Most missionaries preparing to move to a foreign country have never lived in the place they’re moving to and therefore (understandably) don’t know their target culture. There are exceptions to this rule of course; kids from missionary families, students from university exchange programs, or whose parents worked for multinational companies. Aside from the fortunate few who have lived overseas, the rest of us are on our own to learn about our future adopted cultures.

While it’s unreasonable to expect future missionaries to have lived in their target location, not preparing for our future cultures by doing nothing beforehand is unacceptable. Most of us know that in order to better serve a culture we must know that culture intimately, and we all acknowledge that the best way to do that is to and learn the intricacies of being __________. (insert nationality) However, many of us are playing a dangerous game of waiting to “figure it out” until we’re there, deepening the culture shock and threatening our longevity. I’ve even heard stories of missionaries realizing they didn’t like their culture after they moved! That shouldn’t be you.

As an American I realize the difficulty of breaking outside of our culture due to the sheer size of our country. Having lived in Texas for a couple of years-did you know you can drive for 12 hours straight in Texas and never leave? Twelve hours in a place like western Europe can take you through 6 or more countries! Moreover, many Americans are rarely apprised of current world events because there is so much going on here. In America, it’s unusual to hear about international issues on the nightly news-they only have 30 minutes to cover it all! Negatively, this American isolation creates weakened ministries for those who do nothing about it. Positively, cultural illiteracy makes prime cultural sponges out of those willing to humbly learn. My contention is that starting cultural immersion before leaving makes stronger missionaries, eases the transition, and endears us to the people we’re going to serve. If this is true, what can you do to prepare before you arrive in your new location? Let me offer some ways you can get to know your future culture where you are:

Buy a cultural cookbook and learn some recipes. Food plays a central part of everyday life in many cultures; it’s imperative that you know and like the food of your destination. Importing American food every month isn’t going to cut it!

Discover cultural food items and try them. This might mean you try a localized beer or wine, packaged cookies, unique sweets, or coffee brand, as scripture and your conscience allows.

Attend cultural events in your area. Are you moving to China? Visit Chinatown. Moving to Portugal like us? Attend as many festa’s as possible.

Learn what the popular sports are and get the hang of them. I found live Portuguese soccer streaming on the internet a few months ago and now I’m hooked.

Find local television stations online and sample them. This is a great source

Start language courses. Some are offered in your area, you can buy a course online, or check one out from your local library.

Read their news. Sites like Yahoo news allow you to filter stories down to a particular country then subscribe to an RSS feed for that term. You’ll get local news delivered to your RSS reader daily and be “in the know” on current events.

Whatever method you ultimately use, getting to know as much about your target culture before you leave will pay dividends in your ministry, lower your stress level during culture shock, and create cultural ties to the people you meet. They’re doing it with our culture we’d better do it with theirs.

Tags: Missionary Life, Missions