Since arriving in Paraguay, I have been flooded with new culture. It's a good thing. New people, buildings, squares, dogs, cats, kids, cars, buses, lights, food. you body acts differently than when you are home. you drink more water, you eat delicious food. Those are all good experiences. But sometimes, life takes a turn and if you’re not trained to buckle up and lean into the turn you may hit a wall or a tree and come to a dead stop. If that happens, then it can be very hard to pick up the speed you once had.
The plan was: Arrive in Paraguay, stay at a girls home and serve anyway we could. There’s no need to share Jesus or God because there was no need. So the whole idea was to help and serve in any way. No matter what it looked like.
I am traveling with a good friend. About a week into our stay, we needed to rush him to the hospital in Asuncion. It has been 4 days and he is all better but upon coming back to the house we are staying at we received some negative news. Something came up and the people that run the girls home needed to travel to another country because of their son who is in the hospital and they don’t know when they will be back.
They said that it would be better to come back in may. Now, that’s all fine and dandy for my friend, but I am going home in may and so I may not be able to see those girls again and say goodbye.
Thankfully, we have a place to stay until monday, and then we will most likely go to a family that has offered to let us stay with them. I guess that’s the way of living a “faith” lifestyle, you just need to trust and believe that you will be taken care of no matter how crazy or scary it gets. So now, among learning a new language and culture we now need to find a place to live or serve for the next few months. This may prove to be harder than we think. I’m not going to lie, I have thought about going home more times than I am willing to tell my friend, but I know that my going home option is always on the table. Especially if we are in the main city.
So now we are getting references together and fixing our resumes and writing a small testimony on how Jesus found us and then we will apply to new homes. It’ s important to realize that when you are traveling, you are the outsider and you should not bring your culture to them unless they ask. You should be willing to just learn and serve.
So, when life hands you a glass and tells you to go find lemons, you just need to bite down and lean into the turns and find lemons among oranges.
I find that it is hard for Americans to just abide and serve in the hard times. When we get in awkward situations we tend to either want to kick the door in or cower and become really shy. Whether you are just traveling or you’re on a mission like me, it’s really important to learn the ways of the society that you are in. Just like it is your responsibility to know the laws wherever you are. If you went before a judge and said that you didn’t know as your excuse, chances are that you wouldn’t get off easy. The judge would say It is your responsibility to know the laws. It’s really important to familiarize yourself with not only the laws that may be different than your own country but also the way people do things wherever you go.
For example, while here in Paraguay I was introduced to a tea type drink called Terere.
I learned that when you say thank you and hand it to the person pouring the water, that means that you are done and you will no longer be served. Well, I would say thank you every time that I would receive the cup and every time that I passed it back. Thankfully the people that I was with knew and understood that I hadn’t learned the custom yet and were gentle and understanding with me.
How many of you are traveling and what have you learned culturally? Let me know in the comments.
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