How do you say?

John wrote:

How do you say...? Obviously that question comes out of our mouths many times a day. Even the simplest things seem like huge grammatical mountains. I am forcing myself to put down my verbs list to share something that happened two months ago. It may give a picture of how important language school is to me.

Two months ago, we all piled in a taxi to Hipermas (like Walmart) about 30 minutes away. Jessica and kids in the back and me in the front seat with the taxi driver. About 15 minutes into the trip, I tried to bring the conversation with the driver to spiritual things. "Tried" being the key word. So I asked, "Do you believe in God?" He said, "yes". "Do you believe in heaven.”? He said "yes". So in the worst Spanish I asked, "Why God permit people in heaven.”? He said, "Obey the mandamientos." I said, "I no understand mandamientos." So he held up his hands and started counting up to ten. "Oh, the Ten Commandments." So I wanted to say, "What happens if you break them?" But the problem was, I had no idea how to say, "break" or "what happens". So I made two fists, said "What if you..." and gestured like I was breaking a stick. Somehow he understood and said, "Well God loves His children and wants them to be in heaven." About that time, there was this flood of things I wanted to say, but, yes you guessed it, I had no idea how to say any of it. I wanted to cry I was so frustrated and sad that I couldn't share the truth with him. Simple stuff like penalty for sin, Christ's payment, and grace.

I can't remember how the rest of the conversation went, but we pulled up to Hipermas and we said our goodbyes. But after that day, the value of language school became so real to me. I know I have said it before, but there is a sense of urgency, so I can talk of our hopelessness and God's restoration to those around me.

But here is some good news. Yesterday, only by the grace of God, I was able to memorize the "Roman Road" in Spanish, and understand what the words mean. So there is hope.