On the surface, the call to cross-cultural missions that I initially received and the call to pastoral ministry in my own home state sound like they are at odds, but I have come to see that they are very much in harmony. When I lived in Mali, I began learning to pay attention to the world around me in a new way, to notice culture: the hidden rules, stories and assumptions that are invisible to all who hold them but essentially run their world. Coming back home, I was a little more able to see my own culture, things I simply would not have noticed until I had lived somewhere with a different set of rules, stories and assumptions.