The First Language of the Day

In the heart or stomach of Africa!

When we were in the first stages of learning Lingala, my husband would often comment that the language he began speaking, besides English in the morning was the one he responded to everyone for the rest of the day.  In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the government language is French.  At that time the country was called Zaire.  So we started out in January 1991 learning French.  After three months into school we found out that we would be moving to Tandala in Northwest Congo.  The women of the village usually did not speak French so we would want to know Lingala, the trade language.  Since Rod would be communicating in airports and with government agents he needed to have the French.  So I switched to
learning Lingala and Rod continued learning French.

Equateur is in the Northwest corner.

When we finished language school, we moved to Tandala and there began settling in only to be evacuated after six weeks.  You can read about that HERE.   It wasn't until the following year that we returned and while we waited for Rod to be able to get his flight standardization completed, Rod started studying Lingala and I continued studying.  We were able to spend two weeks in the village of Limpoko where we each had a tutor each day and we learned to love the people we lived among.  It was while we were down there that I made one of my big bloopers in language.  Rod was planning to go hunting with a couple of men the next day.  When his tutor invited me, I told him.   "Nakobota bana lobi,"  which means, "I will give birth to children tomorrow."  I actually meant to say  "Nakobatela bana lobi," which means, "I will be watching children tomorrow."
As the months went on, Rod found that if he stepped out our door speaking Lingala first in the morning, he thought in Lingala all day.  If he stepped out the door speaking French first, he thought in French all day.  I have to say that I never got efficient enough in French to switch from one to the other.
This week I was studying Priscilla Shirer's book, Discerning the Voice of God.  The following paragraph really spoke to me.  "We begin our day surrendering ourselves to Him and asking Him to heighten our spiritual senses to see and hear Him throughout the day.  Then, as we do the mundane tasks that consume our lives, we purposefully turn our awareness inward and say, 'God what do you think?' (2012, p.37)."    I saw this as my husband saw the language situation.  If I start my day focusing on God, then when I step out of my quiet moments with God I know I can speak His language when things get tough.  I can turn to God and say, "What do you think?" and I know he will hear and answer in a language I
can understand.

Shirer, P. (2012). Discerning the voice of God (7th ed.). Nashville, TN: LifeWay Press.