God Will Equip Us

Since Polly and revealed our plans to become Missionary Associates to Costa Rica, a number of people have asked me if we speak Spanish. To answer simply, "no." Or as they say in Spanish, "no." Yo no hablo bien español. (I do not speak Spanish well.) In fact, aside from a few simple words and phrases, neither Polly nor I speak Spanish at all. This is unfortunate considering the fact that we are becoming missionaries to Costa Rica, a Spanish-speaking country. I can't help but to think back to a saying I heard a lot growing up: "God doesn't call the equipped; He equips the called." 1 Corinthians 1:25-31 says, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.'" (ESV) We are going to have to rely on God to equip us with the ability to learn Spanish. And this will mean us working hard, studying faithfully and practicing often.

How we intend to learn

Once our budget is raised and we finally arrive in San Jose, Costa Rica, Polly and I will begin our studies at CINCEL (Latin American Missionary training center for the Assemblies of God World Missions) for our linguistic training. Those studies will take us up to one year. I've heard that it's not beyond the teachers to use a tongue depressor to force students to roll their "R"s. Considering my complete inability to roll an "R," I anticipate such treatment.

Just because we are going to receive linguistic training in Costa Rica does not mean that we have to sit around and wait, however. In fact, I think that we would be poor stewards of our waiting time if we didn't begin the process of learning Spanish prior to our departure. So, what tool will we use to learn now? Well, unless someone generously decides to gift us a copy of Rosetta Stone, I am pretty sure that it won't be that.

In this day and age of technology, there are a lot of apps and websites that offer free language studies. They might only offer basic training, but that's where we need to start anyway. One such resource that someone tipped me off to is BBC. And here I thought they were only a new agency.

Polly and I also have the benefit of having a number of Spanish-speaking friends. We intend on taking advantage of that resource by practicing Spanish with some of those individuals.

Genevieve has it much easier than either Polly or I do. It's still early on in her linguistic development. Truth be told, with her living in a Spanish-speaking country from ages 2-5, Polly and I will have to ensure that we continue to communicate with her in English. Though I believe that Genevieve will pick up the language without much difficulty once we arrive there, I still switch her toys to the Spanish setting from time to time. This helps me learn too.

(English: I am very excited to go with my family to Costa Rica as missionaries!)

Why we're confident we will learn

As I mentioned in the first paragraph and even alluded to in the title, I believe that God has called us to serve in Costa Rica. As such, I am confident that He will enable us to learn the language, even if that still means hard work for us.

Polly and I also each have the encouragement of knowing that we have the ability to learn and thus speak another language. Polly is bilingual and I'm probably as close as one can be without considering oneself to be bilingual. Polly is fluent in sign language (ASL). She grew up with two deaf parents and also minored in deaf ministries in college. I took five years of French in school (8th-12th grades). I used to communicate with friends using French but have not done so consistently for many years now. I can read and understand quite well, but I'm a bit slow when it comes to communication. It's one of those things where if I lived in a French-speaking country for a year, I'd be fine. Back to the point, however, we both know that we're capable of learning and speaking a new language (and equally as important, we both recognize that this is only because of God's favor and not our own doing).

A year of focused study on a language is a good deal of time. Already knowing the basics, we should do just fine.

Learning the language is just another one of the many exciting aspects of this journey for us. We trust that God will equip us, and we have been praying as such.

Mike