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"I am by far the most humble person I know", exclaimed the girl.
Moses has been notably mentioned in the Bible for his humility and this makes me wonder if his superior humility could be mildly attributed to him learning a foreign tongue.
It's amazing how easily a foreign alphabet can bring you to your knees. Verbs suddenly terrify you and words longer than 8 characters make you want to go running for the hills or in my case, Cobble Hill.
Communication is hard enough in your native tongue, but trying to sing, converse and praise Jehovah all in a foreign language truly make for a humbling experience. You stumble and you fall a great many times. You've been reduced to 3 word comments at the meetings and a presentation consisting of the words read, you, please and interesting.
I've recently undertaken the task of learning a foreign tongue. As many of you are well aware, Russian is the language of choice. (I know I'm awesome) Many ask why and instead of giving the long and technical answer that I've been reciting like a hym lately I will just tell you all I have a deep love for vodka and cabbage and decided that Russian would not only be the wisest choice but the most obvious.I've always read and had many first hand testimonies about how humbling a foreign language can be. I've been in lands where the language was unknown to me, and even in neighborhoods where no one speaks a lick of English, but for some reason experiencing it all firsthand for an extended period of time is quite different. Having little kids outread you in reading class can really make you scratch your head in bewilderement and horror.
I have always been impressed with people who take the time out to learn a foreign tongue to bring the good news to people around the world but now it seems my appreciation has grown even deeper. The level of dedication, self-sacrifice and of course, humility is daunting.
I have long years ahead of me until I will have even slightly mastered this complex language but I'm sure the plethoura of pickles and hugs from babushkas will make it all go a lot faster.
So I ask you: Support your local Russians and eat more potatoes ;-)
1 comment:
amen sister! I spent all of wed preparing my comment for the bible reading because it was such a complex thought that I was trying to get across. Singing, completly foreign. But PRAYING! Honestly, I've always been glad I'm a sister and don't have to worry about giving public prayers. BUT in ASL everyone LOOKS at you while you pray! I had to give one in the service group, and that was hard enough!
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