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Linford and Janet Stutzman reflect on more than a decade of changing students\u2019 lives on the Middle East cross-culturals…<\/em><\/p>\n Tension between Israelis and Palestinians was quickly escalating when Linford Stutzman \u201984 (Seminary \u201990)<\/strong> traveled to the Middle East in the summer of 2000 to prepare for his first turn leading EMU\u2019s cross-cultural to the region. By the time he and his wife, Janet Stutzman (Seminary \u201991)<\/strong>, arrived with the group in early 2001, the second Palestinian Intifada, marked by frequent violence between the two sides, had begun; the group heard nightly gunfire during its stay that winter in the West Bank.<\/p>\n Looking back more than a decade later, the Stutzmans say it\u2019s amazing EMU let the Middle East cross-cultural continue through that time of upheaval. It was a decision that paid off, however, as it led to deeper relationships with the program\u2019s partners in the region, who remember and admire EMU\u2019s commitment to cross-cultural education through thick and thin. EMU was the only American university that didn\u2019t cancel programs with several of these partner institutions.<\/p>\n \u201cJesus doesn\u2019t invite us to a life of not taking risks,\u201d says Linford, a professor <\/strong>in the Bible and religion department. \u201cFaith is made for risk-taking. The whole Biblical story is one of leaving behind the \u2018safe.\u2019 This [trip] is a metaphor for life and faith.\u201d<\/p>\n The Stutzmans, who lived through the 1973 Yom Kippur War while working as independent volunteers in Israel, emphasize that risk-taking doesn\u2019t equate to recklessness, and that careful planning for contingencies is a part of each of the trips to the Middle East that they\u2019ve led.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve gone into it with our eyes wide open \u2026 our agreement with EMU was that we would work with our local [contacts] and make safety decisions based on that,\u201d says Janet, director of alumni and parent relations at EMU from 1991 until 2004.<\/p>\n And so, through the first Palestinian Intifada in the late \u201980s and early \u201990s, the tense months before the Gulf War in 1991, the second Intifada early in the new millennium, and the Arab Spring and new talk of war between Israel and Iran over the past two years, the trip has continued uninterrupted since Willard and Mary Swartley led the first Middle East cross-cultural in the spring of 1975. <\/strong>In doing so, Janet and Linford say, students experience the volatile nature of day-to-day life in the Middle East, while learning valuable lessons about interdependence, self-reliance and the value of taking wise risks throughout their lives. Since 2001, the Stutzmans have led eight cross-culturals to the Middle East (on two occasions, when Janet\u2019s work in Harrisonburg prevented her from being along for the whole trip, their son, David Stutzman \u2019<\/strong>00<\/strong>, filled in as a co-leader).<\/p>\n \u201cWe are risk-takers,\u201d agrees Beth Aracena<\/strong>, director of cross-cultural programs at EMU from 2006 to the end of the 2011-12 school year. \u201cI think students learn the most when there are risks, and they\u2019re challenged to stretch themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the planning process as well as the trips, Aracena has worked closely with the Stutzmans and the university administration to monitor developments in the region and, if necessary, change plans when certain risks no longer seem wise. One recent example of this is EMU\u2019s decision to scratch a previously planned visit to Syria from the itinerary for its 2013 Middle East trip (the Stutzmans led a smaller-than-usual group there for the first time in the spring of 2011).<\/p>\n Aracena describes Linford and Janet as \u201can absolutely phenomenal pair,\u201d constantly tweaking and improving the itinerary to keep the trip new and on the cutting edge.<\/p>\n The wisdom and obvious enthusiasm the Stutzmans bring to their roles as leaders has endeared them to each new group of students they take to the Middle East.<\/p>\n \u201cThey taught us throughout the trip how to be resourceful and successful travelers,\u201d says Ellen Roth \u201913<\/strong>, a member of the 2012 Middle East cross-cultural. \u201c[And] they were there to talk with us to help us through all the tough questions we were confronted with even if there wasn\u2019t a direct answer.\u201d<\/p>\n Roth also admires the way the Stutzmans, who call themselves best friends in addition to husband and wife, interacted. They finish each other\u2019s sentences, and they interrupt one another as they tell stories because they both tell certain parts better,<\/p>\n \u201cThey are such complementary leaders,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Anna Dintaman \u201905 Landis<\/strong>, who went on cross-cultural to the Middle East in 2004, says \u201cthey amazingly don\u2019t lose their sense of humor even after three months on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the International Institute for Education, just 1.8 percent of American students studying abroad in 2009-2010 went to the Middle East. With EMU\u2019s long academic ties to this region infrequently visited by American university students, the Middle East cross-cultural has developed into a special niche program for the university and its students, Aracena says. Because of high student interest in the trip, the Stutzmans have been leading it each spring in recent years.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is just an exceptional learning opportunity for our students,\u201d Aracena says.<\/p>\n Outreach to students\u2019 families is another important aspect of making the trip successful; the Stutzmans and Aracena have regularly responded to questions and concerns from worried parents. Talking with them about the careful planning and collaboration with Palestinian and Israeli partners throughout the trip usually allays parents\u2019 fears. Unfamiliar risks (say, studying abroad in a place typically associated with ominous headlines) often are scarier than familiar risks (e.g. driving to the airport) the Stutzmans say, even when, in fact, statistics show that the drive to the airport is the far riskier undertaking.<\/p>\n As parents learn more about the trip, they often say they wish they could have a similar opportunity to visit the Middle East. The Stutzmans \u2013 who have also spent nearly every summer since 2004 retracing Paul\u2019s Mediterranean travels together by sailboat \u2013 need little encouragement to plan new adventures, and so, in the summer of 2011, they led 14 <\/strong>EMU parents and alumni on a unique \u201cparents cross-cultural.\u201d On that trip, they compressed the usual itinerary into a 16-day tour of Israel and Palestine, affording Linford and Janet yet another opportunity to teach others about the people and places they\u2019ve come to love over the years.<\/p>\n Leading the cross-cultural \u201cis a privilege,\u201d says Linford, adding that leading the trip is the most rewarding aspect of his work with undergraduates at EMU. \u201cIt never gets old.\u201d<\/p>\n Each new group has its own personality, the Stutzmans say, and each student returns home with a changed view of God, of the world, and of themselves. By having agreed to lead the Middle East cross-cultural each spring through at least 2015, Janet and Linford will continue influencing dozens more EMU undergrads over the next several years by exposing them to the conflicts and contradictions, as well as determined hopes for a better future, that exist throughout the region.<\/p>\n Perhaps most formative, they say, is the fact that EMU students on the trip interact with and learn from people who hold wildly divergent views on religion, politics, security, justice and other issues of fundamental significance. At the same time, the students\u2019 immersion in day-to-day life in the region leads to deeper, human connections with the people they encounter.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a lesson that our students are learning in life \u2013 that even though you disagree with people, you can be respectful and you can be friends,\u201d says Janet. \u201cThere are so many of our young adults who are going on to do amazing things, and I feel that it\u2019s so neat to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014Andrew Jenner Linford and Janet Stutzman reflect on more than a decade of changing students\u2019 lives on the Middle East cross-culturals… Tension between Israelis and Palestinians was quickly escalating when Linford Stutzman \u201984 (Seminary \u201990) traveled to the Middle East in the summer of 2000 to prepare for his first turn leading EMU\u2019s cross-cultural to the region. 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