discovering missions - Southern Nazarene University

245187 Disc Missions ins 9/6/07 1:04 PM Page 108
108 Intercultural Communication
Peru is about the only other Spanish-speaking country in which that phrase
would be understood.
A Language Horror Story
When I was an inexperienced missionary, it was necessary for me to
attend school discipline meetings. Teachers who were reporting infractions
of students often showed intercepted notes to the committee.
I looked at one note and, eager to learn the language, asked
about the phrase unesisu. I was informed it meant “she is pregnant.”
Several weeks later, new missionaries Robert and Peggy Perry
arrived, and I was called upon to introduce them in church. Robert
showed up at the last minute without Peggy. He explained that due
to her pregnancy she was too ill to come. Utilizing my meager
knowledge of the language, I introduced him. All went well until I
explained that his wife was absent because unesisu. The congregation
exploded into shocked laughter because I had implied that the
missionary wife was illegitimately pregnant! 1
—Charles Gailey
Power and Beauty
Language is powerful. Winston Churchill’s speeches bolstered British
morale during the horrific bombing raids of World War II. The writings of
William Carey awakened Protestantism to its responsibility for the Great Commission.
John R. Mott’s speeches on college campuses and his slogan “The
evangelization of the world in this generation” inspired university students by
the thousands to offer themselves as missionaries. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I
Have a Dream” speech energized the American Civil Rights Movement.
The powerful and the powerless of every culture use language to express
themselves. The powerful use it to perpetuate their vision of the world while
the powerless often use satirical proverbs to express their distaste of the powerful
and to pass on survival mechanisms. One Haitian proverb, for example,
says, “When the chicken is tied up, the cockroach can lecture him.” Africans
generally give descriptive names to expatriate missionaries, names that can express
both tender feelings and satire. For instance, Lorraine Shultz was called
Dez Para Oito (“Ten to Eight”) because of her insistence that students at the
Tavane Bible School in Mozambique be present in the dining area at 10 minutes
before 8:00. William Esselstyn was called Masithulele (“Let us calm
down”) because that is what he said when discussions became heated. Elmer
Schmelzenbach was called Isisu Siyaduma (“The stomach growls”) because his
stomach would rumble loudly. Amy Crofford was called “She who walks at
noon” because of her habit of walking to her children’s school at midday to