In my previous blog “Life in a Balinese Village” I mentioned we did “culture exchange” with the children in the village and promised a blog explaining more detail to what that means.
Honestly it means what it says it means. Exchanging culture. But the reality of what that meant for our time in Bali was different depending on the situation.
Examples of culture exchange:
With the children
- Singing songs in English
- ***Sometimes translating the song to Bahasa
- Teaching English and learning Balinese/ Bahasa
- Sharing stories that impacted our lives
- Demonstrating some tumbling and helping the children do the flips too
- Playing tag
- Playing/watching soccer
- Dancing and doing Zumba
With children/ teens outside of the set time
- Learning Bahasa and Balinese (both rough and smooth)
- Learning Balinese dance
- Teaching American dances
- Sharing our Bible reading time with them when they show up early
- Going to their homes and meeting their families
- Eating various foods from the families
- Trying Durian (THE fruit, google it)
- Seeing family businesses
- Sharing about the vast diversity that exists in America
With our Balinese Mama
- Eating dinner at her family’s home and getting to know them
- Going to ceremony and praying before going to ceremony as a group
- Doing our journey markers with her
- Praying for mama and others with mama
- Discovery group discussion with mama
- Chatting about life 🙂
Other
- Going to the grocery store and getting to know the workers
- Eating at the same food stall every night
- Playing peek-a-boo with a shy two year old also every night
- Being at town meetings at the community center where we lived
- Connecting with people through music
- Chatting with Grab Drivers and then praying for them
- Meeting “Family” all over and encouraging them!
There are so many more, this is just a basic list of “obvious” culture exchanges we had in Bali.
Having our main focus being culture exchange month one gave an easy phrase to give to people when they ask why we are where we are. We often just say we are tourists or volunteers or working in a school or visiting friends but those answers don’t always feel honest. But, culture exchange will always be honest. We will always be learning other cultures and sharing our own whether we mean to or not.
The definition of culture, according to google, is: the ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society. People will see our culture just by looking at us and we will see theirs just by looking at them as well.
One more food for thought about culture: We often say our beliefs are not a religion but a relationship with the Father, and with that they should be effecting our culture in our outward acts just as much as our inward.
Also, yes here it is again, I am still fundraising!
God has brought me into a new kind of dependency with Him through this season of following Him around the world without a pause. He has taken care of me so well through all of you and allowed me to live these past 13 months without an income or a savings account to pull from! I often get asked how I made the decision to leave my comfy life and not know where the money to live off of will come from, and honestly it hasn’t always been easy. Lots of tears and extended prayer sessions have gone into it. But, weirdly enough, this is my new comfy God has shown me His faithfulness in this season and has extended my faith from not only the big things but also the little. Think about it, God created each and every grain of sand in the sea for a reason, He is the God of the big and the little!
Anyway, my time on the field with C Squad is coming to a close in one month and I would love to be fully funded before going home in the beginning of April. It’s weird being an alumni leader with no official deadlines, AIM knows we did it before so I guess more freedom and trust is given to leaders.
If you would like to give to my mission account just scroll up and click donate 🙂
If you would like to give to my personal account for my travel to training camp in October 2019 (the cost was $1500, I’ve raised $522)
Venmo: @courtney-shackle
Also! A big thank you to everyone who gave towards my student loan payments!
God brought in enough to cover my payments while I am on the field!!
Thank you all so so much!!
ALL OF THOSE CULTURAL EXCHANGES HAPPENED BECAUSE OF YOU!!
YOUR PARTNERSHIP THROUGH PRAYER AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT IS BRINGING KINGDOM!!
