Training Days: Cultural Anthropology 101.....

(Head's up from the start- this post doesn't have much in the way of visual aids, but it does have an activity to try out..)

So the first two weeks we were out here in Idaho were chock full of a variety of training subjects- spiritual warfare, conflict resolution, embracing your adopted culture, tropical medicine, a mini-marriage retreat, attending a cross-cultural church, the list goes on...

Obviously, regardless what the specific class was on, every class had an emphasis on what life will look like in another culture. I(Amy) have had the opportunity to travel quite a bit internationally and see a lot of other cultures, but one of the things that really jumped out at me during the course of our training was the idea that we are so drenched in our own culture that we often don't even realize that the way we perceive things and behave are based on where we were born and grew up. Does that make sense to you? We did one exercise in a class that brought the point home really well, try this with someone and see how it works for you...

1) Choose several songs from the list below that you know fairly well to tap to your partner (no humming or mouthing the words- that's cheating!)
2) Estimate the likelihood that you think your partner will be able to guess the name of the songs you're tapping.
3) Tap the song to your partner. Again- do not hum or sing the tune. Just tap the rhythm.

Song List-
Happy Birthday ~ Take Me Out to the Ball Game ~ Jesus Loves Me ~ Amazing Grace ~ The Doxology ~ National Anthem (if you're w/ a partner from the same country) ~ Great is Thy Faithfulness ~ Mary Had a Little Lamb ~ How Great Thou Art ~ A Mighty Fortress ~ The Alphabet Song ~ Popeye the Sailor Man ~ I've Been Working on the Railroad ~ Jesus Loves The Little Children ~ London Bridge ~ Pop Goes the Weasel ~ Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star ~ Yellow Submarine ~ Zaccheus ~ Row, Row, Row Your Boat

This is exercise is so interesting- you would think it would be very easy to guess these well known songs, but if you only hear the rhythm and have no frame of reference, determining the tune is very difficult.  In the original study that did this less than 2.5% of the time people could guess the song!  Wow!  Stepping into another culture is like this- everyone else hears the tune, but you only hear a series of disconnected taps.  With time, practice and the song list (ie- language/culture study, etc.) you can get it, but it won't happen in the blink of an eye.  We are off an adventure, that's for sure!  Thanks for taking the ride with us!

Our Commissioning Chapel at MAF!

At the conclusion of our non-technical training here at MAF, we were officially commissioned as new MAF missionaries during chapel.  Here's the video!



With each step forward, we're getting closer to actually heading out- woo-hoo!!  Next time, I'll give you a glimpse of what our training looked like... good times!  Happy Wednesday! -amy

Going Tribal....

We had a wonderful surprise at the end of last week as we were wrapping up the  "classroom" training here at MAF. On Friday morning as we were eating breakfast and heading to our second to last day of training Jon opened an e-mail telling us that our family will be serving on the island of Papua! We are so excited to have the opportunity to go and serve the over 250 known people groups in this remote and rugged province of Indonesia. I'm sure there is some confusion over where Papua (formerly known as Irian Jaya) is and what ministry will look like there. Let me try to clear some of that up...

Indonesia itself is made up of over 17,000 islands and if laid diagonally over a map of the USA would stretch from Georgia in the southeast to Washington state in the Northwest.  The province of Papua is the easternmost part of Indonesia, directly north of Australia and shares the western half of the large island of New Guinea with the country Papua New Guinea on the east.  Ok, it's much, much easier to just give you a picture- hopefully this will help!


flickrSLiDR.

The needs in Papua are HUGE.  The landscape- mountains, rain forests and swamps are the most obvious challenge and absolutely require the airplane to navigate safely and quickly.  However there are other more daunting issues at work in this far-flung place- Papua is home to over 250 people groups (different cultures, different languages) most of whom have still never heard the good news that Jesus loves them.  HIV/AIDS has reared it's ugly head here as well, with reports coming in from at least one village that over 50% of all high-school age kids are HIV positive.  Due to Papua's rugged terrain and remote location, there is often little or no medical aid available for those with this destructive disease.  MAF has been working with dozens of other organizations in this province since the early 60's to provide basic services and be the hands and feet of Jesus to the Papuan people.  Just this week MAF medevaced a man from a village clinic when his femoral artery was nicked during an outpatient surgery to the hospital in a larger city- the last report was that he was feeble but alive.

To give you a glimpse of MAF's work in Papua- here is a video that brings me to tears every time I see it.  This is the heart of what we do and ties together the need for the airplane, how and why Jon and I are going, and the work that my parents have dedicated their lives to- providing the Word of God to people who have never had a chance to hear it or read it in their own language.  Glory!
(PS- The plane in this video is part of the MAF fleet that Jon will be maintaining once we're there!)