Being in language school is a pretty humbling experience.
Anna and I have gone from being active participants in our church and community and otherwised productive members of society to unemployed students fumbling our way around like a couple of 4 year olds. We have old people, young people, middle aged people, teachers, retirees, secretaries, cashiers, RA's and even 18 yo's correcting our pronunciations and waiting with bemused expressions as we try to fumble along with "How are you doing?" or answering "What is your name?" We even meet with the bible school students 3-4 times per week and read scripture with them in French so they can help us.
I must confess I was getting quite pleased, satisfied, and dare I say proud of how well I was taking all of this until two things happened...
#1I was finishing a bible study in 1 Peter and ran across this verse.....1Pet 5:6 Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time.......After reading this I was still in a little bit of the breaking-my-arm-by-patting-myself-on-the-back mode
then
#2. I was reintroduced by Michael Card to John 13. The set up here is actually in Luke 22:24 where after supper "....there was a dispute among them , as to whom should be considered the greatest" then (John 13:4) Jesus "rose from the supper and laid aside his garmets, took a towel and girded himself. After that he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciple's feet...."
Imagine this boisterous scene of the 12 guys arguing back and forth after they broke bread about who was the greatest. I imagine a men's breakfast with discussions of the biggest fish etc when I read this......a little joking but with some serious male ego undertones.... Then Jesus who (according to Philippians 2) has emptied himself of being God to come here and already is greiving for Judas and Peter and his next 72 hours gets up unnoticed from the table. He takes off his cloak, gets the water and begins washing feet. The slave's job. I imagine a hush falling over the room, then pin drop silence as the sloshing of the water can be heard with the creak of the wood floor as Jesus moves from disciple to disciple. The silence broken by Peter's refusal in verse 6-8. "Lord are you washing my feet?" and "You shall never wash my feet" In Jesus' replies I see him sit back on his knees and shoulder slumping a bit as he (the master and creater of the universe) looks up at Peter and says in effect you don't understand but someday you will so just let me finish. He finishes washing the feet of the disciples (including Judas') and then sits back down and says "I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you".....be a servant. Swallow the pride, look out for others, humble myself under God's mighty hand so that I can say eventually "not my will butYours be done" in all aspects of my life.
After this I knew that I was not/am not humbled as Christ did, and I saw a new appreciation for Peter's admonition in 1Pet 5:8.
Continue to pray for us for our learning the language, for our perseverence and wisdom for us as well. Ian is struggling a bit with French in school and even though he keeps these things well hid behind a veneer of comic mischief Anna and I can see it.
Pray also that we (especially me) will get these lessons of humility learned quickly and that they will be imbeded in my life.
Isabelle is doing a little better and is learning more and more french daily. She is still tired by school but her clinginess and mood swings are improving.
Thanks again for praying and for those of you who have emailed a double thank you.
Stephen
Monday, September 29, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
From here to there funny things are everywhere.....
I was thinking the other day that some of you may grow tired of me using "The Magnificent Seven" for illustrations so I decided to branch out into fine literature.........
The above is a page from "Red Fish , Blue Fish" by that insightful writer....Dr. Seuss
As Anna and I learn French we are rediscovering indeed that funny things are everywhere. People everywhere are slightly different but mostly we are more alike than we are different.
Example number 1: Although Americans get a bad rap for speaking our language slower and louder when people do not understand, we are not the only people that do this. I know from experience that Gabonese do and Quebecquois (Quebec denizens) do as well.
Example number 2: I discovered a language learning cross cultural principle the other day. If you speak someone's language with such a bad accent that they cannot understand you, then it does not improve communication to speak English with that same bad accent. I was standing in line at McD and tried to speak french to the attendant, but she did not understand, and she then indicated she did speak English. I then for some unknown reason began speaking english in a horrible french accent....this also did not help.
Example #3: When speaking French channeling the french knights of "The Holy Grail" and/or thinking of what Fancy Nancy would say. The latter is a girl who likes to be fancy and say things in French.
Example #4: French has some words that are very similar with very divergent meetings. They are a little hard to explain since I am missing some french accent marks but here goes.
If one says peche with a little "rooftop" over the first "e" then its means to fish. If you spell the word with a little upstroke over both "e"s it then becomes sin......So you can say For all have sinned....or All have fished and fallen short of the glory of God. IF you put an upstroke on just the first e then it becomes peach. So you can also say all have peached and......
Also in Mt 4:19 Jesus either calls his disciples to be fishers of men or.....sinners of men.
Other words are bureau (a desk) and bourreau (an executioner) and each of them sound very similar. Before you say...."those crazy frogs" remember batter, bitter, better, and bettor from our own language.
Thanks again for praying for us and in our acquistion of the language. Pray also for Ian as he is having trouble adjusting to the French in school. For someone who has always read well it is difficult for him play 8years of catch up with the other children. Isabelle is doing well scholastically but still is exhausted by the end of the day.
Stephen
The above is a page from "Red Fish , Blue Fish" by that insightful writer....Dr. SeussAs Anna and I learn French we are rediscovering indeed that funny things are everywhere. People everywhere are slightly different but mostly we are more alike than we are different.
Example number 1: Although Americans get a bad rap for speaking our language slower and louder when people do not understand, we are not the only people that do this. I know from experience that Gabonese do and Quebecquois (Quebec denizens) do as well.
Example number 2: I discovered a language learning cross cultural principle the other day. If you speak someone's language with such a bad accent that they cannot understand you, then it does not improve communication to speak English with that same bad accent. I was standing in line at McD and tried to speak french to the attendant, but she did not understand, and she then indicated she did speak English. I then for some unknown reason began speaking english in a horrible french accent....this also did not help.
Example #3: When speaking French channeling the french knights of "The Holy Grail" and/or thinking of what Fancy Nancy would say. The latter is a girl who likes to be fancy and say things in French.
Example #4: French has some words that are very similar with very divergent meetings. They are a little hard to explain since I am missing some french accent marks but here goes.
If one says peche with a little "rooftop" over the first "e" then its means to fish. If you spell the word with a little upstroke over both "e"s it then becomes sin......So you can say For all have sinned....or All have fished and fallen short of the glory of God. IF you put an upstroke on just the first e then it becomes peach. So you can also say all have peached and......
Also in Mt 4:19 Jesus either calls his disciples to be fishers of men or.....sinners of men.
Other words are bureau (a desk) and bourreau (an executioner) and each of them sound very similar. Before you say...."those crazy frogs" remember batter, bitter, better, and bettor from our own language.
Thanks again for praying for us and in our acquistion of the language. Pray also for Ian as he is having trouble adjusting to the French in school. For someone who has always read well it is difficult for him play 8years of catch up with the other children. Isabelle is doing well scholastically but still is exhausted by the end of the day.
Stephen
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Parole de Vie
I thought I would post a blog about the ministry that is hosting our struggles with the french language (they don't capitalize french so i do not have to either), but first some answers to prayer and some more prayer request.
Answers:
All in all our transition has gone very well so far and Anna and I enjoy our neighbors and the friendships here.
Ian and Isabelle have each formed some new friends here.
Ann and i were able to stagger our classes so that she goes in the am and I go in the afternoon so Caleb is watched by us and we do not have to have the expense of an every day sitter.
God continues to prov himself gracious to us.
That our eternal salvation is not dependent on our acquisition of the french language
Prayers:
We are in a no mans land for insurance currently. Mine from the govt is finished and ours from the mission has not started. pray for extra safety during this time.
That we would find and pick a good church. The evangelical community is actually pretty small in Sherbrooke and so a church that is close that we can feel a part of and that is good for our family is a tall order. Currently we are deciding between attending a small Brethern church close by and a bigger Baptist style church about 20-25 min away.....My mom asked me tonight "What kind of baptist?" and I told her that there weren't enough of them here to split and form different types yet. There is no Canadian C&MA presence in Sherbrooke. the closest that is listed on their webiste is about 50km away.
Isabelle to adjust to school. She is having some trouble going to school all day and then she has all day french one day and english the next so that is extra hard. Also she is lets say more emotionally sensitive than Ian ( of course some inanimate objects are more emotionally senstive than ian---rather like his dad) so she is having a harder time getting to school.
That Anna and i would weather the ups and downs of language acquistion and be and encouragement to each other and othere here.
Now about Parole de Vie Bethel.
This is a ministry of the Canadian branch of Word of Life that was actually started as an indendent ministry in 1949. It began from the work of missionaries to Quebec as a bible school for training new converts. From there sprung a 3 y bible college and at some point a language school for missionaries. Then in the 90's due to a variety of factors attendance was down at both of these and there were financial difficulties. Then, Word of Life and Bethel partnered together to essentially resurect the program. The focus shifted from a 3 y degree program to a more youth centered one year program (more on why a little bit later). With the transition the camping ministry in the summer to root again as did the language school as well. Currently there are 4 main areas of ministry focus here at WOL Bethel:
#1. camping ministry...>There are summer and winter camps here for high school level students to have fun, hear God's word and grow in that.
#2. The Bible School- I think this is the crux of their ministry here. The setting is not a 4 yr college but a one year jr college type of focus. In Quebec students actually graduate from high school in 11th grade and then attend one to two years of "college" before going to a university. Most of their students are in that range of 17 year old students. They do a one year bible course that aims to lay a foundation for further study and to grow them in their faith.
#3. The french language school-essentially this is a school of about 20 -30 students most of whom have missionary designs in west africa with org such as SIM, NTM, MAF ABWE, WOL and now C&MA IFAP. In addition to learning french with studies we also discuss theological terms, memorize some scripture in french and partner with a bible school student to practice our bible skills in french and to mentor them as well.
#4. One other piece is a french language immersion bible school. It is a hybrid between 2 and 3 where some one with some french and bible can begin in the french course and transition into the bible school program as well.
I hope that helps answers some questions about WOL and PdV and us.
Thanks again for your prayers and thanks to those who have emailed us as well. We love to hear from you.
Stephen
Answers:
All in all our transition has gone very well so far and Anna and I enjoy our neighbors and the friendships here.
Ian and Isabelle have each formed some new friends here.
Ann and i were able to stagger our classes so that she goes in the am and I go in the afternoon so Caleb is watched by us and we do not have to have the expense of an every day sitter.
God continues to prov himself gracious to us.
That our eternal salvation is not dependent on our acquisition of the french language
Prayers:
We are in a no mans land for insurance currently. Mine from the govt is finished and ours from the mission has not started. pray for extra safety during this time.
That we would find and pick a good church. The evangelical community is actually pretty small in Sherbrooke and so a church that is close that we can feel a part of and that is good for our family is a tall order. Currently we are deciding between attending a small Brethern church close by and a bigger Baptist style church about 20-25 min away.....My mom asked me tonight "What kind of baptist?" and I told her that there weren't enough of them here to split and form different types yet. There is no Canadian C&MA presence in Sherbrooke. the closest that is listed on their webiste is about 50km away.
Isabelle to adjust to school. She is having some trouble going to school all day and then she has all day french one day and english the next so that is extra hard. Also she is lets say more emotionally sensitive than Ian ( of course some inanimate objects are more emotionally senstive than ian---rather like his dad) so she is having a harder time getting to school.
That Anna and i would weather the ups and downs of language acquistion and be and encouragement to each other and othere here.
Now about Parole de Vie Bethel.
This is a ministry of the Canadian branch of Word of Life that was actually started as an indendent ministry in 1949. It began from the work of missionaries to Quebec as a bible school for training new converts. From there sprung a 3 y bible college and at some point a language school for missionaries. Then in the 90's due to a variety of factors attendance was down at both of these and there were financial difficulties. Then, Word of Life and Bethel partnered together to essentially resurect the program. The focus shifted from a 3 y degree program to a more youth centered one year program (more on why a little bit later). With the transition the camping ministry in the summer to root again as did the language school as well. Currently there are 4 main areas of ministry focus here at WOL Bethel:
#1. camping ministry...>There are summer and winter camps here for high school level students to have fun, hear God's word and grow in that.
#2. The Bible School- I think this is the crux of their ministry here. The setting is not a 4 yr college but a one year jr college type of focus. In Quebec students actually graduate from high school in 11th grade and then attend one to two years of "college" before going to a university. Most of their students are in that range of 17 year old students. They do a one year bible course that aims to lay a foundation for further study and to grow them in their faith.
#3. The french language school-essentially this is a school of about 20 -30 students most of whom have missionary designs in west africa with org such as SIM, NTM, MAF ABWE, WOL and now C&MA IFAP. In addition to learning french with studies we also discuss theological terms, memorize some scripture in french and partner with a bible school student to practice our bible skills in french and to mentor them as well.
#4. One other piece is a french language immersion bible school. It is a hybrid between 2 and 3 where some one with some french and bible can begin in the french course and transition into the bible school program as well.
I hope that helps answers some questions about WOL and PdV and us.
Thanks again for your prayers and thanks to those who have emailed us as well. We love to hear from you.
Stephen
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Adjustments
Thanks again for all of you who are praying for us.
We are transitioning slowly but steadily here. Some random info follows.
The pictures my wife posted are of the campus here, the outside of our apt and the inside as well.The apt I think used to be a duplex or a triplex but they repartitioned the apt and made it a sixex. You have to go down the ground floor of the building to enter our apt, but then go back up stairs to the kids bedroom and our office/playroom. There was not room for us to get our bed in the other upstairs room. The downstairs is the kitchen (super tiny) our bedroom, the bathroom and a living room. IT was furnished for us including some dishes (which we were not expecting)
You would not think that Canada would be a big culture change but it is for us...at least Quebec is. The obvious thing is the French of course. Getting your oil changed, changing money at a bank, and buying groceries take on a new spice of adventure when you are not sure if the person across from you can help you out with a little anglais.
Another thing is that a lot of stuff costs more here than the states. Gas is about $5/gallon (or 1.33/litre if you are scoring w the metric system) and normal staples run a bit higher as well. Fortunately the american dollar is a bit stronger than the canadian one now.
Another thing is the newness of evangelical Christianity here. IT makes sense once you think about it but Catholicism in all of its ritual and little of its spirituality ruled strongly here and still does. The average person here is still sketchy on the whole Christian story idea.
Then there is language school itself. Anna and I are both having cramps in our mouths after trying to make the correct sounds for the words in French. We spent the first week doing phonetics of the language and now we jump into a mish mash of phonetics continued, grammar, conversation memorization and also some scripture memorization in French.
Needless to say all this adjusting has had us praying a lot and as we try to make the sounds, frantically search for body language clues as people talk to us in French, and send our kids off to a new school with unkown students and teachers. Who wouldnt pray then? God would probably find it refreshing to have us live that way without needing a transitions to put us there. Continue to pray that for us and I pray that you would experience the very real urgency of the importance of prayer without experiencing any of the crisis that would normally have to drive you there.
We are transitioning slowly but steadily here. Some random info follows.
The pictures my wife posted are of the campus here, the outside of our apt and the inside as well.The apt I think used to be a duplex or a triplex but they repartitioned the apt and made it a sixex. You have to go down the ground floor of the building to enter our apt, but then go back up stairs to the kids bedroom and our office/playroom. There was not room for us to get our bed in the other upstairs room. The downstairs is the kitchen (super tiny) our bedroom, the bathroom and a living room. IT was furnished for us including some dishes (which we were not expecting)
You would not think that Canada would be a big culture change but it is for us...at least Quebec is. The obvious thing is the French of course. Getting your oil changed, changing money at a bank, and buying groceries take on a new spice of adventure when you are not sure if the person across from you can help you out with a little anglais.
Another thing is that a lot of stuff costs more here than the states. Gas is about $5/gallon (or 1.33/litre if you are scoring w the metric system) and normal staples run a bit higher as well. Fortunately the american dollar is a bit stronger than the canadian one now.
Another thing is the newness of evangelical Christianity here. IT makes sense once you think about it but Catholicism in all of its ritual and little of its spirituality ruled strongly here and still does. The average person here is still sketchy on the whole Christian story idea.
Then there is language school itself. Anna and I are both having cramps in our mouths after trying to make the correct sounds for the words in French. We spent the first week doing phonetics of the language and now we jump into a mish mash of phonetics continued, grammar, conversation memorization and also some scripture memorization in French.
Needless to say all this adjusting has had us praying a lot and as we try to make the sounds, frantically search for body language clues as people talk to us in French, and send our kids off to a new school with unkown students and teachers. Who wouldnt pray then? God would probably find it refreshing to have us live that way without needing a transitions to put us there. Continue to pray that for us and I pray that you would experience the very real urgency of the importance of prayer without experiencing any of the crisis that would normally have to drive you there.
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