In the beginning

When I applied to be a Linguistic Anthropologist intern this summer with Wycliffe Bible translators, I really had no idea what to expect. Last week, I began this journey by traveling to Waxhaw, NC to attend a "Total it Up" training that is an excellent overview of what it means to be a part of a team doing Bible translation. It was an amazing week filled with a thousand eye opening, life changing, motivating, inspiring experiences. After a very short yet really long week, I then traveled yesterday to  a tiny town outside of Jackson, MS called Carthage. I will be spending the rest of summer here and in Philadelphia, MS working with the Choctaw Bible Translation Committee.

This morning I attended New Hope Indian Baptist Church. This was my first cross cultural experience in this setting, and it has given me much to think about.

Before I delve into that, lets talk about this blog and what I hope it provides for both myself as the author and for you the reader. As the author, this will certainly have diary like qualities where I reflecting on the personal experiences I have while working with and among the Choctaw this summer. I am fully aware that this cannot be comprehensive, and is singular to my own experiences so nothing I say should be taken as "an expert opinion."  That being said, they are MY experiences, seen through my eyes and my worldview. As such they are not positive or negative, but neutral observations. More than a diary though, I hope to highlight questions about the intersection of faith and culture. How much of what you believe, experience, and proclaim is cultural and how much of it is 'the gospel truth.'

As for you, I hope that those of you that know me personally and read this to be apart of the journey of my own faith walk will be able to taste, see, smell, and feel these experiences alongside me. I hope I can adequately portray this experience so that you have your own questions with which you wrestle.  I hope the whole community grows to become more like The Son because of this experience. For those of you who do not know me personally and yet stumble upon this blog, I hope you have grace in your heart for my journey. If you have ever contemplated doing cross cultural missions, let this be a glimpse into the life of someone doing just that albeit for only two months. Maybe some demographics will help you as you read my words. I am a 37, SWF, from Texas, raised in a charismatic/non-denominational church. I am a senior Anthropology major at Texas Tech University doing a summer internship with Wycliffe Bible Translators.

As for the name of this blog, I borrowed it from a translated song called "You are my all in all." Ano fihna chiya is how you say that in Choctaw. It is appropriate because it is the answer to my first point of wrestling this morning, but I will save that for another post.