I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. I'm just now getting to the point of typing about a biblical argument for pastoral care in this situation and designing resources to help with providing it. You thoughts and contributions will be included. :) Please feel free to add more ideas as they come to you. I feel very blessed to be a part of wide-reaching community of missionaries.
Peace,
Colleen
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Bible Connections
Fact: It has been a long time since I've posted here.
The past month and change have been full of moving, settling in, and a new semester's worth of classes! I've been back in full swing with this project for a few weeks now. I've got a working outline and have started typing. :)
However, I need some help!
The culminating section of my paper will be a pastoral care packet that returning young adults can take with them to their pastor (or even a therapist) to help them process their experience of coming back to their homeland. A large part of this will be about storytelling. One activity I want to include is linking their story to various Bible stories. For example, Romans 8:38-39 about God loving us through everything and nothing separating us from God. This means God loved me when I was Poland and was dreadfully homesick. God loved me when I was on the plane home. When I spent an hour looking at Cieszyn on google maps from my parent's living room because I missed it so much. I think you get the idea.
It would be phenomenal if I could read the whole Bible in the coming weeks and pull out all the texts that speak to me about my experience. I'm sure I would end up with lots to write about. HOWEVER, I believe the packet will be more fruitful if it contains Bible stories that connect to people other than just me. So in the comment section or in an e-mail please send me the Bible story that got you through your journey abroad, your journey home, and your journey today. What words speak to your experience of coming home? What speak to reverse culture shock and making sense of your homeland again? It could be a Psalm, a parable, anything!!! I appreciate your input and helping me get out of my own head and seeing a bigger picture.
Peace,
Colleen
The past month and change have been full of moving, settling in, and a new semester's worth of classes! I've been back in full swing with this project for a few weeks now. I've got a working outline and have started typing. :)
However, I need some help!
The culminating section of my paper will be a pastoral care packet that returning young adults can take with them to their pastor (or even a therapist) to help them process their experience of coming back to their homeland. A large part of this will be about storytelling. One activity I want to include is linking their story to various Bible stories. For example, Romans 8:38-39 about God loving us through everything and nothing separating us from God. This means God loved me when I was Poland and was dreadfully homesick. God loved me when I was on the plane home. When I spent an hour looking at Cieszyn on google maps from my parent's living room because I missed it so much. I think you get the idea.
It would be phenomenal if I could read the whole Bible in the coming weeks and pull out all the texts that speak to me about my experience. I'm sure I would end up with lots to write about. HOWEVER, I believe the packet will be more fruitful if it contains Bible stories that connect to people other than just me. So in the comment section or in an e-mail please send me the Bible story that got you through your journey abroad, your journey home, and your journey today. What words speak to your experience of coming home? What speak to reverse culture shock and making sense of your homeland again? It could be a Psalm, a parable, anything!!! I appreciate your input and helping me get out of my own head and seeing a bigger picture.
Peace,
Colleen
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
A List of 10
Well it feels like this project is really gaining momentum! I'm thrilled with the response I'm getting from this blog. :) I've read 3.5 out of the 4 books and have scheduled three different interviews with pastors who are connected with the ELCA GMU reentry process either by job description or experience. Meeting with these pastors will be a wonderful opportunity to pick their brains and gather ideas about how this process can be improved. Yet, I'm having a hard time figuring out what to ask. How do I synthesize what I've read, remember from my own experience, and heard about your experiences? These are ten interesting nuggets, thoughts, ideas and musings. I hope sharing them will enable me to process them more and make new connections! And by all means, if you see something I'm missing let me know! So here we go in no particular order....
1) Saying goodbye in your host culture well, makes saying hello in your homeland easier. In several places in my reading, authors stressed the importance of saying goodbye thoroughly. It seems important to tie up as many as lose ends as possible, make peace where there is conflict, do things intentionally for the last time, and create rituals that help you mark your leaving. If things are left messy, you seem to still linger there mentally in a way that takes away from your ability to adjust to being in your homeland.
2) Staying connected with friends and family during time abroad eases the transition back into relationships. This seems like commonsense, but yet should not be overlooked. Upon return you have to decide how you want to engage in many relationships that were dormant while you were abroad. This can be a challenging and even painful process. If you have solid relationships with your family or close circle of friends you will not have do as much catching up and and you can be present for each other in relationship immediately.
3) Having just one friend who has experienced reentry stress before can be invaluable. Being able to talk to someone who directly understands the struggles you're having can be an amazing outlet. While family and friends will (hopefully) be very supportive, in many respects that cannot fully understand the stress and emotions you feel about reentry. For this reason, some sort of mentorship or big sibling program seems crucial to any reentry system.
4) Missionary kids almost always seek to travel as adults and their experience often influences their career choice. Their childhood shapes their worldview such that they want to continue to be apart of the international community. Very few permanently settle in the US and never leave. I wonder how this applies to young adults. I think finding data on where YAGMs are several years later would be helpful to my study. I also know several people who now have a travel bug since their time abroad.
5) The American Grocery Store. What is it about American consumerism that causes so many of us to vomit, cry, or simply lose it upon out return? Can anything be done to change this?
6) Jesus and reentry. One of the most interesting articles I read was by a teen writing about how she saw Jesus work through culture shock. As in, Jesus used to be in heaven, and then came to earth and had to make sense to living in a new way. Interesting, right?! She cites several stories from the Gospels that show how Jesus never acted too holy, remembered his purpose, and didn't let public opinion change him. I think this is fascinating and need to ponder more on possible Jesus examples for culture shock.
7) What is God's role in our goings and comings? The one book whose explicit purpose to help communities welcome back mission personnel and aid in their readjustment process held a very different theology of God's presence and will in our lives than I do. He wrote of how God specifically lead missionaries here and there and home again. What is the ELCA theological understanding of how God's call and will leads us to mission.
8) Home is familiar people, familiar places and routines. This definition is used in The Art of Coming Home. These words have resonated with me deeply as I have been adjusting to a new home with my husband this summer. How much more do these words ring true when coming back after time abroad! It takes time for people and places to become familiar again after a time apart. After all, they have all changed during our absence. I think routines are what make things feel like 'ours'. Our coffee shop, our gym, our hiking path.
9) Are YAGM and one-year placements comparable to study abroad programs? I wonder what shorter term mission placements have in common with study abroad programs versus long term mission placements? I think this depends on the actual placement. But looking at information about returning from study abroad programs may be helpful, especially since they are written in the context of coming back to higher level learning and living in parents'/familial home again.
10) Sharing the story. Part of being a missionary is to be able to come back to your homeland and share the stories of your experience and the stories of that place. How do we strengthen the returned to be able to share with confidence what they have learned in a variety of contexts? How do help congregations to be genuinely receptive, open, and engaged with the returned? How do we care for the returned intentionally so that their experience can be a jumping off point for lifelong service in the church local and international and not a faith-stunting shock?
Thanks for reading and being my sounding wall. I hope to back later in the week with solid interview questions for your review!
1) Saying goodbye in your host culture well, makes saying hello in your homeland easier. In several places in my reading, authors stressed the importance of saying goodbye thoroughly. It seems important to tie up as many as lose ends as possible, make peace where there is conflict, do things intentionally for the last time, and create rituals that help you mark your leaving. If things are left messy, you seem to still linger there mentally in a way that takes away from your ability to adjust to being in your homeland.
2) Staying connected with friends and family during time abroad eases the transition back into relationships. This seems like commonsense, but yet should not be overlooked. Upon return you have to decide how you want to engage in many relationships that were dormant while you were abroad. This can be a challenging and even painful process. If you have solid relationships with your family or close circle of friends you will not have do as much catching up and and you can be present for each other in relationship immediately.
3) Having just one friend who has experienced reentry stress before can be invaluable. Being able to talk to someone who directly understands the struggles you're having can be an amazing outlet. While family and friends will (hopefully) be very supportive, in many respects that cannot fully understand the stress and emotions you feel about reentry. For this reason, some sort of mentorship or big sibling program seems crucial to any reentry system.
4) Missionary kids almost always seek to travel as adults and their experience often influences their career choice. Their childhood shapes their worldview such that they want to continue to be apart of the international community. Very few permanently settle in the US and never leave. I wonder how this applies to young adults. I think finding data on where YAGMs are several years later would be helpful to my study. I also know several people who now have a travel bug since their time abroad.
5) The American Grocery Store. What is it about American consumerism that causes so many of us to vomit, cry, or simply lose it upon out return? Can anything be done to change this?
6) Jesus and reentry. One of the most interesting articles I read was by a teen writing about how she saw Jesus work through culture shock. As in, Jesus used to be in heaven, and then came to earth and had to make sense to living in a new way. Interesting, right?! She cites several stories from the Gospels that show how Jesus never acted too holy, remembered his purpose, and didn't let public opinion change him. I think this is fascinating and need to ponder more on possible Jesus examples for culture shock.
7) What is God's role in our goings and comings? The one book whose explicit purpose to help communities welcome back mission personnel and aid in their readjustment process held a very different theology of God's presence and will in our lives than I do. He wrote of how God specifically lead missionaries here and there and home again. What is the ELCA theological understanding of how God's call and will leads us to mission.
8) Home is familiar people, familiar places and routines. This definition is used in The Art of Coming Home. These words have resonated with me deeply as I have been adjusting to a new home with my husband this summer. How much more do these words ring true when coming back after time abroad! It takes time for people and places to become familiar again after a time apart. After all, they have all changed during our absence. I think routines are what make things feel like 'ours'. Our coffee shop, our gym, our hiking path.
9) Are YAGM and one-year placements comparable to study abroad programs? I wonder what shorter term mission placements have in common with study abroad programs versus long term mission placements? I think this depends on the actual placement. But looking at information about returning from study abroad programs may be helpful, especially since they are written in the context of coming back to higher level learning and living in parents'/familial home again.
10) Sharing the story. Part of being a missionary is to be able to come back to your homeland and share the stories of your experience and the stories of that place. How do we strengthen the returned to be able to share with confidence what they have learned in a variety of contexts? How do help congregations to be genuinely receptive, open, and engaged with the returned? How do we care for the returned intentionally so that their experience can be a jumping off point for lifelong service in the church local and international and not a faith-stunting shock?
Thanks for reading and being my sounding wall. I hope to back later in the week with solid interview questions for your review!
Friday, July 20, 2012
A Quick Reflection on CWS12
So this morning I am watching the video from the ELCA youth gathering last night. (I won't lie, I really wanted to watch the Project Runway season premiere.) One of the speakers is name Valarie, and she is telling her story about YAGM! She describes tough decision she had to make whether to serve in South Africa or listen to the requests of her parents to stay stateside, concluding that, "I could not say no to God." She also shares how her perspective changed during her time abroad. I am loving listening to her tell her story.
But this is what my mind is thinking: 33,000 youth are listening to her life changing experience. This is planting the seed of service in their minds. Some of them will go abroad with the ELCA-GMU. And how are we going to take care of them when they get home?
But this is what my mind is thinking: 33,000 youth are listening to her life changing experience. This is planting the seed of service in their minds. Some of them will go abroad with the ELCA-GMU. And how are we going to take care of them when they get home?
Thursday, July 19, 2012
The Silly Things
I just finished reading one of my assigned books for this study. It was full of stories from mission personnel and how they experienced reverse culture shock. Some of the stories were very positive and others were marked with great challenges. One of the chapters was about small silly things that occur that completely overwhelm us. There were, of course, grocery store stories, struggling with technology stories, and slang stories. I thought it would be fun to share some of my own silly and overwhelming moments and invite you to share some of your own either in the comment section or via e-mail. :) Your stories and experiences will help to shape my project greatly! So here's some of mine:
-My first meal: My parents, brother and I went to the Great American Pub for my first meal stateside. (The name seems pretty appropriate, right?) We had just driven about an hour from the airport, so they all had to go to the bathroom. As soon as we got to the table, they all left to go and I sat down. I opened the menu and instantly felt the most overwhelmed! Everything was in English! I could read every word! I could not even decide if I was hungry let alone what I wanted to eat. By the time my family got back to the table I was crying. I think my mom ended up ordering me a chicken tortilla salad, with extra ranch.
- Getting a cellphone: One of the first errands that I ran with my parents was to go to the Verizon store to get me a new cellphone. My old one was lost over the course of the year, so I needed a new one. We went and again I was totally overwhelmed. I had no idea what a smart phone was or what a droid was and all they could do. I kept asking my dad what he thought, but he just wanted me to be happy and pick what I wanted. I ended up with a droid, mostly because that is what the salesman was pushing. Several days later, I figured out how it worked, what it was, and was really shocked that I had something so cool and up to date.
-Orientation Fair Hell: One of the event during the first week of seminary was an orientation fair in the largest meeting room on campus. It has pretty horrible acoustics and was filled with first year students and tables for every office, club, and service on campus. There were dozens of conversations going on around me and I could not take it all in. For a whole year I was used to blocking out the Polish chatter that was around me. If someone was speaking English, I knew it was for my ears. I could not process all of the conversations that seemed to be demanded my attention. I had to leave the room three times for the relative silence of the bathroom. In the end, I skipped the last five tables that I was supposed to visit because I just couldn't cut it.
Did you experience any such overwhelming yet silly moments upon your reentry?
-My first meal: My parents, brother and I went to the Great American Pub for my first meal stateside. (The name seems pretty appropriate, right?) We had just driven about an hour from the airport, so they all had to go to the bathroom. As soon as we got to the table, they all left to go and I sat down. I opened the menu and instantly felt the most overwhelmed! Everything was in English! I could read every word! I could not even decide if I was hungry let alone what I wanted to eat. By the time my family got back to the table I was crying. I think my mom ended up ordering me a chicken tortilla salad, with extra ranch.
- Getting a cellphone: One of the first errands that I ran with my parents was to go to the Verizon store to get me a new cellphone. My old one was lost over the course of the year, so I needed a new one. We went and again I was totally overwhelmed. I had no idea what a smart phone was or what a droid was and all they could do. I kept asking my dad what he thought, but he just wanted me to be happy and pick what I wanted. I ended up with a droid, mostly because that is what the salesman was pushing. Several days later, I figured out how it worked, what it was, and was really shocked that I had something so cool and up to date.
-Orientation Fair Hell: One of the event during the first week of seminary was an orientation fair in the largest meeting room on campus. It has pretty horrible acoustics and was filled with first year students and tables for every office, club, and service on campus. There were dozens of conversations going on around me and I could not take it all in. For a whole year I was used to blocking out the Polish chatter that was around me. If someone was speaking English, I knew it was for my ears. I could not process all of the conversations that seemed to be demanded my attention. I had to leave the room three times for the relative silence of the bathroom. In the end, I skipped the last five tables that I was supposed to visit because I just couldn't cut it.
Did you experience any such overwhelming yet silly moments upon your reentry?
Friday, July 13, 2012
Clips from the Past
I also wanted to share some of my own writings from the blog I kept while I was in Poland to help the memories flowing.
The one post I wrote when I was "settled" in the US. I do not know why I thought that one post was enough to help me process. What did you do to help yourself being in the US?
http://www.colleenpoland.blogspot.com/2010/06/i-like-to-be-in-america.html
The last post I wrote while still in Poland. What did you do on your last day? http://www.colleenpoland.blogspot.com/2010/06/end.html
A fun post about what I had to look forward to in my last month. Do you remember how you counted down?
http://www.colleenpoland.blogspot.com/2010/05/crunching-numbers.html
The one post I wrote when I was "settled" in the US. I do not know why I thought that one post was enough to help me process. What did you do to help yourself being in the US?
http://www.colleenpoland.blogspot.com/2010/06/i-like-to-be-in-america.html
The last post I wrote while still in Poland. What did you do on your last day? http://www.colleenpoland.blogspot.com/2010/06/end.html
A fun post about what I had to look forward to in my last month. Do you remember how you counted down?
http://www.colleenpoland.blogspot.com/2010/05/crunching-numbers.html
Introduction
Three years ago I moved to Poland to teach English for one year at a Lutheran middle/high school. Two years ago I moved back to the US and began seminary. This summer I have began an independent study to learn about reverse culture shock and how young adult mission personnel work through this phenomenon. My own transition was rocky, and I have watched others similarly struggle. My hope is at the end of this study I will have recommendations to make on how the church can better welcome home their mission personnel and incorporate them back into the community while provide meaningful pastoral care.
I am starting this blog to be in dialogue with other young adults (or those who used to be young adults) who have served 1+ years abroad and how they made sense of finding home. I plan on sharing my own experience, stories from my friends, quotes from what I'm reading, and reflections on the material. This blog is also for those who love these young adults and want to better understand what they are going through.
Please join me in this exploration and journey.
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