Translated, that means "Rome wasn´t built in a day." I daily learn more of the truth of that stupid saying. :) Read on...
Prayer Necessities for the Skimmers:
1. Please pray that my friend Leah and I would have wisdom as we begin a Bible study with a young woman named Ines. She is very open to Truth and has many questions about God´s Word. Pray that we would know how to present the big picture of the Bible, culminating in the saving truth of the sacrifical death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Messiah, and that we would be able to do so quickly and efficiently before Ines leaves Guatemala in mid-December.
2. Continue to pray for Bolivian Xtremers Graham and Efrain as they work in the community of Qhochumi. Pray for Santu Felipe, the man in the community who has been memorizing the stories of God´s Word. Pray that he and all his household would be saved and that God´s Word would spread like wildfire through the community.
3. Pray for my continued perseverance and patience in language learning. Pray that my words would be Spirit-led, whether I communicate in Spanish or in English, and that there would be no miscommunication of His Truth. May the One True God be glorified!
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know (Bonus for the Readers):
As promised, this post will be about language school. And I am feeling relatively optimistic about language learning today, so you won´t get the very bleak and depressing blog this might otherwise have been. :)
As stated in a previous post, learning a second language is probably the most difficult thing I´ve ever done. Well, it might be a toss-up with pharmacy school but, either way, I think you get the picture. It´s just ridiculously hard.
It can certainly be discouraging. I´ve now been here for just over five weeks and am starting to speak slightly better. I went to the hardware store the other day and was able to communicate that I needed a clamp and the purpose for which I wanted it. Lo and behold, the clerk came back with exactly what I wanted. I had a smile on my face for hours afterward!
Believe me, I know what you´re thinking: "Um, Kel? We´ve got to get you a life. Do we need to send you some magazines or something? Because, seriously, for you to be this excited about a clamp is just concerning."
Yeah, I know. But you have to take encouragement wherever it comes when you´re learning a new language because there is so much DIScouragement. If I can communicate even the most basic things, I am thrilled, simply because there is so much I can´t communicate. There are so many times when I know exactly what I want to say but can´t figure out how to conjugate the verb in Spanish. Or I don´t know the Spanish word. Or my dictionary doesn´t have the phrase I need. And the worst times are when I can´t even figure out how to say what I want to say in English. It seems that, as I learn one new word in Spanish, I lose two in English. Great, now I´m a terrible communicator in two languages! :)
It can be overwhelming at times. Spanish has two words for the English verb "to be," two words for the English preposition "for," two past tenses and multiple verb tenses that are rarely if ever used in English. I can read even the most basic stories and discover verb constructions that I don´t recognize. The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don´t know.
In that respect, learning Spanish is kind of like reading the Bible. I´ve read the book of Hebrews at least ten times, and God shows me something new every time. And every time I recognize that I haven´t even scratched the surface of understanding this amazing God that we have.
Of course, I have eternity to come to know Who God is, and that is the most amazing blessing there is. As a matter of fact, John 17:3 tells us that is actually the definition of eternal life:
"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
I´m hoping that learning Spanish will be a similar blessing. I have been viewing it as a task to be completed. Learn this language, and you can move on to Quechua. But, as a missionary friend reminded me this week, the best perspective is to view language learning as a lifelong process. There are certainly goals to be achieved. I have to attain a certain level in Spanish before I can begin learning Quechua, for example. But language learning is less about the destination and more about the journey.
It can be very humbling. My teacher just yesterday compared me to her four-year-old nephew, who also evidently cannot pronounce Spanish words. She continues to remind me that Rome wasn´t built in a day, but, let me tell you, it´s pretty darn humbling to be compared to a four-year-old. :)
Honestly, everything about language learning is humbling. I feel stupid constantly. I came from a job where I felt very competent and where there was a lot positive reinforcement that I was doing a good job. I came from a church where I felt able to perform my responsibilities well. To learn Spanish is to be unable to do even the simplest things, and it is difficult and humbling, if not humiliating, to be in that position.
But you know what? That is good. Did you see how many times in that last paragraph I used the word "I"? Seven times in only three sentences. In language learning, there is no I. There is only, "Father, please help me. I can´t do this." Humility is so foreign for me but so close to the heart of God. "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6). And I´ve relearned the truth of this passage:
"But he said to me, `My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.´ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor. 12:9-10)
So being weak in language truly is good because it makes me recognize my utter dependence on God for even the smallest things. And it reminds me that it´s not now, nor has it ever been, about me. It´s only about Him, about His glory. I want to boast gladly in my language weaknesses so that Christ´s power may rest on me! And may His glory be seen and His holy Name exalted!
"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." (Ps. 46:10)
