I am doing a fantastic study put out by the IMB for missionary teams. God has really used it to open my eyes to some of my many hinderances that I need to ask God for help in healing or tearing down before I head out to follow His call for my life.
I am going to quote from the book because it says it so perfectly. If you are interested in doing short-term mission work or you believe God is calling you into long-term mission work, definately do this study! Even if you have done mission work before, it will open your eyes to so much.
"What a team does on the mission field is greatly influenced by what it brings along as baggage. Oh not the suitcases, trunks, and boxes. I am referring to cultural baggage. Strengths of our American culture, like our problem-solving skills; our sensible, no-nonsence approaches; and our "I can do it" attitude, can quickly become harmful in another society if we are not careful.
'Let me tell you a story about Americans,' an African Christian said,
'Elephant and Mouse were best friends. One day Elephant said,"Mouse, let's have a party!" Animals gathered from far and near. They ate. They drank. They sang. They danced. And nobody celebrated more and danced harder than the Elephant (obviously not a Southern Baptist elephant :-) ...Sharon aside here)
After the party was over the Elephant exclaimed, "Mouse, did you ever go to a better party? What a blast!" But Mouse did not answer. "Mouse, where are you?" Elephant called. He looked around for his friend and then shrunk back in horror. There at the Elephant's feet lay Mouse, his little body ground into the dirt. He had been smashed by the big feet of his exuberant friend Elephant."
"Sometimes that is what it is like when you do missions with you Americans," the African storyteller commented,
"It is like dancing with an elephant."
Americans tend to be very task-oriented, a quality that runs counter to the relational orientation of many cultures worldwide. When we commit to a short-term mission trip, a danger arises from the very fact that time is limited; thus, we fall into the trap of placing the project agenda over the people we came to serve. Naturally, we want to accomplish as much as possible, then go home and report on the tangible fruits of our ministry. However, our drive for quick results can prevent us from taking time to interact with the people in a culturally appropriate manner. .... Our schedule and our need to complete the task can result in the unfortunate picture painted by the African storyteller—complete wth real names and faces."
-end of quoted passage-
This was so sobering to me. Americans are already known as loud in other parts of the world, but I never thought this would be a problem for me. But task-oriented? GULP. I am strongly gifted in organization and logistics and I believe God has done this for my calling in life. But just because it is a gift doesn't mean I won't have to manage it, and in this case with a very strong curb bit!
I pray that I can learn to wait and be patient. My hand is on the plow. I am itching to go and prepare the soil and to help harvest. I see ways to help, and I want to do them now, not later. But to those lost without Christ who may also live in a totally different culture than mine, will they see my actions as lacking respect for them as human beings. As thinking of them as insignificant and not worth listening to? God help me never to appear this way. How Satan loves to make us appear as something we desire be totally opposite of. How our flesh can really screw things up!
I know now that I have to start today to guard my mouth. Even here in America, I need to listen more. I need to slow down. Start getting off "American time" and get into "being time" no matter how great the lost number. God knows this more than I do. So I need to have patience for His timing. My focus needs to be on learning about the needs of those I have come to serve before my desire to serve them. On developing a bond with them that might mean just sitting and listening. It might mean watching them do tasks a primative way when I am aching to show them what I believe is a "better way". In many cases, my way (which better be God's Way!) will be the better way and they will embrace it from God because they trust my influence because they know I care for them as individuals. In other cases, they will teach me that their world view is actually more in line with God's desires than my western views.
I am excited to see what God has planned. I just pray that I can keep me out of the way of God's healing and plans for the people he sends me to.
I also am fervently praying that my desire for large ice-filled glasses of carbonated beverages diminishes....
The highlight of visiting my farming family in Alabama as a child was Gus. I thought Gus was the greatest thing in the world, a horse I could actually hang around with as much as I liked. And Gus never seemed to mind. I think my parents were hoping the horse thing would go away, but from the cradle I had the horse gene. Pretty cruel trick to play on my father who had his teeth kicked in by a plow mule as a child. Though I think my mother, who has a fondness for animals, was happy for the chance to expand her "fattening of all God's creatures" to the larger domesticated animals of this world. 
