Every culture has its norms. I daresay every culture in the world thinks that its culture is the best, superior to all others. I remember standing in Somalia one day in a bombed out section of the city of Mogadishu with 3 or 4 guards. There was no government, no schools, running water, or government-supplied [...]
Every culture and people group has their own language and cultural norms. Anyone who wants to effect change in cultures other than their own are required to become increasingly skilled in language and culture. But the process can often be painful. My wife is a perfectionist. In the 4 languages we’ve had to formally study, [...]
I could write a book about the beds we have slept in in rural African villages. Let me rush to say, these are some of the most hospitable people on the face of the earth. They would literally borrow money in order to keep us in their homes, feeding, and entertaining us. One village heard [...]
We visited a small church in the mountains of South Africa near the border with Lesotho. This was a remote place which seemingly grew 3 tons of rocks per acre – this is how weak the soil was in the mountains. Everything seemed to be scrawny and thin here; the cattle, horses, trees, and even [...]
Almost anyone who has lived overseas in the two-thirds world will have stories on at least three subjects. These will include misadventures in regard to airplanes flown, toilets used (more later about this one), and food eaten. There is an old overseas worker’s rhyme which goes something like, “Where He leads me I will follow. [...]
He weighed 300 pounds and most of that was heart. Hailing from rural North Carolina, he had taken two months of his vacation time to serve with us in Mogadishu. This was the time before the United Nations entered Somalia; times where we were more free to move around the city in the countryside with [...]
We had planned to go and check on the opening of a hand-dug water well. We had not planned on one of our team members buying a young girl as a wife along the way. During the famine and civil war in Somalia one of our most appreciated projects was assisting in the digging of [...]
I suppose that I should have turned left at the second mountain? I envy the workers that go overseas today; armed with cell phones, GPS, and electronic gadgets that help them to find the most remote places while also aiding them in finding their way home. Not so in Malawi, East Africa in 1985. I [...]
I am praying for you and praying for God’s blessings on you. I pray that every day will be just like today.
Nik recalls a hound dog coming forward during an invitational hymn at his small country church in Kentucky.
