Language Glitches

Now that we are here, away from all things familiar, we have a new appreciation of how things were. The good old days when we woke up in the morning and went about our daily lives without much thought of…what would it be like if…? It’s true. Most of us never have a thought of finding ourselves in dramatically different surroundings. We are comfortable and content with the life we are living and, beyond the usual life change adjustments, Junior’s first step, Sissy’s first date, job changes, empty nest, you know what we mean, there’s not much thought of life out there somewhere else. But there is life in…The Outer Limits.  

We find ourselves now, in The Outer Limits, away from all things familiar. Though we knew where God was calling us several years before stepping into this new life we call foreign missions, we never really grasped the breadth of change that lay ahead of us. After all, we had traveled to several different Latin American countries prior to making the actual life change. Before coming, we imagined what it would be like to live in another country, speak another language, adhere to another culture, live within another social parameter unfamiliar to us. There have been some shocking things we have seen and learned. Many of you have heard a little of the dark things we see in daily life, but we want to share a little on the lighter side. More specifically, the way things are when learning a new language.

The Tower of Babel comes to mind. You know the story. The people wanted to make a name for themselves. Since it is God’s purpose for man to make a name for Himself, He was displeased with the people. So, He confounded their languages and spread them abroad in the earth. Perhaps the way they felt may have been similar to how we feel when we are out shopping, exploring and learning about Colombian culture, social life and…language. When we first arrived and began planting ourselves here, we would walk down the street and hear…babble. We went to church. The Pastor’s sermon was the same for many weeks…babble. We were invited to new friends’ houses for dinner. The conversation was…babble.

It’s been six months and we are beginning to feel more comfortable with the language. We have more courage to speak with confidence and hope that what we say is not…babble. Though learning the new language is a tremendous challenge, we have encountered some pretty fun things while in the learning curve. Last week a pastor was preaching. At one point in his message, he spoke to the listeners something that required a response of, “Amen.” Not knowing exactly what the pastor said, Christine did not respond but, of course, noticed that many of the congregation responded with the appropriate, “Amen”. Then the pastor went on to implore the people to respond again, this time with a “Hallelujah”. Christine, seeing that he was about to ask for a response, was ready. Still not knowing exactly what the pastor was saying, she graciously and with enthusiasm, heartily responded with a loud, “Hallelujah”. No one else responded with the “Hallelujah”, but they did respond with laughter. What the pastor said the first time was, “If anyone is awake say ‘Amen’.” Then he said, “If anyone is asleep, say ‘Hallelujah’.”

At lunch today, we were talking about Kevin’s dentist appointment he had that morning. Christine told our friend Kevin had new ‘carroñas’. Our friend, wide eyed looked closely at Kevin’s mouth. Realizing that something was wrong, we asked him what it was. He said ‘carroñas’ is the dead and putrefying body or flesh of animals; flesh so corrupted as to be unfit for food. It’s what we would call ‘road kill’. The word for crown is carona. Well, you say carroñas, I say corona!

Just so you all know Christine is not alone when it comes to bungling Spanish. Kevin was praying the sinners prayer with a young Hispanic man. He told the man to ask Jesus to forgive him of his ‘pescados’. The word for sins is pecados. Kevin told him to ask Jesus to forgive him of his ‘fish’!

But that is what it’s all about, isn’t it? As we mentioned before, the people at Babel wanted to make a name for themselves, but God wants us to make His name famous in the world. As we are learning, sharing and making great friends who have grace for us when we bungle, we are seeing God at work in this place. He is opening doors to all strata of people. The task of learning the language at times seems overwhelming, but we trust Him to let His word go forth with power and authority.

1Peter 4:11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Let us all stand still and evaluate what is the call of God on our lives. The hard thing is to get our own agenda out of the way and be willing to step out into somewhere in The Outer Limits. There is one thing we can be sure of, God wants to be glorified in the earth, to all nations, to all tribes and to all tongues. We may stumble sometimes when we are reaching the lost, discipling other believers, teaching a Sunday School class or going to the nations. But what will we say to Him when He asks why we were not about His business? We have enjoyed sharing at little of our story here. We all love to tell our story. Let’s tell His. The rewards are much greater.