Language school is hard. The school part is hard in its own right, but what’s really hard is everything else. The perceived competition; the irreplaceable loss of fellowship with your closest friends; the inexplicable absence of virtually every adequacy or ability you thought you had; the constant and unrelenting stress of living in a new culture that you’re (hopefully) growing to love and appreciate. Before we moved down here, we received lots of advice and counsel from others who have already done this, and made it through – lots of people that we have a ton of respect for. Most of those we talked to said that it was the hardest year of their life for either the husband, the wife, or in some cases for both. Usually, if it wasn’t the hardest year of their life, we were told it was one of the best years of their life. But very rarely did we hear that it was a great year for both a husband and wife. And no one said it was just OK or so so. For just about everyone it was either the hardest or the best year of their life.
It’s probably somewhat foolish of me to try to make an accurate assessment yet for us, when we’re still in the middle of it, just starting our 2nd trimester. It definitely seems like the type of conclusion we need the help of hindsight to make. But at the risk of being overly pessimistic (or optimistic, for that matter) I’d have to say that our year could still probably go either way. For fear of being too alarmist, I would add that I’m pretty confident when we look back, we will definitely regard this as one of the best years of our life. The things we are learning in regards to the Spanish language and Latin culture, in regards to our marriage and family, and in regards to our personal walk and fellowship with the Lord have all been truly remarkable. But the Lord doesn’t grow us without struggle or without difficulty. There is no easy way. There is only the hard way.
I have nothing much to add to your post here Rich other than we miss you guys a lot. We feel for you as we know it’s got to be really tough. And we long to celebrate with you on the other side of this year, as you’ve passed through the fire (at least that specific fire…more to come I’m sure). So keep working/struggling along! We love you guys!
Thanks for sharing this with us Rich. We know by experience that God tests our faith in the fire (no pun intended), but that we can come out stronger and purer and more like Christ in the end if we focus on our Creator and not the trial. I’m praying for strength and protection for your families this year! I can’t wait to see what God is going to do next!