The Arm of the Lord

One of the great things about our time at MTI was the location of the training center. It's in Palmer Lake, CO, which is a beautiful little town tucked right up against the front range of the Rocky Mountains. The property sits up on a hill overlooking the whole valley of Colorado Springs.

While we were there a massive storm roll through. We didn't get a ton of rain ourselves, but there was a lot of hail down in Colorado Springs. It was pretty amazing to see to see these massive clouds right across the valley from us.


One cloud in particular ( the 2nd and 3rd pictures below) looked like a giant fist in the sky. It was pretty amazing to see. It reminded me of Isaiah 51:1 where it says:


Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,
    nor his ear too dull to hear.


It was a reminder to all of us there how great and powerful of a God we serve. Check out the pictures below to try and get a sense of it. 

(Hint: click on an image to see a full screen slide show)

The giant fist of clouds in the sky

Close crop of the fist

The Most Important Word in Language Learning

Nate making vowel sounds into a mirror

Our last week and half has been something 'totally different.' We transitioned from SPLICE training, where we talked about animals such as owls, turtles and ducks to gaining tools to learn a new language at the PILAT program.  The program has been very valuable as we pursue learning a new language in Austria. We now have many activities to explore the language and the culture with child-like eyes.

Recently in class, someone said, "I can't say that word." The leader of the PILAT program, who has an immense wealth of experience, responded, "You cannot have incomplete sentences in language learning. You must instead say, 'I can't say that word yet."

He went on to explain how important the world 'yet' is in language learning. When you tell yourself, "I can't say that word", there is a finality to it. It communicates to yourself, "I will never say that word right."  

But when we add 'yet' to those statements, we add hope. When we say, "I can't say that word, yet" or "I can't make that sound yet", we look forward to a time when  we can make that sound. We look forward to when we can hear the difference between those two sounds. We keep working on making that sounds, because we are confident we will get it right eventually. Hope looks to the future; it looks to possibilities. 


This hope is really exciting for us. It looks into the monumental task of learning a language with an attitude of hope. We are excited for the possibilities of learning and growing when we arrive in Austria! And when we get discouraged in the long journey of language learning, we will remind ourselves, "We are not there...yet. But we will be."


This applies to many other areas of life. When we say "I'll never learn to do that" or "I'd love to try that, but it would be too hard for me", we remove the possibility of ever achieving our hopes and goals. But if we add 'yet,' we have continual hope of learning something new, venturing into uncharted territory, making new discoveries, and allowing God to use us in ways we never thought possible. In situations that seem too difficult or too scary, let's try the word 'yet'. It brings hope for the future!


Question:
What statements do you need to add a 'yet' to? 

Experiencing Community

Over 40 adults and 30 kids that attending SPLICE training with us

Last Friday, we finished up the SPLICE training at MTI and said goodbye to most of our fellow missionaries (just a few are staying on for the next two weeks with us). It is amazing how close we got to these new friends during our 3 weeks at MTI. We lived in community together, which meant we ate all 3 meals together everyday, lived in the same building, and spent time hanging out and playing games nearly every evening. We also went through very emotional times of processing together in class, sharing our hurts, fears, grief, loss, joys and anxieties. We worshiped and studied scripture together. We bonded over the fact that we don't have homes to go back to, we don't know what our futures hold, and we are in transition. We identified with each other in the challenges we're facing and those that are ahead.

It was sad to see our many friends leave, but we are so thankful for the chance to live in community with them. After being "nomadic" for so long, Nate and I were really refreshed by times of just having fun with friends! We haven't lived near close peer friends for awhile, and this was a void we didn't realized until we got here.

Lord willing, we will get the chance to meet up with these friends again in cities around the world, as we continue in our missionary careers. We look forward to seeing how God will keep us connected and use us all in our respective ministries!