Linguistic lasagna

The young man sat on his motorcycle, looking at me with the strangest of eyes. It was a mixture of surprise, confusion, and indignation.

I wasn’t sure if he had heard or understood me, so I repeated what I said but this time with even more enthusiasm. Which was met with even more skepticism. Now I was perplexed. Sure, my Spanish wasn’t great, but it couldn’t be that bad, after all, I had just complimented him on his motorcycle. In my mind, I had said “ I like your bike “ what he heard however, was “I WANT your bike,” said with a big smile no less. Turns out I was switching the word “like " with “gusta” for want = “quiero”.

And this wasn’t just a one-off scenario, no I was doing this a lot, for a long time. Horses, dogs, hats, t-shirts, tools, boats, jobs, etc. basically anything I could find to ingratiate myself to my new environment, but I was doing the exact opposite.

Back in 2021, when Karina and I had moved here, I realized in seconds that I would have to learn the language. I leaned heavily on Karina for the first three months, even afraid to go to the hardware store without her. Needless to say, that didn’t last very long. She said, “No more! You go figure it out." And so that’s what I’ve done, plus the help of some great online courses. But it hasn’t been easy. In my speaking and teaching, I’ve said things like “the world is filled with fish, and Jesus has come to kill every fish and set us free from the power of fish”.

Pescado = fish.

Pecado = sin.

You see? And then there’s the constant flipping of nouns and verbs. I must sound like Yoda from the Star Wars movie, God he is obey I must.

All that to say it’s been a humbling experience, talking like a baby as a grown man, and thankfully, I have improved a lot since then. Working as a missionary is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. Being part of something bigger than yourself that God intends to accomplish constantly requires me to subdue the ego, walk in humility, and rarely see any immediate physical gains for all the effort. The corporate culture I left is kind of antithetical to this entire venture. And that’s the tricky part, shrugging off my own timelines and expectations and embracing the supernatural movements of the Spirit. For me, the Christian life can sometimes be a chaotic inner struggle and at other times a beautifully choreographed dance, with Jesus in the lead.

Ok, let’s step out of James and see what’s happening around here. The Vanilla is finally budding, which means flowers are on the way! Boy, what a sight of relief, we have real plants! And lessons of God abound in this as well.

Our legal pursuits to establish the children’s shelter continues to be an uphill climb. Not so much in what we are doing, but where we are doing it- on indigenous land. We remain confident that the Lord has the authority and strength to present us with the right way forward, but please be in prayer in these regards.

Our Nestmarket animals and their welfare are all doing very well.

Last week, we had a visit from three wonderful friends from Anastasia church in Florida. In addition to working with our outreach children, they brought us a one-day program especially designed to celebrate and encourage our little workforce family of 20 BriBri. We are so blessed to co-labour together and to have had a day to unite in one mind and spirit to give thanks to God. We now have a couple of “ quiet “ months before the summer youth camps and the arrival in late August of our four German volunteers who will be joining us here for one year.

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers. I love each one of you. So we will keep on keeping on, or as Yoda would say, “ there is no try, only Do or Do not “.

Let us Do!

With love and gratitude

James Beach