Our Time at Mission Training (August)

Jeremy and I hauled along on I-80 across Nebraska (the speed limit is 75!), 

making our way toward Mission Training International near Colorado Springs.

Our time there was all we imagined it could be, plus more.

Our good friends had recommended this training a couple of years ago and the right time finally come to attend.

The first two weeks I. crawled. like. a. turtle. and Jeremy-sped-like-a-rabbit through all of the language learning skills. We learned that the typical English-speaking American makes about 44 sounds, but that our mouths can make around 1,000 sounds...and we were s t r e t c h e d to go way outside of making the sounds that were comfortable for our mouths and brains to make.

We had to take a "crowbar" and "break out" of our 44-Sound Box!!

 During our drill times we learned, practiced, and stretched our mouths and brains to make all kinds of new sounds! It was...
 "Phun"-etics! 

We made MANY of those 956 sounds that we either rarely or never had made before.
You might ask, "Why? Your target language won't have all of those sounds!"

Think about it this way. Any serious athlete doesn't train solely in his/her target sport. Cross-training is tremendously beneficial. The same for language-learning. We learned to go way outside of what was easy for our brains and mouths to do so that when we have to focus down to just a few new sounds we've already stretched and worked our mouths and brains to do much more than just what's expected.

Language learning is like having your own business...

...your success is based on how you drive the language learning process and how much work you put into it. Since we won't have a language school to attend to learn Kirundi (the Burundian language) we will each need to find a language helper (since I'm a turtle and Jeremy is a rabbit) who we will help us learn the language as we use the skills we learned at MTI. 

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next two weeks of training were labeled 'cultural acquisition', but we'd actually been doing a lot of personal "inspection" and covering many topics that are GOOD for us! Like...

• Conflict resolution style (our own, but understanding other people's, too!)
•  Recognizing stress in our lives and managing it
• How to have "reserves of resilience" --  the best way? Having a day of rest as God designed!
• How to recognize cultural differences and what to do with them!
• ...and more!

The following photos might also give you a good idea of some of the topics covered...

And finally, we were constantly reminded during the whole month--two weeks of language and two weeks of culture--to add the sweet and simple word 'YET' to the end of every statement. I think all of us had a time or two when we said,
"I can't make this sound!"
or
"I will never understand this!"
or
"There is some really strange cultural stuff, I don't get it!"

And we WILL make mistakes...thousands of them, actually!!
But if we throw out with the trash the failure mentality that we easily can have and finish sentences like the ones above with YET (yes, that sweet and simple word that really makes a world of difference, right!?), our whole attitude changes.

Because, as we position ourselves as learners, observe the culture, work hard on the language we can succeed and thrive in the language and the culture!

As we were reminded again and again, our dependence on the Lord is key, we must constantly be asking...
"...Father, help!"