t is identical with their own, if in my heart I just do not like to
have them around, they will know it, and they will not be attracted to
me. But if not only the love and the welcome are there, but also a way
of life that corresponds to their own, the approach will be made still
easier.

This does not mean, of course, that I will unthinkingly accept all
local standards. If I go to Central Africa, I probably will not decide
that wearing clothes is an unjustifiable luxury. There is no need for
me to neglect to sweep the floor of my palm-leaf hut just because my
neighbors do not sweep theirs. The fact that everyone else chews betel
nut, or plays mah-jongg, does not mean that I will take up these
practices. But I will want, as far as possible, to live the sort of
life that it would be suitable for a native[1] Christian to imitate.

Another point must also be considered here. We missionaries might
voice it like this: "I would love to live as the native peoples do, if
I only could; but I just can't take it!" It is true that we may not be
able to live entirely as they do and keep our health. The man who was
born and bred in the tropics finds the climate just what he likes. The
same climate takes all the energy out of the missionary who has come
from the temperate zone. Foreigners are more susceptible to local
diseases than natives. If the missionary eats only what the local
people do, his health may break down. If he himself does all the
household chores in a land in which there are no modern conveniences,
he may find that he has very little time left in which to study the
language or preach the Gospel. On most mission fields it is found that
a certain amount of variation from the local mode of life is necessary
if the missionaries are to continue in good physical and mental
health.

We can, however, gradually get used to unfamiliar things. I remember
once, after I had been in China a few years, visiting a neighboring
mission station. New workers had arrived there, a young couple fresh
from language school. I was eager to meet them, but they did not
appear. In answer to my inquiry, the reply was, "Oh, they were invited
out to a feast last night, and it's upset them both! They are both in
bed!"

My heart sank. Whatever use will these young workers be, I thought, if
they can't eat Chinese food? They won't be able to go to the country
and minister in all the little country churches that are so much in
need of help--they can