“Would you like to know what it is like to do mission with North Americans? Let me tell you a story,” said David Coulibaly, a ministry leader in Mali, West Africa.
Elephant and Mouse were best friends. One day Elephant said, “Mouse, let’s have a party!”
Animals gathered from far and near. They ate, and drank, and sang, and danced. And nobody celebrated more exuberantly than the Elephant.
the comments on all of my posts died a horrible death some time ago when I transferred my site to WordPress … so if you were going to leave a comment, and thought twice when you saw no others, think again.
Be a trailblazer, follow no path but your own, leave a thought …
On an amusing note, I was just emailing back and forth over the last hour with a friend who is on his Blackberry in the Congo right now.
This is a bit of a long post, but if you can take a few moments to read it, then to the best of your ability, please try to give me an answer at the end. I think this is an important thought for us to collect.
I am attempting to discover current practitioners who can describe original (new) and beneficial (effective and working) methods of team based Short-Term Missions (STM).
I am specifically interested in discovering STM team initiatives attempting specific development projects within the majority world (also known as the Third World or Southern world). Specifically projects focused on sustainable, community owned and community-wide incremental growth. SEE endnote 1 regarding my summary of difference between Relief and Development goals and initiatives.
It takes about a minute, and it is quite funny. Take a moment and …Watch the Video. This is not an eye exam, but it will test your perceptions … after you watch it, come back here and read my thoughts.
Over the last couple days, I once again found myself teaching at Vangaurd in Edmonton. I had a great time looking at development and internattional issues relating to Partnership. I gave a Readers Digest version of the following article, but I thought I would reproduce it here in its entirety. I am not sure about reprint info, so if I hear anything, I will take it down …
A Single Lucid Moment: Robert Soderstrom
As the plane buzzed back over the mountains, it was now just us and the villagers of Maimafu. My wife, Kerry, and I were assigned to this village of 800 people in the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. It looked as if we were in for a true Indiana Jones adventure!
The mountains were dramatic and thick with rain forest. No roads had ever scarred them. We had loaded a four-seater plane with cargo (we would fly out every three months to resupply) and flew for 30 bumpy minutes southwest to the mountain ridges. From the plane, the village looked very much like a shoe-box panorama from a grade-school science project.
Continue reading »
Look at the picture above … think about your answer then jump to the rest of the article. Continue reading »
This is a video of my time in the Congo last year …
This has to be one of the most interesting sites out there … brilliant and simple idea!
I just taught a session in Saskatoon where an old friend, Rob Shepherd graciously hosted me. At one of his sessions, Rob talked about the Five Stages of Cross cultural stress (the U- Curve Hypothesis). The point i liked was the 4 possible responses to regression and hostility … namely fight, flight, filter and flex … i have definitely seen a variety of these responses in international travellors …
Stage 1. Expectation and Optimism
Stage 2. Acceptance and Fascination
Stage 3. Frustration and Rejection
Stage 4. Regression and Hostility
Four possible responses:
1. Fight – for change
2. Flight – escape, go home
3. Filter – see only the bad of the present culture
4. Flex – work thought it.
Stage 5. Adjustments, Acculturation and Assimilation.
i am doing a day of training with the STM network … helping churches prepare to take teams around the world effectively.
An old friend Rob Shepherd was just talking about how our normal reactions to culture shock tends to follow a few normal patterns … i cant remember them all, but i will get them from him soon …
