Hi, my name is Saline….like the nose spray! Our people group that we are working among cannot say the letter “J”. Let me also say that they can’t say final “L’s”. I tried many things to get my name to come out somewhat the same. I ended up trying to get them to say “Jilly” and the outcome was “Saline”…so Saline it is!
While our language that we are learning (Wantakian) does not has “J’s” and other letters, it does have a couple of letters that the English alphabet doesn’t. During our training with New Tribes, one of our classes we took was Phonetics. We tried so hard to make our mouths say all the different sounds that are found in all the languages. There were a couple that were very difficult for my mouth to make, and guess what? Wantakian has those sounds! But seriously, by the grace of God, my mouth is making those sounds!
Here’s an example: monye(v)oono. (Good Morning)
The (v) is actually a “B Fricitive”, so try to say a letter “V” with your lips closed…this helps me.
We have a few others, but the rest are too hard to explain. But the Lord is enabling us to make these sounds, so that His Name can be proclaimed. Learning a new, unwritten language is not a walk in the park. It seems impossible at times. But it is not about our comfortableness. It’s not about our name! It’s about doing whatever it takes to proclaim HIS name to ALL people.
It’s even about changing your name, if you have to! So I will proudly introduce the rest of our team:
-Bsay & Saline (BJ and Jill)
-Sedemy & Mandy (Jeremy and Mandy)
-Sack & Leo (Jack and Lael)
…So that His name may be proclaimed one day to the Wantakians!
“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.” -Psalm 115:1