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Written by Sabrina Nino de Campos, Portuguese Team Leader for Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Texas
God has given us, through the beauty of our cultures, the little things that make us who we are. The types of food we share with our family, the jokes we hear from our neighbors, the music, the traditions. Everything is a gift of God that was made to be shared.
When I was 17, I decided that I wanted to be a missionary. I moved from my city, out of my parents’ house and went into a program called AME (Adventurers in Evangelistic Missions, a Brazilian school inspired by AIM). My mission field was in Bolivia, where I served for a year and also where I met my husband. The year after, I moved to Argentina where I got married, and we lived and also served the church there. During our time in Argentina, we came in contact with people from all over Latin America and some other places. After our time there, we moved back to Brazil, leading us to where we are now in the U.S.
Through all the crazy changes in our lives, it is hard to define what culture our family belongs to. I am a Brazilian; my husband is an American. And what best defines us is: we’re from everywhere. Our culture was defined and redefined a bunch of times, to the point where we feel like we belong to a lot of cultures and none at the same time.
This is also what I think God’s plan is for His people, a redefined culture that doesn’t belong to any earthly place, but rather belongs to Him.
"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands." (Rev. 7:9, ESV)
I love this verse in Revelation, when we have a tiny vision of the beauty of God’s plan. People from all types of cultures and tongues, coming together and praising the One that makes us not only His people, but also family.
"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit." (1 Cor. 12:12-13, ESV)
As a family and one body, one in thought and one in Spirit, we should also strive to include the ones that feel alone in the world. God had a plan when He said to Abraham, “and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3, ESV). As His people, it is our duty to bless all families on Earth, redefine the barriers of this world, and use our differences and special qualities as a source of love on this planet. We need to redefine our culture and extend our hands to our brothers and sisters, or to anyone that needs Him.
We can start with small things. Just start by loving somebody that is different from you… learning a new language or just learning how to greet that person from work in his/her language… maybe just learning cool facts about the place where somebody comes from to start out a conversation… sharing more and more of the love and grace of God in this world through those beautiful things that make us who we are. Coming together. Redefining Culture.
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Written by Liliana Henriquez, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Colombia.
I am Venezuelan by birth, but I have been living in Bogotá, Colombia for 4 years. Many said, as I also said before emigrating, "Venezuela and Colombia are neighboring countries, so they should not have big differences, right?" Well, I must say that there are many differences! Like the ones below:
• In Colombia they fill the empanadas with rice. In Venezuela we never use rice for empanadas.
• In Bogotá, specifically, they are very formal when speaking. They generally address each other with "Yes, ma'am," "Yes, your mercy," "Would you please?" and so on. In Venezuela we are more informal, and we treat everyone as if they were our friends. We say "my love" (mi amor) to everyone without any romantic implications.
• In Colombia, the words used for pen and pencil are reversed. There are two very different words for a pencil sharpener. And the word for a black coffee in Colombia is the word for black ink in Venezuela. There are many different words that need to be learned to make ourselves be understood and speak the same “language.”
• In Venezuela, I would dare say that everyone has been to the beach at least once. In Colombia, I know people who have never seen the sea once in their life. Amazing!
• In Colombia, it is normal to see a fruit salad accompanied with grated cheese or the candied guava dessert with chopped cheese. In Venezuela, this type of sweet-savory combination is not common.
• In Colombia, the vast majority of holidays are on Mondays. In Venezuela, the day doesn’t matter. The important thing is the date.
• In Colombia, the day of love and friendship is in September instead of February 14, when we celebrate it in Venezuela.
Those are some of the differences that I have seen between the two cultures. My first year in Bogotá was very shocking. I went from living in a very small city in Venezuela (Punto Fijo, Falcón State) of about 300,000 people, to one of the largest cities in Latin America, Bogotá, which has around 9,000,000 people. Seeing so many people on the streets and on public transportation, it was truly overwhelming.
However, some advice I received when I first arrived was, “You have to adjust to the city. Become great, but without losing your essence." I did that. I dedicated myself to getting to know the people, their culture, their way of speaking, and their customs, and after seeing the differences, I began to see the similarities.
In the church environment, I realized that they sang the same hymns that I knew, the order of the service was very similar, and we had the same doctrine and the same desire to praise God. In the end, we weren't as different as I thought.
Immersing myself in the Colombian culture obviously made me redefine myself because I had to put aside my Venezuelan culture a bit to achieve my adaptation to this new country. Now I am the Venezuelan who understands the Colombian and who understands that one can be the same and different at the same time, that one can share same vision with the brethren of the church, and who does not use culture as an impediment to serve God on this earth.
No matter where we are from, we can adjust culturally to the country where we are living WITHOUT losing our Christian essence. If Jesus is the one who unites us, there are no cultural differences that can separate us. We must focus on having the same purpose: to glorify the name of Christ and preach the gospel. Jesus is the only and the most important thing that we must have in common. As Paul said,
“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought” (1 Cor. 1:10)
If you are immersed in a culture different from that of your origin, I ask you: Are you focusing more on the cultural differences of your new country, or are you adjusting, and at the same time, are you conserving your essence?