Towards Reconciliation

our family's adventures in the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)

Tag: language

God’s Provision – remembering how God has taken care of us during our first year

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On November 2, 2015

In Chad

I have been consistently amazed at the way God has provided for us over this past year. Many things we prayed earnestly for. Some things we didn’t know we needed. A few things we didn’t even have the faith to ask for…

  • An organization in the States that specifically helps missionaries to ship containers overseas. We didn’t know this existed, and hadn’t plan to ship anything other than what we brought on the plane, but we found out about it while in France and were able to ship our solar power system from the U.S. We didn’t realize what a blessing this was until we got here.
  • Upon our arrival, there wasn’t anyone from our organization in the capital for a couple of weeks. A family we met in language school picked us up, took us to their house for lunch, let the kids play at their mission compound, and delivered us to our guesthouse. They introduced us to the director of their mission in Chad and his wife, who connected with a lady to help with the housework and cooking at our guesthouse. This was a life-saver in those crazy first few weeks.
  • The guest house we had reserved in the capital didn’t have much space for the kids to play, which we didn’t realize until we arrived. God provided two other compounds in the capital with lots of space, kids, and even a trampoline for the kids to burn some energy.
  • We arrived in Chad without having long-term visas lined up. We came on tourist visas, planning to arrange long-term visas through a contact Josh made through another worker with our organization. This worked out very well, and in addition to getting our long-term visas we have begun a relationship with a Chadian church that we think will provide many opportunities for ministry in the future.
  • When Josh went back to the capital to purchase a vehicle, he didn’t think about the difficulty of making the return trip alone. But God provided an English-speaking Chadian MBB who also needed a ride to Abeche to make the trip with Josh. Oh, and he also happened to be a mechanic.
  • The kids, especially Isaac, had a very difficult transition. He would wake up in the middle of the night screaming in his sleep with night terrors. After several nights of this we fell weeping to our knees, wondering what we’d done to our kids by bringing them here. We prayed, and Isaac calmed down almost immediately. From there on out his sleep patterns were much improved.
  • After a difficult month in the capital, we moved to Abeche and were blessed to have a comfortable house on a large mission compound. This provided some much needed rest and quiet space after the chaos of N’Djamena.
  • A Chadian friend who needed work and is experienced doing household maintenance and light construction. He has helped us since arriving in Abeche to make our house feel like home.
  • DANIELLE! We were struggling to figure out life in Chad while taking care of our family and learning the 2nd language in as many years when God intervened with a huge blessing. Through a series of circumstances Danielle, who was planning to join another team in Chad, joined us for a year to help with the kids while learning some Arabic herself. We honestly didn’t have the faith to even pray for someone like her to help, but God knew the need and provided for us.

We could list dozens more ways God has faithfully provided throughout this first year. Thank you Lord for your faithfulness!

Language Partner

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On November 1, 2013

In France

One of the most helpful tools in language learning, other than the willingness to make a complete fool out of yourself (actually a requirement), is having someone to meet with regularly to speak. In a situation like ours, it is possible, even easy, to get through the day without actually speaking much French. We live in our own little community, and we can accomplish much of what we need to on a daily basis without leaving the campus. The challenge, especially for a natural introvert (both Kimberly and I), is to get out and speak. It may seem obvious (OK, it is obvious) but there are people who spend months or a year learning a language and still can’t communicate because they don’t get out of their comfort zone and practice. If left to my own desires, I would rather flip through notecards than go into the community and babble like an idiot, but we must babble like idiots in order to improve! This is a humbling (and humiliating) experience!

So, one way to get more practice is to get a language helper. This is someone who agrees to meet once or twice a week to just talk. It’s very painful at first, especially if the person speaks little or no English. But something happens, so we’ve been told, as you struggle more and more to speak. PROGRESS. Little by little, after hearing that verb 27 times, you remember what it means or how it’s conjugated for third person singular.

After being in survival mode for about the first month, Kimberly and I started talking about trying to get a language partner for each of us. We asked for help from the school staff, and they found one for Kimberly. They met for the first time last week and Kimberly was amazed that she was able to speak French for 45 minutes. Sylvia, her language partner, is very pleasant and helpful (and speaks SLOWLY for Kimberly’s benefit). As of last Friday, I didn’t have anyone to meet with.

I had just finished putting the car seats in our rental car when an older gentleman walked into the parking lot of the school and started speaking to me in French. I caught bits and pieces of what he was saying, but couldn’t really communicate so I brought him in to the school administrator and let her talk with him. I stayed around and listened, and it turns out the gentleman is a 93 year-old retired Catholic priest who spent 22 years in the Congo (formerly Zaire). He had been communicating with a former student and had come by to say that he received a letter from her. He lives in the retirement home, on a floor just for priests, about 300 meters from our school. Upon finding out that I am an American, he said he speaks some English but doesn’t have a chance to practice. Seeing this as an obvious answer to my prayer for a language partner, I asked him if we could meet together and talk – he can practice his English and I can practice French. He was delighted and gave me his email address. I emailed him that afternoon and we decided to meet the next morning.

Thank you Lord for answering prayer!

I will write about our meetings in separate posts. We’ve already had two meetings and they were great! Hopefully I can write about them soon.

Learning French…by Faith

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On October 25, 2013

In France

It is a huge temptation for me to take this whole language learning experience into my own prideful hands and try to do it in my own strength. I can study as much as is possible (with two young children!) and do my best on tests and in the classroom, but not be doing it in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord in my own heart and attitudes. We have learned close to 1,000 vocabulary words, over 100 verbs, and 4 verb tenses in the past six weeks. That is a LOT! I was convicted recently that I have been doing precisely this: studying, attending class, taking the tests, and either being disappointed in my failures or prideful in my (small) achievements with the language, but never considering the role God has in my studies. Yes, I know He has shown His gracious hand in our family and children as we have adjusted to life here. He has reminded me that He is the one who has a great plan for the people of Chad. But I forgot that He is God even over this little detail of us learning French. Please pray for both of us that as we strive to learn French well, we will humbly remember that it is God who gives us the mind and understanding for learning. We want to remember during our studies to ask God to help us and give us His strength to persevere. We want His blessing as we give our best efforts to learn. Without His grace, we would not be where we are today in our French studies.

Isaac in France

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On September 29, 2013

In Family, France

Isaac is learning to say a few things in French. His nursery teachers speak French to each other, so he picks up a little bit. They also have manner words and commands that they use in French to speak to the children. I think most of the time they are still speaking in English to the children for now at least. Here’s a few illustrations of Isaac’s interaction with the French language:

  • We give Isaac something to eat and instead of saying “Thank you” he will say “Merci!” without us prompting him. He is learning this from nursery, I am sure.
  • Sometimes, instead of saying, “Merci!” he combines the French word for “thank you” (Merci” with the French word for “please” (S’il vous plait”) and makes his own word, which is, “Merci–vous plait!”
  • I went to pick Isaac up from nursery last week and was the first mom in the room one day. Isaac jumped up and loudly said, “Moommmmyyy!!!” The teacher said, “Isaac, doucement!” Which means, “Quietly, gently, or slowly.” He quietened right down. Now, Josh and I have started using that word in our home to help him understand when he needs to calm down. So far, it’s been successful.

The French way of interacting with children is a bit different from how we do things in the States. Not wrong or bad. Just different. I am so impressed when I peek in at the children at lunch time and see a completely silent group of toddlers eating lunch and using manners. Isaac never comes home with food on his clothes. He and the other children are also always seated quietly at the table when they are waiting for their parents to pick them up at the end of the day. When the teacher says it is time to “tidy” – they do it. One time I heard Isaac crying in the afternoon and we asked why about 30 minutes later when we came to pick him up. She said, “I am very sorry. Isaac did not get a snack this afternoon because he did not tidy when I told him to.” He has tidied up every day since then.  I know they dance and play and have lots of fun during the day, because I peek in some, but Ms. Corrine, the teacher, knows how to keep order with a bunch of toddlers. We could learn a few lessons from her, I think!

A few of Isaac’s favorite things so far in France:

  • Riding the bus to town
  • Taking the train to Chambery (an hour away)
  • Taking bike rides with Daddy (he has his own seat mounted to Josh’s bike with his own blue helmet!)
  • Playing in the sandbox
  • Going to the bakery to get a cookie, donut, or fresh bread
  • Picking a flower every single time we go on a walk (There are LOTS of flowers here and as long as they are outside of a fence, towards the road/sidewalk, we are allowed to pick them.)

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