Dancing with an Elephant.

This year, more than in the past, we are working on improving our cross cultural skills.

We would like to present the song "Poderoso" at the church services that we attend. This is a big deal because we will be singing in Spanish, the native language of our brothers and sisters we have come to work and worship with. How do you feel when someone, who's first language is not English, tries their hardest to learn and communicate with you in English. Singing in Spanish is more difficult for some of us than others, language skills are not a necessary prerequisite for our trip.

We have also been reading two books that were recommended to the team - "Foreign to Familiar" and "Serving with Eyes Wide Open...". And as a team we have been watching the video series - "Round Trip". Why do we spend so much time working on our cross cultural skills? After all, we are "just" going to do a construction project, to build a pastor's house. This is great work to do, we have a good time preparing to go, then traveling to, then living and working together in the DR for a week. Surely our brothers and sisters can see our love for them and for God thru our actions. Imagine how much more they would see and experience that love when we attempt to relate to them where they are at and in their language. We are ALL created in the image of God and he is the creator of culture and language. We may never fully understand each other's culture/language until we reach heaven and see each other there, but that shouldn't stop us from trying. We have so much that we can teach each other about God because we are all different segments of the image of the same God.

We also want to make sure that our time in the DR isn't doing harm. Harm? How could our trip cause harm. We are excited to serve God and our brothers and sisters, surely we couldn't/wouldn't do harm. The following story is from the book "When Helping Hurts". The story is told by an African Christian.
Elephant and Mouse were best friends. One day Elephant said, "Mouse, let's have a party!" Animals gathered from far and near. They ate. They drank. They sang. And they danced. And nobody celebrated more and danced harder than Elephant. After the party was over, Elephant exclaimed, "Mouse, did you ever go to a better party? What a blast!" But Mouse did not answer. "Mouse, where are you?" Elephant called. He looked around for his friend, and then shrank back in horror. There at Elephant's feet lay Mouse. His little body was ground into the dirt. He had been smashed by the big feet of of his exuberant friend, Elephant. "Sometimes that is what it is like to do mission with you Americans," the African storyteller commented. "It is like dancing with an Elephant."
We spend the time to work on our cross cultural skills because we do not intend to do harm, but we could if we don't understand the effect we are having on the community that we enter.

Please pray with us and for us that as we serve in the DR, our brothers and sisters do not feel as though they are dancing with an Elephant.