Just checking in from the land of language learning ... :) Alot of my time this week has been spent on that - language learning. Verbs and tense, learning the correct greeting for each situation, learning to read a language that is not based on English characters, and all of the other wonderful challenges.
It's been difficult, frustrating, and really exciting, all at once. Learning a language is not easy, but I am enjoying it immensely! It has given me a new perspective on what it's like to be a missionary among a people who do not speak English. That feeling of desperately wanting to understand, of stretching brain and ear to grasp even a idea of what is being said, and yet coming away with that awful feeling of missing it all - in spite of those hours of study!
I've also been brokenhearted to feel what the illiterate, or those who do not have the Word of God in their own language, feel. I have a lovely little Arabic Injeel. (New Testament) It has a nice black leather cover, and a silk bookmark, and a really neat little zipper around it, and the pages look so crisp - but as I open that precious book, so full of words that could change my life, I come away feeling frustrated. Because I can read most of the words. I can sound out those characters. But what on earth does it mean?!? Words, sounds, but absolutely no heart understanding. Arabic is not my heart language. It means basically nothing to me.
But all in all, I think this extremely challenging language is finally beginning to make some sense to me. It's exciting when words keep popping out at me; when after the thousandth time of hearing that word, I can actually pronounce it. Language learning is hard business. But so worth the time put into it! So worth the reward of talking with a native speaker and really being understood; of being able to share the treasures I have found, in somebody's own heart-language. It's great. It's thrilling. I love it!
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