I googled our blog site and saw that Mark Sohmer had put this on God Tube. I think he may have told me...but being the summer/fall that we have had I think I forgot!! Well, for those of you who have not seen our presentation video, here it is! Enjoy it!
Ethnography and Ethnocentrism
Did I lose you there? How many of you knew what that was before you stopped and looked those two words up?
Ethnocentrism means Regarding ones own race or cultural group as superior to others.
Ethnography means learning from people finding out what makes them tick, expressing interest in the things that are important to them, and inviting them to teach you to see the world from their point of view. It is focused, yet informal.
This has been the topic of our learning for the past few days! WOW...so much to grasp! We have seen first hand how this whole culture is different just being down here in the south. NH and NC are very different. The culture here is very laid back, slow, polite and in general a "christian" atmosphere. Where NH in very quick paced, uptight, courteous and in general not "christian".
Example, we were on our way to church yesterday morning and we were half and hour early, I didn't finish my coffee before we left the house and I asked if we could stop for coffee...Phil noted that ALL the stores were closed. (which we noticed the week before as well) hmmmm what else? well, we went out to dinner on Friday evening to celebrate 16 years!!! We went to a very nice resteraunt, and I quickly noticed that they did not serve alcohol. We would never find that at home.
Culture is everywhere we look, from the next state to the farthest continent. So, what am I saying with all of this? That we need to be open to the differences that are around us everywhere we go. We were made in the image of God, He created each and every one of us and He loves us all. Why should we treat someone differently just because they do things differently? Does it make it right or wrong? So what if they drive on the opposite side of the road. To them it isn't the wrong side. So what if the men can walk down the street holding hands. In some cultures it is accepted and even looked at as a form of mentorship.
Does this mean that we accept what they are doing when it is wrong? Not at all! But before we can go in and tell them that they are doing something wrong and why it is wrong, we need to understand their culture. We need to be active listeners and watchers of what is happening so that we may be used to our fullest capability!
This is the quote that started our day today:
"Culture is not good
it is not bad
It is just different
and it is definitly not weird!"
that is the thought for today...
busy busy busy
Here is a quick glimpse of our daily activity:
6:00-6:30 rise and shine!! Phil and Jen coffee and quite time.
7:00 rise and shine!! kids...
8:10 out the door to get the kids settled (mostly get Claire settled)
8:25 coffee.... :)
8:30 Heart of the Missionary (devotions with everyone)
9ish a short break refill coffee
9:15 next session which varies from day to day
10:30ish continuation of session.
12:00 LUNCH we get the kids and head back "home" and share our lunch make dinner if time allows, work on homework if time allows...we don't usually get back here until 12:30
1:10 head back with Claire to get her settled down for her nap and then get the rest of the kids settled back into class as well.
1:25 get water
1:30 next class begins
2:15ish a break
3:00 get kids and head back home. Which is usually more like 4:00, by the time all is said and done.
dinner, homework, extra class tonight, meals to be had with friends and instructors.
it is a very busy schedule. And for those of you that know me well I am not a very scheduled person. Which I found out yesterday is one of my personality traits...haha....talking it too!! ;)
We are learning so much and enjoying it all! Looking at our syllabus it was very overwhelming but day by day it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Laundry is all caught up, dishes are all clean and put away. I even had time to make homemade bread for dinner on Monday without my kitchen aide!! (it was Claire's birthday)
We are learning to FlEx! A great thing to learn and I wish I had learned it a long time ago!
We did have a great visit Friday to Saturday with the Ragans! They came all the way from Tennessee to see us! Drove 4 1/2 hours one way just so that we could catch up (and check out CIT) What a great time we had here are some pictures that were taken while they were here.
Well we made it through our first official day!.. It was great. We received our syllabus, and saw the work that will be required of us during the next month. It is a very demanding workload. It will take a few days to get in the mindset of writing papers again and reports of 15 pages! Today we spent the majority of the day working on personality assessments, and found out that many of us have more than one person needs to have. It was fun and eye opening at the same time, and will help us to better understand how to work with our future co laborers on the field. As some of you know our vehicle broke down literally as we pulled into the parking lot. What a blessing, it could have been a lot worse. We were able to locate a Christian who owns a garage here and he replaced the alternator. Nothing major, just not expected, and Ford I just recently found out thinks their alternators are worth a pretty penny. Just being able to type this post is another blessing. It is really necessary to have a good computer here, and be able to access the wireless network. My laptop had so many problems, and the internal wireless card was not able to connect to the network. God provided a now great friend in the couple that are living downstairs. He is our resident Mark Sohmer. We have chatted over keyboards, coffee and brownies during our computer restoration project. We are looking forward to tomorrow and catching up with our mission director and friend Pat Ragan & his family as they make the 5 hour drive from Chattanooga to spend tomorrow night with us. We will keep you posted. If your reading this I encourage you to take a moment to reflect how great of God we serve, and all He has done for us! It really defines who we are. Adios!
Greetings from North Carolina!
Just to let you know before you read this...we did not have internet so I am posting this TUESDAY night not Monday but you do get the gist of it!! thanks for reading and looking at the pictures!
We made it to CIT! We arrived sometime around 8 on Monday evening. It was a much longer trip than we had anticipated. We made a few fun stops on the way. Well…we made a few stops. :-) We were seeing signs for “The Natural Bridge” and thought it would be a fun stop to make and see what it was. Well, we passed a sign for a road side table, I in my thinking we would see a fruit stand or a veggie stand. Well, in fact it was a road side table and that was exactly what it was! A table…haha! We got a chuckle out of that one! There was a sign for a petting zoo right there too and behind the table was an ostrich, a few impalas, and goats (I think) we pulled over being the tourists that we were. Phil took a few pictures… then we went to try to find The Natural Bridge. Drove a few hundred feet and found the petting zoo. Apparently, it is the largest one in VA. There was a HUGE elephant in front (see picture with Claire) for those of you who don’t know they are her favorite animal!! We were going to bring the kids in and have a little fun. Phil came out rubbing his chin and looking a little shocked it was over $100 for us to get in and see the animals. You know the live elephants, and the giraffes, white tigers, monkeys (I think I had a few in my car for the past few days) well, I bet you know what we didn’t do! So the huge elephant out front had to do for Claire! :-) She was fine with that too. I was very proud of her for not pouting about it! Then we got back into the car to find the “Foamhenge” this was great fun for all!! We laughed and had a blast while we were there. I am sure the town people were thinking we have some real tourists here!!
Look at the pictures from it and you can see where it gets it’s name from. No we did not head over to England! From there we headed back in the car to once again find the Natural Bridge! Not as close to the highway as we thought it was going to be!!! We finally arrived and well…more $$ and we are on a little bit of a budget and so we just had to do with looking at the beautiful buildings that were built around it for the tourist who are willing to spend the money to see it! I think we are a little too yankee for our own good sometimes! After we got back on the highway we just made the very original potty breaks! We did find that the restrooms in NC are beautiful. We did get a few pictures of that too. Well, not the restrooms. But you know the welcome sign and all!
We arrived at our “home” for the next several weeks to find our “neighbors” here already, and met them. The kids were hard to separate when it was time for us to come upstairs and settle in. We started chatting with them you know asking the usual questions…where are you from? Where are you going? How old are your kids…you get the idea. OK, remember where we are right now. NC in the southern part of the state right, so the questions are flowing “So, where are you from” Phil asks “California” John replies “Well, actually I am from the Boston area and my wife is from New Hampshire” whoa!! We chatted about that a bit. Then we were talking about the kids and their little boy (who’s name is escaping me right now) is turning 4 a few days after Claire turns 4 hmmm…I smell a birthday party in the making I think!! OK, chatting some more I ask the twin GIRLS when their birthday is March 28, 2 days before Abby’s birthday the same year! She had them over at Elliot and I had Abby at CMC or else we could have been roomies! :-) Then as the guys were chatting more we find out that Bonnie is originally from NY. HA…me too!!!! We just laughed for a few minutes about that! God is so good at breaking the ice!
We are all unpacked and settled in the kids are sleeping soundly in their respective rooms now. It is 11:00 as I am typing this. I am going to get myself tucked in bed in a few minutes we are just so happy to be here and thrilled to see how God is going to be working in us and our children while we are here for the next several weeks! Please continue to pray for us as the Lord brings us to mind. It is going to be a big change for the kids as well as Phil and I.
Other things to pray for are
My mother is having surgery on her back Friday morning 9/12 it is hard on me right now that I am not there with her and will not be with her during her surgery and time of recovery.
Our car is a little “sick” we made it here absolutely fine however, the alternator (we think) is about to go and we are going to have that checked out as soon as we can in the morning.
Safety while we are here,, and unity for our family.
Keeping our minds aware of what we are learning and be able to remember it!
And last but not least that our support would come in and we will be able to get to Guatemala to serve Him there!
Lean on Me
Proverbs 3 5&6 says:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.
This is such a simple verse that so many of us have learned as children, and how many times have we tried to make things more complicated than what this verse says?
As you all (faithful readers of our blog) know, we have been learning to trust and LEAN on God in more ways recently! How amazing everyday when we wake up to see His faithfulness to us, and His provisions for us.
We are leaving on Sat. for our training. We are all looking forward to it a change of scenery and a different pace. OK...well Claire is certainly going to be at a different pace. 2 weeks ago she was on a trampoline with a few friends, and was jumped on...(we did bring her to the doctor to check it out and she was not worried about it!)a few days later a cousin bumped into her leg again...and the final straw was on Sunday night when she was being snuggled with and her sister was getting out of bed and rolled over onto her leg. We watched her all day on Monday at our church picnic, I asked SEVERAL people to look at her walking and whether they thought she was limping or not, well Tuesday brought us to the doctors ALL day. To find out at 5:30 pm that yes in fact she has a broken leg. So yesterday (Wednesday) it was casted and has not slowed her down much, I think a full leg cast still would not have slowed her down! :) It is waterproof, YES!!! you did read that right a waterproof cast. They were thinking of NC and the warm weather and pools when they casted her!!
here are a few pictures of the little girl with her purple cast.
oh, and for the record 6 kids and she is the first one to be in a cast! Who would have ever thought it would be Claire!! :-)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.
This is such a simple verse that so many of us have learned as children, and how many times have we tried to make things more complicated than what this verse says?
As you all (faithful readers of our blog) know, we have been learning to trust and LEAN on God in more ways recently! How amazing everyday when we wake up to see His faithfulness to us, and His provisions for us.
We are leaving on Sat. for our training. We are all looking forward to it a change of scenery and a different pace. OK...well Claire is certainly going to be at a different pace. 2 weeks ago she was on a trampoline with a few friends, and was jumped on...(we did bring her to the doctor to check it out and she was not worried about it!)a few days later a cousin bumped into her leg again...and the final straw was on Sunday night when she was being snuggled with and her sister was getting out of bed and rolled over onto her leg. We watched her all day on Monday at our church picnic, I asked SEVERAL people to look at her walking and whether they thought she was limping or not, well Tuesday brought us to the doctors ALL day. To find out at 5:30 pm that yes in fact she has a broken leg. So yesterday (Wednesday) it was casted and has not slowed her down much, I think a full leg cast still would not have slowed her down! :) It is waterproof, YES!!! you did read that right a waterproof cast. They were thinking of NC and the warm weather and pools when they casted her!!
here are a few pictures of the little girl with her purple cast.
oh, and for the record 6 kids and she is the first one to be in a cast! Who would have ever thought it would be Claire!! :-)
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