Thursday, I was invited to share my testimony with the ladies from Nsango na Bomoi, the church that is pastored by our missionary friends Dan and Christine. I have been a little spoiled because each time I have shared my testimony here I have been allowed to do it in English with someone to interpret for me. This time, I was asked to share in French! Yikes!
I only had a few hours' notice and still had to do school with Daniel so I sort of cheated. I knew I had forgotten a lot of grammar. I also was aware of the fact that when I am nervous, it is even more challenging for me to think in French. I had written my testimony in French during language school so I pulled that out and edited it a bit. Hooray for saving language school homework!
French is the official language here, but even among the nationals not everyone speaks French. Many have not had enough schooling to be proficient in French. There was a woman in this group who only spoke Lingala so our time together involved a mix of English, French, and Lingala. I gave my testimony in French and Mama Louise interpreted it into Lingala. If she had a question about something I said, she asked Christine, who then asked me in English so that I could rephrase my original sentence back into French.
Sharing my story with the ladies was a blessing for me not just because I got a review of some vocabulary I had forgotten, but also because it gave me a way to connect with them. As my story progressed, I could see the ladies smiling and nodding. We are very different in culture and background, but all of us had a testimony. Each of us had a story to tell about how we were burdened and empty before Christ had changed our lives.
Stories are very popular here, so we also talked about the fact that nearly everyone likes a good story and that if a person is able to share the story of what God has done in their life, they have a very powerful tool for sharing the gospel. Then the ladies shared their testimonies, first in Lingala and then Mama Louise translated into French for my sake. Having heard these ladies' stories made me feel like I was getting to know them on a deeper level. They shared of painful experiences, of growing up in churches that did not teach the gospel so they spent years following rituals without having a true relationship with Jesus.
How wonderful that you had this great opportunity to share your story and hear others' testimonies as well. And kudos to you for doing it on short notice! We always need to be flexible on the field, I guess!
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