You are probably wondering what any of these have to do with each other and what is a trilled "r" anyway? Well, these are just a few of things that have occured in our lives over the past few weeks.
We returned to MTC on Saturday morning to find several inches of ice covering everything! We continued to get wave upon wave of freezing rain, sleet, and snow for several days. I have never seen so much ice!! The trees were so heavily laden with it that everytime we went outside, we could hear branches snapping off and crashing to the ground. Needless to say, you didn’t walk near them or park your car under them. I’ ve heard it said around these parts that this was the worst ice storm in 50 years!
Many areas lost power and…we were one of them It was only out for a couple days, but a couple days seems like forever without electricity! Thank the Lord that we had heat! There were some communities nearby that were without power for up to two weeks! It was good for us to have to cook without a microwave, read by candlelight, and go without movies for a while. It really made me appreciate the little things that I often take for granted. Our classes were cancelled for that week which turned out to be a huge blessing as we were able to get some much needed time together as a family as well and some things down around the apartment.
Okay, I’ve covered the power and the Jack Frost, so what are trilled "r"s? We resumed classes on the 22nd and got back into our daily routine. One class we are taking is called Phonetics which basically is teaching us to recognize, write, and produce every sound known to man. The purpose for Phonetics is to give us the tools needed for learning a foreign language so we can more accurately present the Gospel to those who speak that language. I never knew my mouth could do some of the things it has done in this class! This past week, we were working on trilled "r"s. A trilled "r" is very similar to the sound little boys make when they are playing with cars crossed with a cat’s purring sound. Well, it was a very humbling experience for me as I could not get my mouth to make this sound! As a matter of fact, I am still trying!
These past few weeks have been eventful for us and the Lord has used them to teach us character as well. During the ice storm and power outages, He showed me that contentment is not based upon circumstances, but upon Him. Joy can be present no matter what situation I found myself in because He is always there and He allows these things in my life to give me opportunities to glorify Him. Through Phonetics, He has taught me humility and having to rely on Him to work through my mere human efforts to learn to communicate to those of another language.
If you would more information on our ministry and what New Tribes Mission is about please contact us. Thank you for your prayers!
Learning Contentment-
Candy Dalton
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