This goofball is coming home from Bosnia today, and her Momma is VERY excited about it!!Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Galatians 6:9
For those of you who have followed the Bosnia team saga with us, they are headed home today, so if you'd like to pray for safety in travel, that would be great. I can't wait to see our girl, to hear her stories of God at work, to marvel, once again, at the grace and mercy God has chosen to shower on our family by providing us opportunities to minister in His name. I think their trip did not turn out like what they'd planned--Bosnia was basically covered in snow with all the schools closed--but they managed to find work, nevertheless. I'm pretty sure that the moral of that story is that there is work to be done everywhere we look--and our plans are not always God's.
So we started language school this week. In case you're new to this blog, I will start out by saying that this is the second time we've done language learning, and it is not our favorite part of this life. We are approaching our mid-40s (very, very quickly!!), and trying to stuff another language into our already full brains is not an easy task. Learning Russian was one of the hardest things I have EVER done. Period. It basically stripped me of every bit of pride, because it was far harder for me than I thought it would be. The thought of learning another language was pretty rough for us when the team decided to relocate to Austria. I'm going to be honest--one of the reasons we wanted to go back to the Russian-speaking world was because we already spoke Russian. But here we are, in Austria, where they speak German, so off to German school we must go.
Let me be really clear here--Vienna is full of people who speak English. Our next-door neighbors speak perfect English (and no German). Our church is English-speaking. We could get by speaking only English. We could. But that is not our heart. We are here. Planted here. And we are absolutely determined to get German. To us, this is a moment in our career that is about being who God created us to be--even when being something else would be easier. This is our "test Me in this" moment--only God can make this happen.
I am taking class in the morning, and Marc is taking class in the afternoon. Marc is two classes ahead of me, and his class is very hard, because his "other language" (the language everybody speaks other than Deutsch) is Russian. So that is very confusing, especially because the teacher only speaks a little Russian, so she will say things to him and then have him translate for everyone else. Yikes. So Marc is kind of operating in three languages while he's trying to learn German. That's a lot. But he's making it. And, of course--what's better for Marc than a room full of Russian-speakers with whom to make relationships? :) We've been seeking a way into the Russian community here--who knows that this isn't it? I'm taking the very beginning German class, and I absolutely love it. It's hard, of course, to learn a new language, but my teacher is so positive and kind, and I really, really like the other people in my class. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I get to take class with my friend, Stacy, but I really like the other people, too. Our class is three hours long, and I haven't once thought time was dragging or that it was dull. She keeps a really quick pace, but I feel like so much is making sense to me that I haven't understood before, and that's really exciting for me. So it's--in a really strange way--kind of fun to learn and understand.
Have you ever been blessed with the opportunity to do something hard a second time? Have you ever been blessed with the chance to correct some mistakes you made the first time? That's what this is for me. When I learned Russian, I made several mistakes. First, I let myself be distracted by emotions--frustration, sadness, homesickness, etc. Then I failed to be as diligent as I should have been. I didn't want to listen to Russian radio, so I only did the minimum that was required of me. I didn't want to study those stupid flashcards every night for twenty minutes before bed, so I didn't. I relied on what I knew from past experience to be my academic ability. And my teacher would always say how well I was doing. But I knew in my heart that I was really struggling to understand. Finally, I was way too timid. Wayyyyyyyyy too timid. Our language teacher would call me a "malinki mouse" (a small mouse) when it came to speaking. I just didn't want to, because I didn't want to make mistakes. Marc, on the other hand, would just tromp right up to people and speak away, making all kinds of errors. But here's the thing--nobody cared about his errors. What people cared about (and still care about) was the heart that's behind wanting to learn somebody else's language. Marc speaks to Russians in Russian because he loves them. And they know that. He was willing to lay down his pride in order to communicate with the people God had called him to love. And the reward for that willingness is that Marc's Russian is far better than mine. I can read and write it all day, but I still struggle to speak and understand.
So German is my do-over. It's my chance to actually learn from my own mistakes. I have already forced myself to say things in the grocery store that I've learned in class. And you know what? I've gotten all kinds of encouragement as a reward for even that tiny bit of effort. Today, I'm labeling things in the house and practicing verbs. Every night, I'm studying flashcards. But above all, I'm putting into God's hands the worries about being wrong, about not being able to do this. Because, my friends, I've had the chance to watch Him at work, and I know for sure that He does not call us to things that He does not enable us to do. I'm not looking for something supernatural to happen (although, hey--if He wants to do that, I'm not opposed to it!), but I am looking for God to confirm the work of my hands to learn the heart language of the people who surround me.
Well, the big boy is up and wants his breakfast. (John, not Marc, in case you were wondering.) I'm baking cookies for the team's dinner tonight upon their return, and I've got to mop my floors. Oooooohhhhhh, my glamorous life. :) Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you are asking the God of the Universe to do something in your life that only He can do, and that your kid is coming home from Bosnia tonight, too. Blessings to you and yours!
His,
Kellye
For those of you who have followed the Bosnia team saga with us, they are headed home today, so if you'd like to pray for safety in travel, that would be great. I can't wait to see our girl, to hear her stories of God at work, to marvel, once again, at the grace and mercy God has chosen to shower on our family by providing us opportunities to minister in His name. I think their trip did not turn out like what they'd planned--Bosnia was basically covered in snow with all the schools closed--but they managed to find work, nevertheless. I'm pretty sure that the moral of that story is that there is work to be done everywhere we look--and our plans are not always God's.
So we started language school this week. In case you're new to this blog, I will start out by saying that this is the second time we've done language learning, and it is not our favorite part of this life. We are approaching our mid-40s (very, very quickly!!), and trying to stuff another language into our already full brains is not an easy task. Learning Russian was one of the hardest things I have EVER done. Period. It basically stripped me of every bit of pride, because it was far harder for me than I thought it would be. The thought of learning another language was pretty rough for us when the team decided to relocate to Austria. I'm going to be honest--one of the reasons we wanted to go back to the Russian-speaking world was because we already spoke Russian. But here we are, in Austria, where they speak German, so off to German school we must go.
Let me be really clear here--Vienna is full of people who speak English. Our next-door neighbors speak perfect English (and no German). Our church is English-speaking. We could get by speaking only English. We could. But that is not our heart. We are here. Planted here. And we are absolutely determined to get German. To us, this is a moment in our career that is about being who God created us to be--even when being something else would be easier. This is our "test Me in this" moment--only God can make this happen.
I am taking class in the morning, and Marc is taking class in the afternoon. Marc is two classes ahead of me, and his class is very hard, because his "other language" (the language everybody speaks other than Deutsch) is Russian. So that is very confusing, especially because the teacher only speaks a little Russian, so she will say things to him and then have him translate for everyone else. Yikes. So Marc is kind of operating in three languages while he's trying to learn German. That's a lot. But he's making it. And, of course--what's better for Marc than a room full of Russian-speakers with whom to make relationships? :) We've been seeking a way into the Russian community here--who knows that this isn't it? I'm taking the very beginning German class, and I absolutely love it. It's hard, of course, to learn a new language, but my teacher is so positive and kind, and I really, really like the other people in my class. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I get to take class with my friend, Stacy, but I really like the other people, too. Our class is three hours long, and I haven't once thought time was dragging or that it was dull. She keeps a really quick pace, but I feel like so much is making sense to me that I haven't understood before, and that's really exciting for me. So it's--in a really strange way--kind of fun to learn and understand.
Have you ever been blessed with the opportunity to do something hard a second time? Have you ever been blessed with the chance to correct some mistakes you made the first time? That's what this is for me. When I learned Russian, I made several mistakes. First, I let myself be distracted by emotions--frustration, sadness, homesickness, etc. Then I failed to be as diligent as I should have been. I didn't want to listen to Russian radio, so I only did the minimum that was required of me. I didn't want to study those stupid flashcards every night for twenty minutes before bed, so I didn't. I relied on what I knew from past experience to be my academic ability. And my teacher would always say how well I was doing. But I knew in my heart that I was really struggling to understand. Finally, I was way too timid. Wayyyyyyyyy too timid. Our language teacher would call me a "malinki mouse" (a small mouse) when it came to speaking. I just didn't want to, because I didn't want to make mistakes. Marc, on the other hand, would just tromp right up to people and speak away, making all kinds of errors. But here's the thing--nobody cared about his errors. What people cared about (and still care about) was the heart that's behind wanting to learn somebody else's language. Marc speaks to Russians in Russian because he loves them. And they know that. He was willing to lay down his pride in order to communicate with the people God had called him to love. And the reward for that willingness is that Marc's Russian is far better than mine. I can read and write it all day, but I still struggle to speak and understand.
So German is my do-over. It's my chance to actually learn from my own mistakes. I have already forced myself to say things in the grocery store that I've learned in class. And you know what? I've gotten all kinds of encouragement as a reward for even that tiny bit of effort. Today, I'm labeling things in the house and practicing verbs. Every night, I'm studying flashcards. But above all, I'm putting into God's hands the worries about being wrong, about not being able to do this. Because, my friends, I've had the chance to watch Him at work, and I know for sure that He does not call us to things that He does not enable us to do. I'm not looking for something supernatural to happen (although, hey--if He wants to do that, I'm not opposed to it!), but I am looking for God to confirm the work of my hands to learn the heart language of the people who surround me.
Well, the big boy is up and wants his breakfast. (John, not Marc, in case you were wondering.) I'm baking cookies for the team's dinner tonight upon their return, and I've got to mop my floors. Oooooohhhhhh, my glamorous life. :) Wherever you are in the world, I pray that you are asking the God of the Universe to do something in your life that only He can do, and that your kid is coming home from Bosnia tonight, too. Blessings to you and yours!
His,
Kellye
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