Monday, December 15, 2003
Isaiah 12:2-6

What is it to live in a strange land? One day I went to my counselor at Dubuque Seminary and said to her: "Do I need to take this course?" It was a Cross Cultural class. It was not that I didn't want to take the class. My point was to make them aware that I was already in a Cross Cultural/Cross Racial class.

For the last 8 years after moving from Puerto Rico to Wisconsin, I have experienced, by living in, a different country, culture, language, way of life, and church different from that in which I grew up. I needed to adjust to a new climate and learn new ways of doing things, all the time building from the foundation that I already had. Everyday was and is a challenge with decisions to make and paths to take in my journey of faith.

I will never regret the day that my wife and I decided to come to Wisconsin from Puerto Rico because, like Isaiah, we are thankful to God for the world that He has shown us. Isaiah was immersed, but not by choice, in a new culture, race, language, and religion. But even amidst those changes, the prophet lived and witnessed the power and the love of God in his live and the live of the people.

Two weeks before we left Puerto Rico, I felt in my heart the need to respond to God's call and become a pastor. After a year of living in Wisconsin, I was assigned to a two-point cross cultural appointment. I could have refused; after all, this meant serving a different culture, people of a different color of skin, and having to work really hard to improve my mastery of the English language. But instead of seeing my limitations or the challenges of a different culture and people, I prayed to God and trusted in the call that he was giving me at that time.

As Isaiah, I shout aloud and sing with joy because by giving God the opportunity to work in my life in the "exile," my family and I have been abundantly blessed. We have shared our ways to experience God in my tradition and help some people to learn Spanish. We even took a group from one of the churches that I had served to Puerto Rico! Also, we have acquired new ways to worship our Lord, learned a new language, and, more important, have gotten to know brothers and sisters that we would not have met otherwise!

Yes, God has done "glorious things" and that's why I'm thankful because God has fulfilled his promises in my life, my family, and in the people around us. "Great is the holy one among us!"

Diego Orsini

All contents copyright 2003 by the Wisconsin Chapter of the Methodist Federation for Social Action. Permission is granted to United Methodist congregations, individuals and groups to reproduce and distribute this devotional without charge. All other use requires the advance permission of the editor.