The Sentinel
Lost in the Woods -
A Year in Geography
by Dana Wood
One year a friend and I decided we needed to teach our children more about geography and other cultures to give them a better idea of what was out in the world. We wanted them to understand other cultures so they would be prepared when they served their missions or met others who were not from the United States. We felt doing it together would be more fun and we would be more accountable!
The first thing we did was divide the kids into older and younger with different expectations and assignments for each. We met once a week to do hands on activities and assigned written work and reading assignments to be done at home. The assignments would be things like labeling maps, studying customs or the history of a country. On the days we met together I taught the younger kids and she taught the older.
We really enjoyed the studies we did but what made this year a highlight was our once a month Family Home Evening meetings. At this FHE we showcased the things the kids made such as maps, flags, items specific to that country, etc. We tried to make them wear costumes but that didn’t go over as well with the older kids. We also had the kids help us make samplings of foods from that country. The internet is a wonderful place to find authentic recipes. The most significant component to our study turned out to be the people we invited to share the evenings with us. For each of the countries we managed to find someone who had lived for an extended period, served their mission in or who was from that country.
Three of the countries were especially fun. A family had just moved into our ward from Mexico. We asked them if they would help us put on a real fiesta. They were so willing to help. They could barely speak English and my shaky Spanish did not include cooking words, so it made for a fun evening as they tried to teach us how to cook authentic foods without being able to understand each other. We still use the recipes they gave us that night because they are so good!
With our study of Russia we invited a recently returned missionary to share his experiences. We had a little trouble finding Russian recipes, but we persevered. We discovered that none of us really liked Russian food. My husband, who has been to Russia, told us that Russian food was not that tasty, but we didn’t believe him. Now we do. The returned missionary we invited started his talk with the statement that no Russian dinner would include all of the foods we had there that night. He said the only food that the average Russian would have for dinner would be the soup and the bread. They certainly wouldn’t have the dessert except on very special occasions. He then went on to talk about the great poverty that exists in places in that country, but also the great faith of the members. It was a sobering moment for our youth.
The evening that really stands out for my boys was our Africa night. We had foods from various African countries and they were all surprisingly good. The speaker for the evening was a doctor from our ward who had spent time in Rhodesia. He told of his experience as a missionary in France, of having people slam the door in his face, but before they did they would say “We don’t need you here! If you want to go do some good in the world, go be a doctor in Africa or something!” After his mission he went to medical school and after qualifying as a doctor decided to do just that. He told the kids that he learned a valuable lesson in Africa. He could do more for people in the long run by teaching them the gospel than he ever could just healing their wounds. He then went on to give examples of this truth. It was a very powerful teaching moment about the importance of missions that we couldn’t have planned if we wanted to.
As my boys have gone on to serve missions, this experience with different cultures has stood them well. One son served on the reservations in Arizona. He was able to make connections with the people because he accepted the differences between their culture and ours- but most importantly, he was willing to try the food. Who knew that eating what is prepared for you would be so important in gaining people’s trust. The same has held true as my sons have served in Brazil, El Salvador and Croatia.
You can leave your thoughts, comments or suggestions here on my feedback page. Thanks!
- Dana