The Case of the Cursing Missionary

"And May God Bless You All, My Dear @&%$#&*%@!!! Friends"

Got an update today from a friend who just got back from a stint as a missionary in India.

Trying to bring positive change across cultures and world views is tough. I guess we're all learning that very hard lesson once again these days.

Here's a passage from her letter:

Right before I left India, my friend Sunita pulled me aside with an embarrassed laugh. “You know when you say the word 'small?'”

“Yes,” I replied with an ominous feeling.

“Well. Well…...you’re making the wrong sound in Hindi. You’re saying a really bad word.”

She was so embarrassed, she wouldn’t even tell me what it was. I had to wrangle it out of the hair cutter.

Yup, basically every time I went to the vegetable guy, asking for the baby eggplants, or the numerous times I asked about the tiny grapes that didn’t ever appear this past season, and basically every situation where you would use the very important word small or little about things like children, I was in effect saying ”Give me the F**n eggplants!” “Go call your F**n brother!”

I’d say running around cursing out the neighborhood wouldn’t be an ideal missionary tactic, but I guess I’ll have to just rely on Jesus’ grace for that one!