Language Revisited

Megan helps at neighborhood event

This week, as part of the end of our first team unit (a.k.a. “the orientation unit”), our teammates underwent a language evaluation officiated by Megan.  We are pleased to say that all of them are progressing well.  But that doesn’t mean they don’t have a long way to go.  They see that now themselves.  Some are tiring of language learning.  The road is hard and steep and there is a long way to go.  Our goals are grand: to be able to speak clearly and deeply in this language, so that we can share stories and explain the deeper truths of life with our friends and neighbors.  We want to be able to pick up on the nuances--the things said in passing that actually carry deep meaning.  We want to be able to understand their stories so that we can laugh with them and cry with them.  A wonderful goal, but not easily achieved.  And after 3 months, they begin to realize just how high the mountain is they wish to climb.

Now comes the hard part: perseverance.  Slogging on when it seems like you aren’t learning, or even forgetting things you learned before.  It’s all part of the process, but it is humbling.  Not to mention, it grows more difficult to practice at deeper levels where vocabulary is in less frequent use.  Where you have opportunities to say “Hello” and other greetings a hundred times a day, how often will you get to practice a word like, “cooking pot” or “forgiveness”?

Grace & Peter with some neighbors

Our teammates are not the only ones learning language.  We have not reached that lofty goal either.  We are just further down the road.  It has been a little disheartening how little time there has been to improve our own language skills during these recent days as we juggle our team responsibilities and English classes. But there is always hope.  Megan has been teaching our teammates parts of island grammar on our team days, and you know what they say, “If you want to learn something well, teach it.”  And things are settling down enough that we are once again finding time to push ourselves further in this language.  For us this is exciting...we long for more language time, we thirst for it.  Our teammates are drowning in language and study time is like overflowing an already full barrel, but for us an hour of study is like a drink of cold water to a parched and weary traveler. 

This might not seem like a very exciting blog, but language is our ever constant prayer request.  It unlocks more doors than almost anything else we can do.  So remember us and our teammates as we work and persevere to learn this language which cannot be learned in a classroom and for which nearly no written materials exist.  It is no easy task, but it is of deep importance.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We were so blessed to have Chris and Beka with us this past week to encourage us and share with us their wealth of experience as team leaders, as well as just to pass some time with them as our good friends.  We are happy to see that all our teammates are progressing in language and continue to make contacts and friends in their communities. A good friend talked about standing strong for what she believes against neighborhood pressure against- we're proud of her.

 PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for our language learning!!!  For perseverance and encouragement; for the right language helpers and the right subjects to study; for the time to study; for the balance of listening, speaking, studying, visiting, practicing and resting; for a thirst for language; for brains that would grasp grammar, understand different accents, remember new vocabulary, pick up on pronunciation, and increase in speed and accuracy; and to remember the prize and to keep our eyes fixed on the ultimate goal so as to bring us hope in the midst of discouragement. Continue to pray for Megan’s back--healing is coming, slowly.  There is a large rat running around our house that has, as of yet, avoided our traps.  As you feel led, pray that he would no longer bother us :)