I just read a quote by Peggy Noonan:

In Iraq this year I asked an Iraqi military officer doing joint training at an American base what was the big thing he’d come to believe about Americans in the years they’d been there. He thought. “You are a better people than your movies say.” He had judged us by our exports. He had seen the low slag heap of our culture and assumed it was a true expression of who we are.

This has been my experience in various countries. The USA exports a lot of filth (by movies, music, popular culture, etc.), and others have judged Americans by it. We need to keep this in mind when the US is criticized by other cultures. In many cases the USA is not very attractive when judged by our cultural exports.

This is also one more good reason for mission trips: people in other countries can experience a different kind of American, an American who follows God and acts in love. In this way we may, in small part, act as peacemakers between cultures.

The best thing we can do is love the Lord deeply and be the people He wants us to be. Sometimes He may then send us to other cultures be a witness of His loving-kindness. He always wants us to be a witness in our home culture.