hit me more. One day as I was being driven down a path on a rickshaw, I suddenly felt overwhelmed. My heart started to beat faster, and I felt panicky. Clenching my seat, I inwardly screamed, Get me out of here! On another day, we were invited to the home of a man who we had been told had two wives. As we entered the small, crowded, mud house with few windows, the darkness and a sense of evil oppressed me. Again my soul cried out, What am I doing here? I began to feel agitated and anxious much of the time.

In addition to this personal anxiety, my coworker, the director of the project to which I was assigned, announced that she and her husband were leaving the field. This would leave me in charge of the whole project. I felt woefully unprepared and inadequate for the job. I knew nothing about the business and management end of the work. I prayed for the Lord to send someone to help me, preferably one of the missionary candidates I had met who had some experience with business.

The Lord did not leave me in a place of desperation and anxiety. How did He help me through that time? First of all, I was sure of our call. My husband and I had both experienced a clear call to serve the Lord in this country in our personal devotions during our second short term here. There was no mistake; we were supposed to be here.

Second, we were accountable to our supporters. I couldn’t run away; I had to answer to them. And since I wasn’t going to leave my husband, I had to stick it out somehow.

Third, I had God’s Word. I knew that He has promised that whenever He asks us to do something, He will equip us for it. I clung to promises such as 1 Thessalonians 5:24, “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it”; Isaiah 41:10, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand”; and 2 Corinthians 9:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”

The Lord answered my prayer for help. But instead of the American missionary I had in mind (who would need a couple years to raise support, a couple more years to learn the language, and lots of trials and errors to find how business works in this culture), He sent a young national man who had experience in business and a talent for crafts. He also spoke six or seven languages, had friends and contacts everywhere, could deal tactfully with people of all ages and social status, could preach at the drop of a hat, and wanted to learn Christian business principles! I was encouraged to press on when I saw God’s plan and provision being revealed.

The Lord further encouraged me to direct my attention to Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” I realized that God was taking all my past experience, as a Girl Scout, artist, teacher, consumer, housewife, and mother, and molding them together to fit me for this particular work at this particular time. Yes, I was even learning some new skills in late midlife, in areas where I thought I had no ability. I didn’t need to be an expert, with a specialized degree or professional experience. God just wanted me to be yielded to Him, and He would take care of the rest.

In the place of anxiety and fear, I began to feel excitement and joy in being carried along in the plan of God. I have no idea how long God will keep me here. But I now have confidence that He will fit me for whatever tasks He asks me to do and He will guide me along the way.