A unique blessing

Last night, I attended an ESL class. It was a small class with only three students. There was one man from Korea named Chun, a woman from the Republic of the Congo named Justine, and one woman from Ecuador named Martha. It was really interesting to sit among these students who had come to learn to speak our language. What was more interesting was watching them interact with each other. As they listened and then repeated the English phrases they were learning, the teachers were very patient and kind. The students struggled to say even the simplest words, but they didn't give up...they pressed on repeating the word over and over again after the teacher until they "got it."

I felt honored to be in the class. I was amazed at their tenacity. I wondered if I would be so eager to learn another language if I was in another country. As the class drew to a close, the woman from the Congo gave me a hand painted picture that her 16 year old nephew had done. She said it was of an umbrella tree. As I looked at the painting, I felt a love for her country and the people there. I know that I felt that because God gave me an understanding of the way He looks at each individual's heart. As I looked into Justine's eyes, I could see that we were so very different, but so much the same. I could see a hunger in her to understand who Jesus was...and that is why I'm excited to be going on a mission trip, to help feed that hunger, one crumb at a time.