“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” 1 Corinthians 3:6-7
Last month we were going through the differences between Thai and English onomatopoeias, the oddest of which was that in Thai the frog says “hong hong” instead of “ribbit ribbit.” Some of the others, like the pig, I could understand (“Oot oot” instead of “oink oink”), but the frog just didn’t seem anywhere near the sound a frog makes. So here I am in the middle of nowhere Cambodia at an orphanage surrounded by free range cows and chickens, a bazillion bugs and (of course) lots of frogs, listening to the melody they all create at night. Suddenly I realize that the frogs are saying hong hong….bwah? I stopped to listen again, and realized it’s not that they sound different from the ones at home, it’s that I’m hearing them differently than before.
A lot of times in ministry here it can be hard to know if you’ve connected with someone or not. Often you get to spend only a few hours with someone, if that, and you’re not sure if anything you said made sense. Sometimes all you get is a nod of understanding, which could just be politeness as they’re disagreeing with everything you’re saying. But as I’ve learned from my hong hong experience, sometimes an idea you reject as foreign at first will suddenly make sense down the road. Just the fact that it’s said to you is enough to make your brain look at something in a new way, without even thinking any more on it. So this is my prayer: that the people opposed to us this year will hear enough for the message of God to be buried in their hearts and in turn teach them truth, whenever God brings that about.
