Susie
  • Home
  • About
  • Give
  • Photos
  • Subscribe
  • Contact


It was overwhelming . . .

May 28, 2014 by Susie

A week ago Sunday I went to some wedding festivities. I’ve actually been to multiple weddings since then (it’s been a crazy few weeks), but this one was unique in that the bride was a North American. She met her husband (who is from My Country) at college in NYC, and came out to My Country for a week to get married. I didn’t get a chance to talk to the bride, but I did get to talk to her mom, who came out for the week as well. She said that it was very overwhelming, and I believe it. They got here on Wednesday, and on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday, were the central parts of big celebrations with cultural implications that they didn’t understand, surrounded by people whose languages they couldn’t speak. I would have been overwhelmed, too.

But I didn’t attend that wedding within my first week here in My Country. By the time I went, I knew what to expect, what to do, when I had choices in what to do and when I didn’t, I knew several people there, I could speak two languages with them, and I thought that it was fun.

This experience of learning and growing and understanding and adapting is what NTM calls e2. We learn to be relevant in the city, which will allow us to be able to make a difference here as well as better prepare us to be able to adapt to life among an unreached people group in the near future.

I’ve often thought that through this e2 process I’ve gone “from weird to weird.” When I first set foot in My Country, I was very weird by their standards. Now I’m not so weird here, but things that I’ve adapted to here will be very weird by US standards. No set times? Dinner at 9 or 10 at night? You can stop by anyone’s house at any time? There isn’t really a word for “please?” etc. I actually read an article that it explains it well, so if this update isn’t too long already you can go read it here.

Since that wedding day of the North American, my e2 coordinator has been out here and met with people here to see how they think that I’ve done in e2. And they said that I have learned to integrate into life here, so I officially “passed” e2! It doesn’t mean that I’m done learning and growing, but it does mean that that isn’t my “full-time job” anymore.

So what’s next? It’s a good question with perhaps a long answer. I’ll keep it brief by saying that I’ll be kept plenty busy with PGA (People Group Assessment) and linguistics “stuff,” most of it on my computer for now. But there is exciting news . . .

From July through September I’m planning on coming back to Wisconsin for a visit! Since I’m in this interim stage, and actually a lot of my work can now be done from anywhere, I thought it would be a great time to come back and visit some of you while I continue to work on my PGA and linguistics “stuff.” Hooray! Then I can tell you more about what I’m thinking for the future and where I may be heading.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

More Posts:

« PGA continued
That’s a lot of rice »

Archives

  • July 2023
  • May 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • September 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • April 2021
  • January 2021
  • November 2020
  • September 2020
  • July 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • July 2011
  • May 2011
  • January 2011
  • August 2010
  • About
  • Blog
  • Home
  • Give
  • Photos
  • Subscribe
  • Contact

Disclaimer: This personal ministry website is provided by Ethnos360 as a courtesy to its members. Ethnos360 makes no warranty regarding the accuracy of the information on these pages. Opinions expressed are provided by members in good faith, but are entirely those of the member and do not necessarily represent policy, doctrinal position, or opinions of Ethnos360. If you encounter information that you consider questionable, please e-mail the Ethnos360 web team.

Susie

© Copyright 2023 Ethnos360. All rights reserved.

Log In

  • 