Ah Yes! Just what the great unwashed need: another clueless Yankee to become become a parasite on an already poor village.
It appears you have nothing to contribute but self-rightous zeal. Do them and yourself a big favor. Stay home until skills and maturity develop, then you may have something to offer.

"There is nothing more frightening than ignorance in action"

Whuff!

Well, now. THAT was a bit contentious! <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

I think we all could have something to offer another culture - even if it's just a picture of who we are and how we are different.

I will admit that I'm uncomfortable about the idea of making a trip to the hinterlands to "educate" the indigenes on the proper way to worship.

If more people would channel their missionary zeal into efforts to assist peoples in bettering their physical existence, perhaps the religious issues could then resolve themselves.

To me, Christianity isn't about converting others to my ways of thinking - it's about helping others get their lives to the point where they have the time and the information to sit and think for themselves about their relationship with a higher power.

And this has now gone WAY off track.

Just one piece of advice - don't go down there and fart in their church. They are as fervent about their relationship with their God as you are about yours. And remember, you are both right.

Religion and politics, now where was that new forum? <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I have friends who are missionaries in Nicaragua. They went, and then joined, with as established group which had set up shop in a particular place where people come for medical care, education and the like. So I suppose that's one way around the suspicion-of-motive attitude. Group A comes to Group B of their own volition to a place that has been given tacit approval by the indigenous folk. Where there's a will, there's a way.

This is starting to sound more and more like my Baghdad assignmnet.

As for your question, Jeff Randall's site might have some information, you could also sign up for his courses. Backwoods magazine is ok, but is geared heavily toward off the grid living and subsistence, not necessarily identifying wild flora. Try googling some of the more famous authors, (Wiseman, Kochanski, etc.), check out plainsman's cabin. They often have a great deal of cross links that you can get lost in for weeks.

Don't worry about all the name callers on this forum, good luck to you!

Farmer- all though I like Larry Dean Olson's book (the first survival book I read after Tunnel in the Sky,) it's about the high and dry, and has little to do with survival in the SA jungle.

Wow!!! Chris, I thought we were supposed to avoid the political.

As their have been some that have brought up the missionary issue, let me make my current intentions clear. right know I am in school and really do not see myself going to the foreign field for a while because of school and other ministires in the states. During a trip I made to Guatemala with a group, I made some contacts who I would probably be involved with if I went to Guatemala. If i went to another country, I would still find a group to join with, because most of the time a lone wolf is a dead wolf. I am baptist, and when I went and my friends there told me of pagan rituals practiced in those churches, I felt strongly the need to be involved and seek to extinguish those practices. When I go, I want to be involved with the rural churches, and be apart of their ministries. I saw so many people who's zealous nature made me ashamed. I don't want any special attention, but to live with the people, work with the people, and share the love of God with people who don't know it and rejoice in the grace of God with fellow brothers and sisters. I would like to be an evangelist, like a wandering preacher. I want also to learn some skill before I go so that I would be of use in a community to the people and not just a leech. I am unabashed in the declaration of salvation is only by grace in faith through Christ. Repentance for sins and belief in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ for those sins are neccesary for eternal life. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through Him.

Ok you've made your intentions clear, now lets make some of the advice clear. (at the risk of getting the thread locked)
I fully respect your right to beleive and practice your religion as you feel fit as do I fully respect it is their right to practce theirs.
I dont respect the fact that you beleive that you have any right to extinguish anybody elses religious practices. It is this type of action that start wars.
If you choose to do missionary work, read what Chris said about learning about the people before you go and respect their way of life and their religion. Then help them in a practical way.