The Little Rose

"Psst. Doesn't that guy look like Robert DeNiro?"

This comment by a JEMS worker has been a running joke between my friend Edison and me for many years. Nicknamed "Rosinha" or "Little Rose," he serves as auxiliary pastor at a Nikkei church in the city of São José dos Campos. We had a chance to meet yesterday evening for four hours of thoughtful and enlightening conversation.

He was one of the first five people I met when I made my initial visit to São Paulo in 1990. He became one of those whom I called "The Conspirators of English." That is to say that the first five people I met in São Paulo all spoke English very well, thus leading me to believe -- wait for it -- that everyone in São Paulo spoke English!

As you sit at home reading this, you might be convinced to imagine that PJ wasn't taking his brain vitamins back then. But the truth is, when one is surrounded and inundated by the differences and foreignness of another culture, one looks for cues that lead to some sort of connection and common ground.

Crossing cultures can be a huge challenge for many people. Some simply cannot and will not do it. Yet for others, it's as automatic as waking up in the morning. On a superficial level, many of us make cultural adjustments every day: forks to chopsticks, chicken pot pie to chile verde burritos, Mandarin at home to English at work, Mountain Dew with our soon dubu jigae.

Most of us who live bi-culturally do it without even thinking about it. The ease and flexibility required to move back and forth from one culture into another is more than something we grew up with. It's a gift. And it's a gift that may enable you to make the transition into yet another third culture.

Consider how God created you as a person of culture and how that cultural flexibility can be used to share the grace and love of Jesus in another country. I invite you to read further and pray about opportunities in Paraguay and in Brazil.

JEMS' target dates for ministry are summer 2009! However, applications to serve in these countries are due at the end of January 2009, with training beginning in mid-to-late March.

I look forward to hearing from you!