We’re Not in Kansas Anymore

Culture shock is real and from someone who never left the United States, this reality was particularly hard to swallow. I didn’t recognize the food, people or language and had no idea how God could possibly use a white girl from Nebraska like me. But of course He proved me wrong. He really challenged me to look outside of myself and my reality and look to the needs of the people no matter how different they were to me. i then wrote this poem to encapsulate my experience because yes, culture shock is real and yes, the enemy can use it to keep us from relationship. But God sees our differences as not something that should divide us, bust as a way to celebrate and come together to bring His kingdom down on earth.

We’re not in Kansas Anymore

by Grace Donahue

I know I am not supposed to be here

Every fiber in my being is telling me that I don’t belong here

Telling me that we are not in an environment of cold shoulders and rigid time management

The place I call home

We are in Mexico and there is no place to hide from this strange feeling of warmth and hospitality

People really live like this?

Where achievement is secondary to relationship? Seems too good to be true

Maybe it’s just a front to hide who they really are

Maybe this is just a ruse to take my money

Maybe this is just my cold culture talking

It is so terrifying but so exhilarating

So exhausting but so energizing

So strange but so inviting

Every step I take, I walk further into the contradiction

I know they tried to prepare us for culture shock

But of course my rebellious heart didn’t listen

“It’s just a little south from the border

How different can it be?”

I remember myself saying that

If ignorance keeps you from seeing the truth

I was blindfolded

And now I’m in a place where the blindfold is ripped off and all I can see is the blinding light of an intriguing lifestyle that is infecting me with every moment passing

So much that I can feel myself conforming to the general attitude

And praying for the grace of God that it will stay and this weird, addictive culture will be contagious