I was hoping I could absorb the language effortlessly like a sponge, but at least for me, it's not that easy. If I don't consciously listen, when people are speaksing Italian, my brain almost completely tunes it out. When I listen, this is how I hear: Somethings I don't know, something else, some more things, SCIVI, something and another thing, LIBRO, something I don't know.......I still don't know.......ummmm.........YouVersion app (ok, but that's just English, don't give yourself points for that), more things I don't understand...... BISCOTTI (that barely counts)...VUOI (of course I want cookies, what's with my priorities though, why is this all I understand) *me: 'Ci,grazie,' .......a lot more words I don't know.....5 more minutes of words....JENAE ( hey, that's my name!).....AMERICA (what are they saying about me *smilies awkwardly) ....some more time goes by......BAMBINI....words, words, words....SUCCO.... a lot of things I don't understand, some more things, (nope, that's a word you know in Japanese, don't know it in Italian), don't know that either, don't those words, ANDIAMO! (and that I learned at Johnny Carino's, well I guess we're leaving now).
Yesterday, I more or less constructed a sentence. In response to the question, "Did you see Barbara?" I said in Italian, "yes, I (or it could have been "me") eat (no idea what tense I used) Barbara's (just like that because I have no idea how to make something possessive) lasagna (boom, that's free)." Then, I let out a deep breath, because that was hard.
I have been doing a lot of activities with the church and with individuals in the church, like going to a small group, a big conference, a mini conference, a kid's birthday party, third wheeling on a one on one bible study, and so forth. (The above example is pretty much exactly what I head at essentially an informal counseling session the first week I was here.) While participating in this spectrum of activities, I am meeting a lot of wonderful people. Some of them I've been able to have really in depth conversations with about their lives and ministry. Others have motivated me, through their tireless efforts to communicate with me, to work harder to be able to communicate clearly with them.
Language, culture, and ministry are all very complicated subjects. I am learning that if I ever hope to really understand them, I have to learn every way I can. I think it's a good philosophy for life.