“It was a double culture shock,” Johanna shared. “I came to Germany knowing the language but not the culture. It was also a culture shock to prepare to go to India long-term and then wind up in Germany!” Born in Paraguay, Joanna Neudorf began her missionary journey with Multiply in 2015 when she participated in FOCUS training. Johanna felt God calling her to mission and began preparing to go to India. However, the Lord had other plans.
“India didn’t work out,” she explains. “And at that time, the refugee crisis was big in Europe. That’s when I came to Germany and began working with Persian refugees.” Five years into her work in Germany, thinking her ministry to refugees might be coming to a close, Johanna accepted an invitation to assist with a church plant in Dortmund. As it turned out, there were more refugees waiting for her there.
Over the course of the past year, in addition to supporting the church plant, Johanna served as a first-time facilitator for a TREK discipleship program in Albania. There she witnessed how both culture shock and culture acclimation impact missionaries.
“Everyone wants to prepare you,” she says. “I remember finding myself in that role. I had been prepared, but it still hit me. And now, I was in the role of having to prepare others for it.
"It was my first time helping lead the European TREK program. It was exciting to meet the eight courageous young people who wanted to serve God on mission, and I barely noticed how the time flew by as I was talking with parents, making the girls feel at home, answering 1000 questions, hearing their stories, seeing the pain beneath the surface.
“They arrived full of dreams and expectations,” she reflects. “I was curious to see how the training, outreach, and time abroad would shape and challenge them.”
It didn’t take long to realize that “challenge” was an understatement. Some of the participants were completely overwhelmed even before leaving for Albania. They found themselves thrust into unfamiliar situations where they faced unique obstacles—relational tensions, spiritual expectations, and a very different routine.
Even greater hurdles awaited them when they arrived in Albania. Suddenly immersed in a new culture, they struggled to engage with strangers and navigate a language they barely knew. Everyone expected it to be difficult, but no one imagined how hard it would be.
“It’s often the painful loss of idealism, the confrontation with confusing realities, and the letting go of unmet expectations that create the most valuable growth and a deeper relationship with God,” Johanna says.
As the weeks went by, she saw the TREK participants courageously begin to step out of their comfort zones. “When departure day came,” she says, “every heart was torn: joy and relief at returning home, but also pain at leaving behind something they had fought hard to build.”
Stepping into another culture can be disorienting and stressful. But God has called us to go into all the world, communicating the Good News of Jesus in a way that people can understand and embrace.
How is God calling you to step into another culture—whether across an ocean or across the street—to share Jesus with those who are waiting to hear?
Pray for Johanna as she completes her time of faithful ministry with Multiply and continues to follow God on her missional journey. Pray also and for the participants of TREK, FOCUS, and ACTION—that God will give them strength and grace as they are challenged to understand and share the Gospel in new and different cultures.
