Skittles

6 Minute Read

The story I am about to tell you is one of my main motivators for beginning a blog and yes, it involves Skittles. Those brightly colored, bite sized candy pieces that are nothing but sugar. They come in a variety of colors and flavors, including sour, tropical and wild berry. Truth be told, Skittles are my favorite candy and I love every variety just as much as the original flavor. But not only are they my favorite candy, they became an unhealthy vice at one point in my life.

Rose and I made a temporary move to Guatemala on May 5th, 2019. This trip was all about finding out if my new education and skillset as a physical therapist would be needed and if I could provide for my soon-to-be wife and future family. I spent the first month in Guatemala going through a crosscultural training program called CAMPO. CAMPO stands for Centro de Adiestramiento Misionero en Pokomchilandia and was developed by my mother-in-law and father-in-law, Beth and Boris Ramirez, who spent 28 years translating the New Testament into the Mayan language of Pokomchi. Several years after completing the translation in 2012, they began working with Missionary Ventures International (MVI) to develop CAMPO which, in short, prepares long-term missionaries for the mission field in the Latin American context.

The month long program really challenged my perspective and abilities, and there were times I felt like quitting. I remember thinking, “I truly don’t have what it takes to thrive in the mission field.” At that time, I just knew that Rose’s desire was to live in Guatemala, so I was going to do whatever it took to make that dream a reality for her. CAMPO really taught me the skills I needed to adapt and also helped me understand the different phases I was experiencing as I was learning to acclimate cross-culturally. Everything I was feeling and all the struggles I was facing were normal and made sense, though I didn’t know it at the time. Below is a small portion of a journal entry I wrote, recapping my experience (maybe someday I will share the entirety of it).

“…Two weeks or so passed and my time in Guatemala thus far was exceeding my expectations. But there in lies the problem, as I came to find out...Regardless, my phone calls home were filled with relays of a joyful time and exciting experiences. Photos accompanied to prove just how well everything was going, but that doesn’t prove much, because we only ever really capture the good moments. Everything was so new. There was so much to see, so much to smell, so much to hear, to touch, to taste. I come to find out later on, that I was just in one of the six transitional stages of acclimation. Excitement as they call it. Who is they? First Term Survival Guide authors and our fearless mentors, Beth and Boris Ramirez. Most tourists don’t find themselves past this first stage, if they’re lucky.

It wasn’t until the 3rd week or so that I felt another “transition.” Again, not knowing it at the time, of course. Disorientation. And with it, culture shock. I didn’t have titles for all this emotion then. Not to mention, I made a pact with myself to avoid experiencing culture shock at all cost. Be it pride or what, I refused. But my stubbornness was just pure ignorance…”

So where do the Skittles come into play? What do they have to do with cultural acclimation? Well, you see, we all have ways of coping with stress and for some odd reason, I had attached the comforts of my life and home in the United States to Skittles. They were something familiar to me. So anytime I was feeling stressed or overwhelmed, I went to one of the local shops in town that carried exclusive items, including American brand-named candies like Hershey’s and Mars, and bought myself a couple bags of Skittles. Over the course of those four months or so in Guatemala, I must have consumed some 30 bags of Skittles! I didn’t realize I was using it as a coping mechanism at the time, I just knew that it provided me with some comfort. Isn’t that the case for all of us? We can’t always see it and aren’t always aware of it in the moment, until later on when we look back with clearer vision and can realize what was really going on.

Rose and I returned to the United States in September of 2019, newly married with a goal and a vision of returning to Guatemala in about a year’s time. We weren’t back a week and getting settled in when Rose was out and about one day doing some shopping. She noticed a rack of candy and with her husband in mind, picked me up a bag of Skittles. She got home and was excited to show me her purchases which included a bag of Skittles for me. Much to her surprise, I wasn’t as excited about the Skittles as she was. Why was that? For months, these sweet little candies had provided me so much comfort and joy but now they were essentially worthless to me. Was because I had eaten so many of them just weeks before? Or was it because I was finally home and didn’t have a need for them anymore? That was it. They served a purpose for me in Guatemala. A purpose that was no longer needed, now that I had returned to the familiarity of the United States. After all, they are still one off my favorite candies and I enjoy a pack of them from time to time but at this point I no longer need them to cope.

Fast forward to present day, as I look back over my experiences and examine the progress I have made in making Guatemala my new home, Rose and I laugh about my unhealthy obsession with Skittles at that time in my life and how they were virtually useless to me after returning to the States. Poor Rose thought she was doing something nice for me, and she was, but there was something deeper going on. We now know what that was and my CAMPO training has helped me to understand it all more clearly. I can proudly admit that I no longer have need for Skittles to cope with the stressors of cultural adaptation and that I have successfully entered the phase that Guatemala is much more familiar to me. There are still many challenges that arise and I still struggle but Guatemala is becoming more and more like a home to me than back in 2019. I still have a long way to go but each and every day, I know I am one step closer to being completely acclimated and fully accepted by my Pokomchi neighbors.