You were once...

 

Do you ever have those moments where you walk away and realize what you actually should have said to someone?  I’m not even talking about a quick comeback.  Just the words that would have gotten your message across clearly.   That is how it has felt with language learning.  I walk away from people and then it dawns on me what they’ve said to me or how I could have responded.  I know with time the words will flow more naturally, but for now, if the words are ordered differently than I’m used to hearing them, it throws me.  (Conjugation is something even more difficult).


Sadly, it isn’t just with Arabic either though. We went to a New Year’s party at the pastor’s house and played a game.  They wanted to include us, so someone offered to translate so we could give clues…. And I still froze.  (Granted, there’s a good chance I would’ve frozen in the States too, but I especially felt like the seconds ticked by slowly as I stood like a deer in the headlights). My brain was struggling to switch between looking at the written Arabic (and trying to figure out which side was up quickly so the other person could then read it to me) and listening to the clue in English.  It makes me even more in awe of the linguists here who speak three to four languages and flow in and out of conversations using each of them.  


It (along with a list of other things too long to name here) also gives me a deeper understanding of what foreign born residents go through in the U.S. when they arrive.  God didn’t want the Israelites to forget that feeling.  The helplessness.  The frustration in feeling like you knew the way things worked, and then suddenly the rules changed (I only thought I knew that sidewalks were for walking on.  Here I’ve come to find out that sidewalks are an extension of businesses or a place to park cars, but the streets are the best place to walk.)  

 

 

It’s hard asking for help for the most basic of situations, but that helplessness can also be where we find it is God’s strength that we really need.  He is our refuge and strength and our help comes from Him! 

 

 A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to the mountains-- where does my help come from?  My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1-2)

 
We are relying on God’s help during the times we feel confused about what to do and also thankful for those who have reached out and helped us and recognized the difficulties of being a stranger (even if this is their native country). 


"And you shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 23:9)
 
Besides dialects sometimes being difficult to navigate, we found fonts can be as well.  The 2 here looks nothing like the 2 in standard font (but there are plenty of fonts I've used that look nothing like Times New Roman either).  This corn costs 2500 LL per kilo.  (That's roughly about $1.75 for two pounds)

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