MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 10-08-2007

Greetings, again! This is the last week of Phonetics, so pray for us as we study for the final on Friday. After that, we launch into Phonemics. Basically, where phonetics deals with the actual recognition and reproduction of individual sounds in a given language, phonemics deals with the patterns of sound that are peculiar to a given language. For example, in English, the sound for /p/ can be aspirated (puff of air when you say it), or unaspirated (no puff of air), and it doesn't change the meaning of the sound. Hold a piece of paper in front of your mouth, and then say 'paper'. Notice how on the first syllable, the /p/ is aspirated, but on the second it is not? In English, that doesn't matter. It's still just a /p/. In other languages, like Korean for example, an aspirated /p/ and an unaspirated /p/ would be two different sounds, represented by two different characters, and would change the spelling or the meaning of a word where it was used. Sound complicated? It is. Yet, you need to know these things when you learn a foreign language in order to avoid the pitfalls of pronunciation that English speakers fall into when trying to place their phonemes on a foreign tongue. Again, it all comes back to learning how to speak foreign languages like a native.

We had a meeting this weekend in Friendship Baptist Church in Pineville, LA (near Alexandria), with Pastor Kenneth Wilkinson. It went great. I gave our testimonies and showed our slides in the Sunday School hour, and then I preached in the morning service. The song-leader's nephew, Jeremy, 'happened' to be there that morning. I was preaching a missions message like I typically do, but in the invitation, I gave the opportunity for folks to raise their hand because they weren't sure where they were going when they died, but they'd like to be. Jeremy raised his hand, and during the invitation, he came to the altar. So, I went over to deal with him, and about fifteen minutes later, he prayed believing, and the LORD saved him! In addition to him, a young lady across the room named Paige had come forward, and was praying to the LORD to be saved. So, we had two saved in our morning service! What a blessing! Pray for Jeremy. Pastor Wilkinson is going to be visiting him this week to talk to him about baptism. His wife is still lost, and has struggled with understanding the Gospel in the past. Pray that she will hear the Gospel, and believe on the LORD Jesus, and be saved. Pray that the Gospel will come to this home and change it forever.

I have a Bible Conference next week at Trinity Baptist Church in Arlington, TX, a meeting in Shreveport, LA on Wednesday, and then I fly to Salt Lake City, UT for a conference up there on Thursday. Pray for me as I zip hither and yon. October is a busy month, even when we're not in language school. Pray that our support will continue to increase, that all the churches we visit from here on out will support us, and that other churches we've visited in the past will be able to support us. Pray that I'll have wisdom about where to go for meetings next October. I'm contemplating a trip out to California or perhaps a second trip to Alaska. Pray that the proper course of action will become clear to me soon, so I know what direction to pursue.