Temperament.
The greater the difference in your personality and the average personality in the culture, the greater the stress. A reserved person may find it difficult to feel at home where most people are outgoing extroverts. An extrovert may never feel at ease in a reserved culture.
Ronald L. Koteskey
As a family on the field, we are certainly aware that our temperament has a significant impact on how we cope in this culture. God made us all individual and totally unique. It can’t be assumed that because we are a family, we have identical personalities. As husband and wife, we are poles apart. Roy is an introvert, and I am an extrovert so we share the same life experiences but processing them in very different ways. We recently took a D.I.S.C. personality test, and we quickly discovered that together we spelt out all of the letters in D.I.S.C.
While I am as a general rule, quite comfortable with changes in schedule, or adapting the way I do things. Roy finds adapting quite difficult. Roy, on the other hand, has a quiet confidence in areas I feel weak or inadequate. We have found the same to be true of the children. They each handle change in a unique way! They get frustrated with each other if someone is not sympathetic to the emotional turmoil experienced when encountering a new obstacle. The cultural differences have been most obvious within the school system. We are constantly reminding each other of a valuable lesson we learnt when we were on missionary training. DIFFERENT IS JUST DIFFERENT IT IS NOT WRONG! Click To Tweet
If the culture you are experiencing is different from what you are used to; remember that it is just different. God hasn’t made a mistake placing you there. You will be good for the culture, and the culture will be good for you.
Psalm 139:13-16 (ESV)
For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
