Language Evaluation--opportunity to share the Truth!

At the beginning of the year, I took on a new role on our team in charge of language stuff.  My job is to encourage our team to keep growing and learning in our language, even after we achieve our language levels.  Our language has so much vocabulary and their are so many similar dialects around us, which makes it a continual process.  It also fell upon me to arrange for our language evaluations.  Well, obviously setting up evaluators for my own evaluation would be difficult to do without in some way swaying the score I would receive.  Not sure what to do, a team mate suggested working through our language teacher.

One day I went to see our teacher and told her what I was wanting.  She knew some teachers that would be able to help us out.  We arranged the when and the where.  I did not have the list of questions with me at the time, so I sent them over with Rich another day.  I thought they would be self-explanatory.  The following day, I sent over a list of questions in French that I thought would be clearer.  That just confused the situation.  So the day before the evaluation, I had to go see her again to explain clearly what it was we were wanting.  There were a lot of things on the list that had to do with everyday life but the most important was the last question, which was to show that we could do our job.

With everything clear, hopefully, I stopped by our team mates to say how relieved I was that they were not taking the evaluation with Rich and I.  I would have been way more stressed out and hoped that all the kinks would be worked out before their evaluation.

Morning came and everyone arrived.  We served coffee and bread to the evaluators before we got started.  Rich went first and joked around breaking the ice and setting himself at ease.  He came out feeling good about how things went. 

I continued to be nervous and had problems hearing and just being comfortable with people I did not know.  Finally I got comfortable enough in our conversation to be able to hear and speak clearly.  I was encouraged as I continued by the smile from the lady evaluator.  We came to a point where they were ready to dismiss me, but I had still not gotten to tell my story.  I asked for permission to tell my story.  They permitted me to do so.  I told them the story of creation to the fall to the command for sacrifices to the insufficiency of sacrifice alone and the promise of a Savior and what our Lord did for us. 

They had a question or two and then thanked me for the story and dismissed me.  When all was said and done, Rich and I both scored very well.  I am so thankful that things ended up so much smoother than I feared.  I am also grateful that I was able to take that time to share the Good News.  Lift up these three evaluators and our teacher that have heard the Truth.  Ask the One that gives the growth to grow these seeds.

God uses Mariama to get me where He wanted me.

The other day, Mariama was begging me to let her go to a friend's house.  I like the people at the house, one of my best friends here lives there.  However the house is not within eyesight nor earshot.  After a few incidences here, I don't really like her going somewhere by herself unchaperoned.  William was busy.  Rich was busy.  I was hoping to get some computer work done.  If you have not met Mariama, well, she can be very persistent.  When it comes to candy and snacks and things, it can be easy to let her down.  Wanting to get out to be with friends and work on her language is a little harder to do, because that is something we want for her to do.

So, I got myself up and ready and took her to the house.  We arrived to find out that my friend was not there.  She had gone to the village to celebrate a marriage with her family on Easter.  While she was still there a day later, they found out that her grandfather in the capital had died.  So she was staying there until the body was brought down for burial. 

I was talking with the grandmother in the house and another lady.  The Father put in my mouth to begin discussing that it is sad and yet the way of the world.  All are born and all will die, since Adam and Eve.  I used it as an opening to share how sin entered the world and then the Father's command of sacrifice.  However, a sacrifice without repentance is worthless.  The people's sacrifices had become a stench to the Father.  (I know the woman was tracking with me to this point because she was repeating/ answering questions.)  Then the Father promised a Savior to be our perfect sacrifice.  I told her what was said about the one who would come and how Jesus fulfilled all those things. 

I really do not know where this woman's heart is.  She is an older lady who I had prayed with numerous times.  Please ask the One who gives the growth to grow this seed that has been planted in this woman's heart.

Thank you Mariama for getting me to a place I needed to be to share what this woman needed to hear!