Eyes to See, Ears to Hear

I’m enjoying where I am in terms of speaking Swahili. I’ve probably had hundreds of conversations by now, both short and long. I love being able to communicate with people in the language they know best. Rich Reid, a good friend of ours who has served in numerous places overseas, wrote to me in a recent e-mail, “Do you feel like you can communicate with the locals? Can you believe you are actually learning a new language?” A big YES, and a big NO, respectively.

I’ve made some great friends… Tanzanian friends here simply because I wanted to know about them and had the ability to converse with them. Friends from the ages of 18-60ish. Alloyce, Godfrey, and Faraji are all the young guys who work in the dining room so we have a lot of contact and conversation with them. Domogazi is my pineapple guy in town. He’s in his late 30′s and we met during one of our Swahili town projects (go talk in town) back around week 5 or 6. We have frequented his little stand many times since. Then, there is Baba (Father) which is what I just call him out of respect for his age. He’s 60ish and has a beans stand in the market in Iringa. He’s the one from whom I bought 30 kilograms of beans to give to the villagers around the campsite. He suggested Maharagwe (type of bean) because “Watanzania wote wao hukula maharagwe!” (All Tanzanians eat Maharagwe!)

I’ve even began to dream in Swahili… now, that’s weird. And, most of the English I hear, type, or write automatically starts to be translated in my head. Kinda hard to get it to stop sometimes. But, things will be different in the States because the life for which school has prepared us is now delayed by a 4.5 month detour back to the States where news on the internet will be the only source for native Swahili speakers. I don’t want to lose the communication line.

As I began typing the first paragraph of this post, I realized how one of the sentences I typed pretty much sums up the whole reason we’re in Tanzania. I love being able to communicate with people in the language they know best. That is exactly what we believe to be true for God and those we’re here to introduce to Him. He’ll be able to do the most in their lives when they have all the revelation God has given to us through the Scriptures. We’re here to make that happen.