I'm Fluent!?!?

I finished my two months of language school today! It's time to party because I am fluent in Japanese! Wait a minute.... I thought when I finished language school I would be fluent and have no problem with conversations. I wish.

Even though I have learned a lot of Japanese in the last two months, I have also come to realize how hard it is to become fluent in another language, especially a language that does not come from the latin base. The more you learn in a language, the more you realize you don't know. Even though my language school is done, I will still be meeting with a tutor once or twice a week to continue my language learning.

Please continue to pray for me to be faithful in studying Japanese. As my focus is about to shift more into ministry it will become easy to stay stagnant with where I am right now in Japanese. One of my goals in language is coming up this December. Keith and I will be taking the first of four language tests held by the government for proficiency. I am about where I need to be to take the test right now, so the next fews months will probably be spent establishing and reviewing what I know and then continue a little further to make sure I am ready for the first test.

Summer break is coming up starting in August so all of the students are diligently studying right now as over the next two weeks they will be taking their finals. Also the summer friends will be returning to America in two weeks so pray that there final time with students will be good and deep in conversations.

Also, the America trip is coming up from August 31-September 16. We have 9 students going. 4 girls and 5 guys. Please pray for us in the time of preparation for the trip and for the Bible Discussions as we prepare them also.