Eu învaţ Româneşte

How's your Romanian coming? 

So, how's language learning going? 

These are questions I'm asked regularly. Sometimes I'm not exactly sure how to answer. I like to be positive, but I also like to be honest. And honestly, sometimes learning a new language is frustrating. Sometimes, I just feel like a toddler and would really like to throw a temper tantrum in my frustration. I want, so badly, to communicate things in Romanian. Yet, often all that comes out are disjointed sentences. I often use the wrong tense, wrong article or forget if a word is masculine or feminine. Speaking Romanian with strangers still makes me uncomfortable. I can understand a lot more Romanian than I can speak. However, when people talk really fast or mumble I feel like there is no hope. 

However, the more I learn the more comfortable I become. I'm understanding more and more Romanian every day. I've been practicing my reading and it's getting easier all the time. I even read some things today that I could actually flow with and not stumble over the words. It's the little victories that encourage me. 

I'm encouraged by the positive feedback I get from my Romanian friends and teachers. I'm always excited when I learn a new word or sentence and get to use it soon after. You should see how excited I get when I put together a full sentence without help! 

Overall I know I am progressing and I'm trying to be patient with myself, but I don't think I'll really be satisfied anytime soon. As I sit here writing this I'm surrounded by six girls who are all speaking Romanian to one another and me. I know that living with Romanians is a big help to my language learning (many of them speak at least some English, that's a blessing and a curse.)  

I just keep reminding myself that I'm going through the natural phases of learning a language. Just like little toddlers understand a lot more words than they can speak, I understand a lot more Romanian than I can speak. 

Just a shout out to my friends at MTI in Colorado Springs from the PILAT program: I would be ten times more frustrated and probably quite discouraged if I had not attended PILAT before coming to Romania. Every day I am reminded of things I learned in PILAT and I am able to apply them to my language learning. If you don't know what PILAT is you should check it out at  mti.org  It is an incredible program to train individuals moving to a new country and desiring to learn the language. Thanks Andrea and gang for all you do to prepare people like me for language learning!  

Most of all I'm so thankful to Jesus for creating us with the ability to learn languages. It is a natural ability God created in me. Every Sunday I'm thankful for the opportunity to praise Him in a new language. Hearing my brothers and sisters in Christ pray, teach and encourage in Romanian is awesome. I also absolutely love singing in Romanian! Looking forward to the day when people of every language will praise His name! 

Parents

A couple weeks ago this question was proposed to me:

 "Who would you be without your parents?"

This is mind boggling to most of us. Obviously we all have parents, at least in a biological sense. So, yes, technically without our parents we wouldn't exist, but just work with me here.

Imagine you were abandoned in a hospital at birth. You lived there around three years and learned to comfort yourself when you cried because no one was there to hold you. Then they moved you to an orphanage. You were immediately at the bottom of the barrel, the smallest most inexperienced child living in an institution that is designed to merely keep you alive. You learn quickly there are few you can trust. The adults in your life are inconsistent at best. You learn to fear the raised hands and fists of others. You shy away from touch because it is most often found in the form of punishment. Survival instincts are formed. Your value system develops according to a inconsistent environment. Your understanding of kindness, consequences, goodness, strength, joy and love are formed through a screen of confusion. You see glimpses of truth from people who visit and from some of the staff. Yet, when you most need a motherly hug or fatherly advice...no one is there.

This is just a small example what it could be like to grow up as an orphan in Romania. I cannot begin to think that I truly understand what these children go through. So, what I describe is just my imagination based on a small comments and facts picked up from the girls I'm currently living with who grew up in orphanages. I hope it paints some sort of picture for you of what they face.

What really strikes me about this whole concept of growing up without parents is that when I look at who I am today it is hard to think of anything that doesn't connect with my parents. The woman I am today has everything to do with who my parents are, how they raised me and what they taught me. Not only do I have my mother's smile and my father's height, but I also have my mother's desire for peace and my father's stubbornness. My parents have taught me so much throughout my life. I had a dad who taught me how to play basketball, soccer and baseball. I had a mom who taught me to cook, sew and clean. My parents taught me to love music, reading and learning. My mom was literally my school teacher for ten years. My dad taught me to drive, how to fix things and how to play countless board games. They taught me the values of kindness, gentleness, patience, trust and love. From my parents I learned to be a leader and to have courage in spite of my fears. Beyond that I chose to share my parent's faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. My life is now shaped primarily by God; however, the impact my parents had, and continue to have, on my life is unparalleled by any other.

Because of that last paragraph I struggle to understand the girls I live with. Yet, I love them. I know God has me here for a reason. By the strength of the Holy Spirit within me I will try to love them. I will strive to show grace and mercy. I will pray and seek God's wisdom. For there are times to be silent and times to let Him speak truth through me. I will passionately seek my God so that He overflows from within my heart and mind. These days are often confusing, but my God knows the heart of every orphan. Over and over in the Bible God tells His people to share His heart for the orphans by caring for them. Thankfully, He also promises that we don't have to overcome problems or fix things ourselves. We just have to willingly serve, sacrificially love and bring glory to our Heavenly Father.