May 2010
A woman here in the village had twins a few days before we arrived. We call her “The twins’ mother” (or “De twins’ mudda” if one is going for the African accented ‘proper English’). This morning she was speaking to me in Evegbe (the Ewe language). Naturally I sought assistance from my interpreter and friend who is staying with me. The twins’ mother waved her hands wildly and informed my interpreter and myself, in her broken but clear English, (which I had NO CLUE she could understand or speak) that I would need to stop relying on others for assistance and learn the Evegbe! To encourage me, many have told me about a “cheech and chong” (I believe they mean Chinese, by which they really mean Asian) lady living nearby who can speak the Ewe language quite well!
The twins’ mother continued to speak to me in Ewe and I drew what I could from her hand motions. She thought she was teaching me well as I spoke aloud in English what her hands were doing.
In reply, I began speaking English with a heavy southern drawl and said, “I feeeel liiiiiike yew aaaare harraaaaasin’ me.” I continued in the English I would normally use when speaking with adults at home or work and explained to her that I had almost no pre-knowledge of the Ewe language to draw from so there was no chance that I would be able to know the Evegbe that she was speaking even if I tried thinking really, really hard! She looked at me while I spoke and said, “Uh-huh,” nodding her head, but when I finished speaking she asked my friend to interpret what I said to her.
Knowing that even my interpreter did not know what I said, I interrupted waiving my hands wildly in the air. “Oh no! You must do the same as I!”
I think maybe then she understood a little more of where I am coming from, however, she still attempted to teach me later this evening.
So how does this apply to the faith? It made me think of a non-believer in the Western world. God is all around them and Jesus may even be prevalent in many societies but do we expect people to see evidence and just believe? When someone sees a figurine of Jesus on a cross in someone’s garden, should that encourage him or her to put his or her faith in Jesus?
With the Evegbe, I needed someone who knew the Ewe language and the English for me to live in this world (especially in the beginning!) For those that don’t know Jesus, they need someone who understands two things: 1) They understand life WITHOUT Jesus- i.e. temporary freedom, lawlessness, giving into temptation, giving into the lust of the flesh and worldliness AND 2) they need someone who understands life WITH Jesus- i.e. security of eternal life, continually growing relationship with God, the experience of victory over temptation and conquering lusts of the flesh only through Jesus Christ so that one’s relationship with Him can genuinely and unequivocally flourish!
When someone like this comes along he or she can better assist the unbeliever in understanding who God is, why Jesus’ sacrifice is necessary and what God wants from us. We should understand many languages and speak one- physically AND verbally.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3 & 4
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