Something to write about

I have been wanting to write something for quite some time now, knowing that it has been a while since I updated all of you on my life. But, to tell you the truth, I haven’t really felt like I had anything to share. To steal a phrase from some fellow missionaries, there are only so many ways to say that I am still in full time language study.

However, today God made me realize something. Yes, it’s true, I have been focused on learning the local language, and little else, for over a year now. This means that a large portion of my conversations and relationships with people here are based on language questions, learning and practicing as much Nahuatl as possible so that I will be better able to work with the people here when the time comes to translate Bible stories.

Now here is the part where God showed me something pretty cool. Today I went out to practice some words, and ask questions about others that I am trying to learn. I’ve been feeling a bit discouraged, like what I’m doing isn’t making a difference. Well, I stopped to ask a couple of questions, and before I knew it I suddenly had seven different people around me, trying to decide on the best way to say certain things. 

It was then that I realized that the group of people around me were individuals, none of which are believers, that I have met through language study during the past year+, but that not only have they shared their language with me, but they have welcomed me into their lives. I have celebrated birthdays, rites of passage, graduations, and births with them, as well as mourned the loss of loved ones and prayed for them through their suffering. I have had difficult conversations about Christianity and religions with them, and have been able to share stories and verses from the Bible that have impacted my life.

I’m not saying that I have done anything great, because I haven’t. Instead I am saying that today God showed me that He is always working, even when we can’t tell. Not only that, but He proved that He does not change, for just this morning I read a verse written hundreds of years ago that I could apply word for word myself. It is Isaiah 26:12, “Lord, you establish peace for us: all that we have accomplished you have done for us.” 

So it turns out that being in full time language study isn’t such a bad thing after all.