In Training

We started our second week of Albanian class today.  

It's amazing how quickly our emotions regarding Albanian study can vacillate.  One minute it feels like we've been given the secret decoder ring to understand previously obscure things and a new realm of understanding is exhilarating. 

The next minute we have to read aloud a paragraph in Shqip or answer a relatively simple question in Shqip in front of the whole class and we freeze with what would normally be easy.

to a pair of American ears, these pairs of words sound virtually indistinguishable but have very different meetings

The opening day of training in Colorado, I'll never forget our instructor sharing an exhortation from I Corinthians 9 (bolding mine):

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

I believe the translation he read used the words "I beat my body." That was our mantra during hours of language drills in August, and it's becoming our mantra again.

We are beating our tongues, our lips, our ears, to speak Albanian and hear Albanian.  This is our training.  We know training isn't easy, it hurts, it's exhausting, it requires endurance.  But the prize is more than worth it.