Pieces of the Puzzle

I’ve always enjoyed putting together puzzles. When I was a teenager, my Mom and I often had a puzzle on the dining room table. First, we’d work on the frame. That was the easiest part because one edge was flat.  Once that was finished, we’d spend hours hunting for the missing puzzle piece to fit the specific spot.

As I learn ZK, I feel like I’m working on a giant puzzle! The frame is kind of a difficult one to put together but the edges aren’t always straight. In other words, we learn a word and practice how to say it with our language helper. Then we take what we’ve learned and try to use it with someone else only to find out that we weren’t pronouncing it “right.” Within our village, people pronounce words differently. Or use different words. Like “soda” and “pop” might mean the same thing to you, or “pop” might not be something that you drink.  Or, does the word “roof” rhyme with “goof” or “woof?”

Sometimes I feel very overwhelmed with the task at hand. This week I read Psalm 57:2, which states, “I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills his purpose for me.” Another translation reads, “He will perform the cause I hold in my hand.”

Beyond learning the language, my greater task at hand is to see the people around me understand the HOPE that only comes through a relationship with the God Most High. The people of Pine Hill are without hope. Many young people are drinking, smoking, or sniffing thinner by age 12, or younger. Instead of learning to work beside their fathers, the young boys are hanging out in the streets, getting into trouble. When we ask their parents about what their children are doing (when they should be in school or working in the field) they say, “They don’t want to work/study. So they’re in the streets.” These are 6-10 year-old kids.

 The task seems insurmountable. So I cry out to God Most High. He will fulfill HIS purpose for me.