A young missionary, wife and mother learns life in a new home.
Learn how to pray for all new missionaries as Becky tells you her story...  Smiling Is Next To Godliness! . . . Right?
When we moved to Russia, my husband and I promised ourselves we would never become those types of missionaries that start confusing biblical truth with their own opinions, desperately trying to convert the heathen to their own preferred cultural ways. Rather, adopting the attitude of a learner, we were prepared to be the ones to change and adjust. After all, since we were guests in their country, we felt that the weight of adaptation fell to us.
Occasionally, an ill-adjusted expatriate pastor would visit and be given the honor of preaching. I rolled my eyes at the culturally inappropriate illustrations and non-transferable punch lines. Obviously, I grumbled to myself, somewhat pridefully, this guy was not as culturally sensitive as I was. Therefore his teaching sounded hollow. His examples didn’t register and his points were met with more confusion than clarity.
During one such occurrence, the visitor began to wax eloquently about the necessity for Christians to profess their faith by wearing a smile on their faces. Having myself survived my first winter in Russia, witnessing very few smiles, I recalled going through the cycle of at first considering the nationals to be rude. Later I decided they were cold. Eventually I reached the conclusion that they just don’t smile very much. It wasn’t really a spiritual issue, it was just the way most people tended to be. Smiling existed, it was just reserved for smile-worthy occasions: meeting a friend, hearing a good joke. Posing for the camera, on the other hand, was not generally considered smile-worthy. Neither was greeting people one passed on the street. |
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A young missionary, wife and mother learns life in a new home.
Learn how to pray for all new missionaries as Becky tells you her story...  Expect more
One day, about a year after moving to Russia, I sat at the kitchen table with a friend who had come to visit. As my guest and I drank tea, my 4 year old son Timothy came up to us with a drawing he had just completed. Pointing to some colorful scribbles, he declared they were a “doggy”. Just as I was opening my mouth to offer the obligatory “great job!,” my guest took one look at the paper, and said, “that doesn’t look like a dog. Where’s the tail? Where are the ears? The paws?” In the seconds that followed, I felt irritated at this ridiculous response: why wasn’t my guest affirming my son’s effort? After all, what did it matter how accurate the drawing was? Wasn’t it enough that my son meant for it to be a dog? Who could expect a 4 year old to get all the details right?
Well, before I had a chance to complete my thoughts, my friend continued, “here, let me show you how to draw a doggy.” With that, adult and preschooler bent over a fresh sheet of paper, Timothy grasping his pencil, our friend grasping Timothy’s hand, guiding him around the curves and lines of a pretty good looking canine. When we were done, Timothy ran up to me with an exuberant smile on his face, to show me what was now very evidently a dog, complete with ears, tail and paws! |
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