Putting Words Together

“I’m putting words together!  And they’re making sense!  Okay, so my English may be going downhill fast, but what’s a girl to do?

Seriously, I love languages, and words, and new friends, and communication.  And the more time I spend with the ladies, girls, and little ones, the deeper grows…”

With that my randomly jotted musings were interrupted, right in between the page about my first trip through the jungle with Neno friends, and a page with random vocabulary (who would have thought blisters, trash, hair elastic and “I’m going to grill fish” would have ended up on the same list, after all?)

Although the thought remained unfinished in my notebook, I remember exactly what was growing deeper.  Please allow me to continue.

“And the more time I spend with the ladies, girls, and little ones, the deeper grows…my desire to learn from them, to become part of them, to meaningfully communicate with them.  If only we could engage in heart-to-heart conversations about life, love, family, frustrations and the Bible.  I would love to share my testimony, and the Gospel, the joy we can experience in following Jesus, and so much more.

That day will come, Lord willing, by a large measure of His grace and lots of determined effort – the day when the language and culture barriers are broken down and I am ready and able to share in fluent Neno, in culturally appropriate ways.  And while my heart wishes that there were some secret program to make that possible today, I know that isn’t the way it works.  Time and patience are required.

So for now, it is exciting enough to be learning hundreds of nouns, dozens of verbs, and many random phrases.  Moments of insecurity are normal in the mental struggle of putting words to objects and situations, sometimes followed by a satisfying adrenaline rush, the reward of getting something right.  And even better, I am learning from new friends who are eager to teach, quiz, laugh and correct.  It’s been wonderful so far, and as soon as I get back to the village there are countless language and culture lessons yet to enjoy!  In the meantime, please excuse me while I go review that random vocabulary page and attempt to successfully put a few more words together.

What are the possible combinations?  Maybe the noun trash can be used in this sentence…“I’m going to grill trash.”