Cross-Cultural Craziness

Things didn’t seem as crazy to us in Papua New Guinea as they seem now that we are back and have been reflecting on our time for the last few weeks.  Its amazing how normal the strangest things can become just being in the middle of them for a while.  We’ve had the opportunity to share at two of our supporting churches, as well as our home church’s mission team, and with a myriad of individuals about our time overseas, and judging by the reactions we get and some of the questions, it really is a whole other world down there with its own challenges and complexities.

If you think about it, there are so many new things a new missionary has to face moving and living overseas: new home, new neighbors, new climate, new food, new friends, new jobs, not to mention a new language and a new culture.  All of these things mean one very important thing to the missionaries’ mental, emotional and spiritual health: stress.

A couple of months back we read an excellent book called Culture Shock by Myron Loss which highlighted some of the stressful things new missionaries face when moving overseas.  When Beth & I first read it, we literally laughed out loud just taking a step back and actually realizing how crazy stressful things really were.  It also helped to explain why we had fallen into some of the discouragement we had.

In his book Culture Shock* the author Myron Loss shares Dr. Thomas Holmes research  on determining stress levels.  “Through extensive research covering many peoples form many countries, Dr. Thomas Holmes and his associates have designed a table for determining the degree of stress caused by adjusting to change. Points are assigned to each life change, and these are called Life Change Units.”

Table 1 – The Stress of Adjusting to Change by Dr. Thomas Holmes
Rank	Event				Life Change Units
1	Death of Spouse				100
2	Divorce				73
3	Marital Separation				65
4	Jail Term				63
5	Death of Close Family Member				63
6	Personal Injury or Illness				53
7	Marriage				50
8	Fired at Work				47
9	Marital Reconciliation				45
10	Retirement				45
11	Change in Health of Family Member				44
12	Pregnancy				40
13	Sex Difficulties				39
14	Gain of New Family Member				39
15	Business Readjustment				39
16	Change in Financial State				38
17	Death of Close Friend				37
18	Change to Different Line of Work				36
19	Change in Number of Arguments with Spouse				35
20	Mortgage Over $10,000				31
21	Foreclosure of Mortgage or Loan				30
22	Change in Responsibilities at Work				29
23	Son or Daughter Leaving Home				29
24	Trouble with In-Laws				29
25	Outstanding Personal Achievement				26
26	Wife Begins or Stops Work				26
27	Begin or End School				26
28	Change in Living Conditions				25
29	Revision of Personal Habits				24
30	Trouble with Boss				23
31	Change in Work Hours or Conditions				20
32	Change in Residence				20
33	Change in Schools				20
34	Change in Recreation				19
35	Change in Church Activities				19
36	Change in Social Activities				18
37	Mortgage or Loan Less than $10,000				17
38	Change in Sleeping Habits				16
39	Change in Number of Family Get Togethers				15
40	Change in Eating Habits				15
41	Vacation				13
42	Christmas				12
43	Minor Violations of the Law				11

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Myron Loss goes on to report, “An individual’s rating is determined by adding the points of all of the life changes which have been experienced within the past year.  According to Holmes’ research, a score less than 150 indicated only one chance in three of having a serious change in health during the next two years.  A score between 150 and 300 indicated chances of one in two.  A score of over 300 meant danger; there was an eighty percent chance for a major health change (disease, surgery, accident, or mental illness) in the next two years.”

“It is enlightening to sum up the points for the average first term missionary,” shares the author as he compiles the events that would typically make up the first term missionaries experiences:

Change in Financial Stress					38
Change to Different Line of Work					36
Change in Living Conditions					25
Revision of Personal Habits					24
Change in Work Hours or Conditions					20
Change in Residence					20
Change in Recreation					19
Change in Church Activities					19
Change in Social Activities					18
Change in Number of Family Get-Togethers					15
Change in Eating Habits					15
Change in Language Used Daily (author’s insertion)					50
				TOTAL	299
Additional Change Possible
Marriage					50
Gain of New Family Member					39
Personal Injury or Illness					53
Change in Health of Family Member					44
Wife Begins or Stops Work					26
Begin or End School					26
Change in Schools					20
(Additional Points Possible)
				TOTAL	258

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The author hits his point home with the following summary: “Of the 258 additional points possible, the average first termer is probably involved in changes adding up to 100 -150 points.  Therefore, we can say that a normal first term missionary worker is running at or above 400 LCUs. Still, many of the stressful events involved in cross-cultural transition are not included in the table …A score of over 300 indicate(s) and eighty percent chance of a major health change (disease, surgery, accident, or mental illness) in the next two years.” [emphasis mine]

Wow.  Two things can be gleaned form this information:

First, missions is hard, in a practical sense.  We can attest to this fact from personal, though limited, experience (since we have only been on the field for eight months).  This doesn’t account for other things like spiritual warfare and other potential barriers to mission work overseas.  It is incredibly difficult to process so much change at once.  This much stress can be hard on your marriage, your parenting, other friendships and even on your walk with the Lord

Second, but more importantly, it is a testament to the Lord that there are missionaries surviving and thriving on the field, able to cope with this change, work through it in His strength and walk with Him by their side.  We are not alone, and the Lord has been faithful to Beth & I over the last eight months.  He brought us through things that according to this stress chart should have taken us through the ringer and spit us out the other side, but He brought us through it.

The truth is, He never said this would be easy.  He never said we would have all of our paths nice & neat in such a way that we could walk smoothly and seamlessly through life.  In fact, the testimony we find in scripture, as well as the examples of those who’ve gone before us, is that the road is hard.  Thankfully, we have a God who asks us to trust Him with our anxieties in life and promises to never leave us or forsake us.  What a privilege we have to enjoy His fellowship and rest in His care.

*Loss, Myron. Culture Shock: Dealing with Stress in Cross-cultural Living. [S.l.]: M. Loss, 1983. Print.