Because of my work on NTM’s crisis team, I sometimes am awakened in the night to deal with issues that arise.
But I have to admit, I don’t really like it, and it seldom presents a ministry opportunity, as it did for a missionary in Brazil recently.
He awoke suddenly. Someone was standing outside his house in the tribal village, calling his name.
“I stumbled out of my bed to find Herbert at our veranda door,” the missionary wrote. “I opened the door and he came up on the veranda and sat down in the dark. I did not really know what was going on. I just thought that it was a weird time to come visit.”
Herbert began mumbling in Spanish, moving randomly from odd topic to odd topic. The missionary eventually realized that Herbert had drank a bit too much piyarentsi – a fermented manioc drink.
The missionary didn’t know much Spanish, but filled in with Portuguese and began explaining the Gospel. He’s still learning the language Herbert and his people speak.
“He was quiet as a mouse and I began revving up and my tongue got more loose as I began to really preach it to him,” the missionary wrote. “I thought to myself as I shared with him, ‘Wow he is really listening.’ I carried on for a few minutes and then turned on my flashlight only to find Herbert fast asleep across from me.”
After a great deal of effort, he managed to wake Herbert.
“Before he left my porch that evening he broke down crying and said, ‘I have no value … I am worthless!’,” the missionary wrote. “I felt so helpless as I could not tell him in his own language how much God loved him and that he is very valuable in God’s sight.”
Even if the missionary knew Spanish, or Herbert knew Portuguese, conveying spiritual truths still would have been very difficult. That’s why NTM missionaries learn the language, and why the investment of time and effort is worth it.
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