I had the privilege of preaching on one of my favorite Bible stories this morning, the story of Naaman from 2 Kings 5. By the grace of God I was able to preach about half of the message in Chichewa! Thank you for your continued prayers for our language acquisition. The translator that helped me for when I spoke English was very good. He did make me and Erin laugh though. Not only did he translate my English words into Chichewa but he also translated my Chichewa into English! I was thinking the Chichewa would not be translated but he took his job as translating being whatever language came out of my mouth!
Before I began preaching people started bringing items to the front of the church for the Pastor and his family. Some of the items included bread, corn, soap, and a live chicken! A man brought the chicken to the front and just left it. Of course it begins running around everywhere. Thankfully a lady went over and tied its legs so it couldn't run anymore. This was the first time I have preached with a chicken about 2 feet away from me. :-)
God is definitely at work at Bethany Baptist Church. At the end of the service 3 people put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ! Praising God for new brothers and sisters in Christ.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Sunday, April 13, 2014
As the Giraffe Pantenth for the Water.......What??
I wanted to share a funny story that happened the other day with our language tutor. Erin and I have begun the next phase in our language program and have moved on to wordless picture books. The goal is to look at the picture and talk about everything we see. Our tutor will then correct things we don't say properly.
The picture we were looking at had a big deer in it with a little boy sitting on a rock. I knew that we hadn't learned the word deer so I asked what it is. He said that he had never seen an animal like that so we would just call it the general name for animals of that type until he could ask someone. He came back the next day and said he figured out what the word was.
I began asking more questions about the word he used and he began describing the animal. He said, "You know, the really tall animal with a long neck." I asked him if he was talking about a giraffe and he excitedly said yes! I began describing how a deer is much different than a giraffe. Upon hearing this he said that it helps understand things better.
He began singing the song 'As the Deer Panteth for the Water' and how we always thought that song and passage from Psalm 42 was very strange to think about a giraffe running to water because it was so thirsty! The Chichewa Bible even translated the animal in Psalm 42:1 as being a giraffe!
The picture we were looking at had a big deer in it with a little boy sitting on a rock. I knew that we hadn't learned the word deer so I asked what it is. He said that he had never seen an animal like that so we would just call it the general name for animals of that type until he could ask someone. He came back the next day and said he figured out what the word was.
I began asking more questions about the word he used and he began describing the animal. He said, "You know, the really tall animal with a long neck." I asked him if he was talking about a giraffe and he excitedly said yes! I began describing how a deer is much different than a giraffe. Upon hearing this he said that it helps understand things better.
He began singing the song 'As the Deer Panteth for the Water' and how we always thought that song and passage from Psalm 42 was very strange to think about a giraffe running to water because it was so thirsty! The Chichewa Bible even translated the animal in Psalm 42:1 as being a giraffe!
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Answered Prayers!
We received some wonderful news last week that we wanted to share. Many of you have been praying for our work permits to be approved. We are thrilled to say that this prayer has been answered! Thank you so much for lifting this us to our Heavenly Father. The process of our crate being released from the US and starting the long journey here by sea will take place soon!
We also wanted to thank you for praying for our language acquisition. We have been studying Chewa for close to 2 months now. The method we are using has had us only listening to the language. The language teacher we have is very good and patient, which is great! She says the words in Chewa and then either points to a picture or acts out what she is doing without using any English. It's an intriguing method that seems to be working very well. This past week we began speaking the language! It's great to be able to hold a 'small' conversation with someone now. We have realized that we can figure out some of what is being said to us but making our mouths repeat this can be very challenging! Please continue to pray for our ears to hear things correctly, our mouths to be able to pronounce the words, and our minds to have good recall of what we have studied.
We also wanted to thank you for praying for our language acquisition. We have been studying Chewa for close to 2 months now. The method we are using has had us only listening to the language. The language teacher we have is very good and patient, which is great! She says the words in Chewa and then either points to a picture or acts out what she is doing without using any English. It's an intriguing method that seems to be working very well. This past week we began speaking the language! It's great to be able to hold a 'small' conversation with someone now. We have realized that we can figure out some of what is being said to us but making our mouths repeat this can be very challenging! Please continue to pray for our ears to hear things correctly, our mouths to be able to pronounce the words, and our minds to have good recall of what we have studied.
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