Nearing Good-Bye Time in Guadalajara

We are nearing the end of our time here in Guadalajara, and so we thought that it was time for a little update.  Our main goal for our time here was to learn, as much as possible, the Spanish language.  If you have ever had to move to another country and learn to speak the language there, you will know that it can take a while (many years).  However, thanks to the Lord's provision, we can affirm that we have made some major strides.  Anne-Marie has just about finished all four levels of the language school.  She is doing very well, in my opinion.  While she still feels that fluency is a good ways away, yet she recently remarked to me that she has been given a very good base grammatically with which to build off of.  The language school program is laid out very well, and covers all of the 14 different Spanish tenses, as well as a lot of the little things that make up a language.  Anne-Marie also has a tutor named Teresa come once a week, who has come to be a dear friend of Anne-Marie.  She is a godly Christian lady, a grand-mother, who loves the Lord and loves to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with all those around her.  Quite an example for us!  You will have to ask Anne-Marie to tell you her story when we come back to Ontario, Lord-willing, in August.

I graduated from the school at the end of April, and so have had some more time to practice.  There are a number of ways that I've been practicing: via intercambios (half English / half Spanish) with university students, talking with the guards, leading a weekly Bible Study, visiting nursing homes nearby, reading in Spanish, and preparing for sermons.  All the different methods have helped in their own way.  Talking to students helps with the lingo.  For example, a common phrase in Guadalajara is: "¡Qué padre!" or "¡Padríssimo!"  Literally, that means "What a father!" or "SUPER-FATHER!!"  You might wonder what in the world that means, as I did too.  But basically, all it means is: "That's great!  That's cool!" (or something like that).  Talking to the elderly is helpful too, especially if you can find one who is a bit of a stickler with little things.  Don Raul is such a man, and is not at all inhibited about teaching a youngster the proper way to say things.  "You don't want people to think you're a simpleton!", he reminds me. 

Our biggest problem continues to be, not so much expressing ourselves correctly or intelligibly, but rather understanding others when they talk.  The two challenges there are training your ear to distinguish the sounds and also the vocabulary.  For both, practice is essential.  Both Anne-Marie and I can understand everything (or almost everything) from some people, but then we come across someone who it seems we can't even make out one word!  Thankfully, that's getting better for both of us with practice, but we still have our work cut out for us.  Learning a language takes a lot of patience and dedication!

I intended to keep this update short, but as I remarked to someone recently, "I have a problem with being brief."  :-)  I still haven't mentioned anything about Naomi (what a blessing!), church here, Tepic, or our future plans.  Basically, we're just about wrapping things up here in GDL.  We hope to move to Tepic the week of August 13 or so, so that we can get a bit settled before leaving for Canada.  August 24th is our date to fly back to Ontario for two and a half weeks, after which we will be going straight to Tepic.  We're looking forward to both very much.  We will most certainly miss all of our good friends and brothers and sisters in Christ here in Guadalajara, but it will be good to finally make our home, we trust, in Tepic. 

[From Anne-Marie:] Some of you might be wondering about how our little gal is doing.  And I'm happy to talk about her!  Naomi is now 3 months old, and is amazing us with the new things she is learning and doing.  We've enjoyed watching her discover her hands and her voice, and as of this weekend, she's starting to be able to move herself a little.  She has slept through the night for us for a few weeks now, so that is a huge blessing, especially with me going to school.  Her smiles brighten our day, and we feel very blessed with our precious little girl.  So that's our little Naomi update.  One other thing... Matt was quite generous when speaking of my Spanish above.  (He is still leagues ahead of me).  But, I am learning more each day and pray that will continue.  Please keep praying for our language learning.  How happy I will be when one day, God-permitting, I will be able to share the gospel with someone in Spanish.

So that's a brief update for you.  We look forward to seeing many of you when we come back to Ontario soon.  Thank-you for your prayers.  We know that you pray for us, and I thank the Lord for all of the doors that He has opened recently for opportunity to share the Gospel.  Please pray for grace and strength for us both (Anne-Marie's very busy with the school and the baby, though I help where I can), and for the Lord to work repentance and faith especially in those we meet here.  There is much dissatisfaction with the Catholic church here which provides many opportunities for witnessing, but I am growing in the realization that it is the Lord who brings people to Himself.  Thankfully, He is able to use our weak words and example, but ultimately it is His work.  That's what we need to look for, and that's what we need to pray for.   God's blessings in Christ to each and all of you!

Quick Dates:

• Lord-willing, Anne-Marie hopes to be finished language school on August 7 or so.
• We plan to move to Tepic during the week of August 13th, so that everything can be in place when we return from Canada in September.
• We hope to be in Canada from August 24th to September 12th.  We plan to be in Hope URC, Toronto on August 26 and in Immanuel URC, Jordan Station on September 2.