The Tide Began to Rise

I learned a few things today. I also was greatly inspired. We met with Mike Toupin (he works with all these different companies to translate the text in the Bible into an understandable written language in places where there is either A) no written language B) has no copy of a Bible, period) I think some of the things that have happened to him and around him are absolutely amazing. He told a story about being adopted into the family of the oldest man in the village. He was literally the oldest man in the whole ethnic group. Something like 30,000 people. He had 6 wives (polygamists, there) and 25 children, over 100 grand children. He was too old to have any more kids, and so he named Mike "God loves me" (in his native language) and therefore adopted Mike and his wife and three kids to be his own. They all received special names, which he was able to use (the names) to explain the concept of Christ and God [the gospel of Christ] to many many people there. See, the interesting thing is that in most ethnic (or diverse language sects) groups, they have no actual concept of some things we validate easily (such as 'faith' or 'priest' - they had to create whole new ideas for them) However, most of these peoples have slight adaptations of Christ-like attributes in their histories and cultures. So in a way, one can relate Christ to a concept that they already understand, but he also warned against blindly teaching things (in one place, the closest word for 'priest' was the word that Islamic people use, and therefore would have caused a misunderstanding if used to describe Christ, or another of Christianity's priests - so they used what they knew from their version of priests [who intercede and sacrifice to ancestors] by saying that a 'priest' sacrifices to God himself on our behalf)

This talk made it easier to relate my desire to go to Japan, etc.. and how there are many more obstacles than I perceived; none of which are impossible to overcome. He mentioned that it take about 3 years to completely learn a language and culture (by 'completely' I mean 'speak it well enough that they don't smile and think "He's trying..."') I find it really hard to express the excitement I have when thinking about being involved with other cultures. The unity is off the charts, and the experiences are immeasurable.

To take something from this, he said you must be on two pillars: 1) flexibility and 2) being a learner.
You have to be flexible, bend from your norm (because other cultures are not always similar to yours)
Learn the culture / language: it's the biggest, most effective way to say I LOVE YOU