Once again Jonathan Banford invited me along to re-visit the southern Isnag. It’s been a few months now since the two single missionary ladies have left the village and so Jonathan wanted to get in to take care of some needs in the clinic, arrange for future translation checks & get some rice distributed. Unlike our first visit though when we were able to fly, this time we had to hike in. The truth is that because there is still a very real possibility that we may end up working in this village someday (or a village similiar to this), I thought it prudent to get a taste for what walking in and out might feel like. I might say it was at least as hard as any other hike I’ve ever been on in my life, and I’ve been on a few hikes in the past. God is good.
One of the most encouraging parts of this visit for me was having opportunity to see how far my Tagalog has progressed just in the past six months since we were last there. Not all of the southern Isnag speak Tagaolg but for a few who may have spent some time in Manila at some point, they do quite well. And so on our second night in the village Jonathan introduced me to an Isnag man who had previously lived and worked in Manila for about four years, saying, “Hey Smitty, this guy speaks Tagalog well. You can practice with him.” And with that we spent the next 30 minutes talking about our families, different places we had been and things we had done. God is good.
Scripture states, “Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning.” (1 Cor. 14:10) That truth has been made incredibly clear to me this past year and while I still have a great deal to learn, it is encouraging to know that the Lord has not left us without some ability to learn and comprehend another man’s language, just by the fact that none of them is without meaning. God is good.
Where God ultimately has us headed in the future is yet to be seen but what is known is where He has us now and for the past year since we have been back in the Philippines it has been wonderful to see the things He continues to teach us and how He uses us here and now. Will the Lord open the door for us to some day work with the southern Isnag or perhaps with another unreached people group or does He have something totally different in store for us? These are questions yet to be answered and so for now I can only keeping pressing forward in the ministry God currently has for, learning national culture and language, connecting with the local church, reaching out to the community as we are able and striving to be a blessing to our fellow missionaries both in and out of NCLA. God is good and that’s enough for me.