fried ants anyone?

When I was a kid, I remember my mom telling me  you could tell how long a missionary had been on the field by their reaction to insects in their food.

Less than a year: "Disgusting!"  And throw away the food.
About a year:  "Oh Gross!" Then pick the insect up out of the food and toss it.
About two years: "Hmm, more protein."  And eat the insect with their food.

Why my mom choose to tell me this, I have no idea.  I don't even know if she recalls telling me about it.  But, I never, ever forgot that conversation I had with my mom when I was eight or nine years old.

In Taiwan, a city in my county is famous for its fried ants and grasshoppers.  But, when I visited, I wasn't brave enough to try them out.  Maybe one day . . .

You know missionaries have great fun times swapping stories about what we do push past our tongues for the sake of being accepted by the host culture.  The worst story I heard was from a missionary to southeast Asia who told about how he actually ate a live, little critter.  Too scared to chew, he swallowed the bug whole.  After a few moments of nauseousness, the little critter actually crawled his way back into the missionaries mouth!  UGH!!!  Oh my that is just GROSS!!!

This post is inspired by the fact that apparently, Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer is raising missionaries! :)