November 12, 2007 (Again)

This evening we had the opportunity to go to a local bible study that Samuel has every Monday evening in the village at the Nazarene church. It is more like a small meeting than a personal bible study, but it was very good. First we left at about 2:30 to go around to invite people to the meeting. (Those of us who went included Patrick, Elissa, and I, along with their whole family). They would go up to the houses and inform them of the meeting they would be having, between 4 and 5 this evening and they were more than welcome to come. (All en espanol of course). They would make some conversation for a few moments with them, we would be introduced, as the missionaries from a school in Norway, and then we would carry on to the next house. The people here just gawk at us as we go by. People in the street don't take their eyes off us, and then you see people coming to their windows and doors to try to see what you are doing and who you are, and it makes you feel as if you are a parade or something like that. It takes some getting used to, to feel like such a spectacle and as if all you do is being watched closely.

Anyway, the meeting was very good - the topic was the law of God, and he presented the topic in a very clear manner bringing out some aspects that were very true and not thought of by most. Patrick was very kind and translated for me so I got quite a bit out of the meeting, and it was very interesting indeed. Following that we went to this one person's house whereupon they gave us water, and talked to us for a few moments. At this point I was very resolved in my heart to learn Spanish because having such a language barrier between yourself and the others is rather unpleasant, and causes me to feel very out of place and kind of useless. I want to be able to talk with these people. Although I can pick up on some things, it is not enough yet, and I have a long way to go, so I hope to learn very quickly – not only to understand, but to be able to talk with them as well. That is one of my main goals of the next 5 weeks.