People Are Always Worth It

Me gusta tus zapatos

That was the first line of Spanish I learned–I like your shoes.

I learned it for one purpose and one purpose only: to impress him.

“Him” happened to be from a Spanish-speaking country, had dark curly hair, seemed a lot more comfortable conversing in his mother tongue, and I was hopelessly infatuated (and for the record, he did have pretty cool shoes).

People are impressed by how quickly I learned Spanish, and it all started with a freshman year crush. I would track down the spanish speakers and beg them to translate pages of phrases I’d written. I’d push aside my homework and drill foreign words into my mind, eager to practice in real time.

American sign language didn’t have the infatuation motivator, but I was still determined to communicate with my new friends in their language. Because we’re friends and I love them and want to talk to them. And what’s friendship without effort and sacrifice?

Full stop.

‘Cause apparently that’s where it stops.

Help me understand something: why is it that the same people that “aww, so cute!” and “you’re such a great friend” to the above stories display pained smiles when I tell them I’m learning a foreign language for the sake of the gospel? Especially that language.

Romans 10:14 is helpful here. To be friends with someone, you must know them. To know them, you must speak with them. To speak with them, you must know their language.

I could tell you stories of sharing the gospel with sole-Spanish speakers in Michigan, or with a deaf man in DC, or with my Chinese students (who were impressed by my mere attempts at their language). Learning someone’s language shows you care. It shows you care enough about talking to them that you will learn how to even have the opportunity to do so.

As an English (and ESL) instructor I can positively affirm that English is the most global language by a landslide. And with the same breath I will tell you that there is nothing more endearing, impressive, and softening than one of those English speakers learning another language because they want to.

Why did you learn my language?

Because I want to communicate with you. 

A dear friend kindly shared the following quote with me:

It is so much more comfortable, of course, to go on speaking the gospel only in familiar phrases…But that would be as wrong as if, for example, Hudson Taylor had sent missionaries to China and then told them to learn only one of three separate dialects that the people spoke. In such a case, only one group out of three could hear the gospel. We cannot imagine Hudson Taylor being so hard-hearted. Of course he knew that men do not believe without a work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, and his life was a life of prayer for this to happen, but he also also knew that men cannot believe without hearing the gospel. Each generation of the church in each setting has the responsibility of communicating the gospel in understandable terms, considering the language and thought-forms of the setting.
(Francis Schaeffer, Escape from Reason, emphasis mine)

I’m not saying everyone is called to learn Chinese or that everyone is called to translate the Bible into obscure languages.

What I am saying is this: we must be both completely open and ever so willing to lay aside comforts and take up sacrifices for love of our Savior and our brethren.

Even if the comforts are watching TV or playing harmless apps on a smart phone or reading unedifying literature or pleasing the people you care about. Even if the sacrifices are studying harder than when you were back in college to learn a new language or go outside your comfort zone geographically or study those parts of the Bible you’re scared you’re not smart enough to understand–there are people that will only understand Jesus in 1 language, there are places only your feet can reach, and there are ears where only your voiced truths will be accepted.

There’s a new student at the school where I work, fresh from a violent South American country. She’s timid, young, and speaks Spanish very quickly. There also aren’t very many Spanish speakers in aftercare, so she sits silently, wide-eyed. I approached casually, trying to mask my nervousness to speak her language. “Hola. Soy Callie, la profe. Como estas vos?”

That was two weeks ago. Now, she always approaches me. The other students have me translate between them, vocalizing their envy of my Spanish speaking. The new student and I laugh at their repeated phrases, but I see gratefulness in her eyes.

That freshman crush never did find out that I liked him, but I’ve used Spanish to preach, give Bible studies, give life-giving literature, and simply be a friend in a friendless place.

And I’m thankful. People are always worth it.