November, 2006
Dear Friends and Family,
Language acquisition is extremely important for us here in Nepal. We have to be able to converse in the language of the people we live and work with. I admit, I am not as good as I want to be-or should be after as many years as I have been here. But I can speak Nepali to some degree. Language is something that we all grapple with.
Who would imagine that two people who are married to each other could be speaking completely different languages to each other for years? What would that result in? Communication breakdown for one. And an inability to anticipate the other's thoughts, intentions and, most importantly, motivations.
We recently held a retreat for all the WMF Nepal staff (visit my web log @ www.xanga.com/silasinkathmandu.com for pictures and more on the retreat) which based its theme on the book The Five Love Languages by Dr. Chapman. In the introduction, Dr. Chapman uses the analogy of two people speaking different languages to each other to describe the effects that “speaking” different love languages to each other can have. Both people love each other but they are speaking it in ways the other doesn't understand. The only way to deal with this is to learn the love language of your significant others and, then, practice speaking them.
As we did our retreat, several of the Nepali couples on staff began to realize that in their marriages, they had been speaking different languages to each other. The result was that neither spouse was feeling loved or fulfilled. As we went deeper in this, we widened the scope to include the entire community. We all speak our own love languages and need to learn to look outside ourselves and “speak” the languages of those we serve with and live among. The better we get at this, the greater our community's witness to others. As we learn to serve and love each other better, the poor among whom we serve will find greater welcome. The more we are able to love and serve one another, the better we will be at reflecting the true nature of the Trinity-the most profound example of mutual love and community-and welcome.
Our retreat was a great success. It came at a time when we all needed to get out of the normal routines of ministry and spend time together. And it was timely to focus on loving each other better following the devastating news that Gautam's sister had been murdered by her husband.
The week before the retreat, Gautam, Rekha and Gautam's younger brother, Dill, went to the village of his sister to attend the funeral and see to the details. Their Christian witness was a profound testimony of the transformational power of the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of His people. They met with Gautam's brother in law who was in police custody and shared forgiveness and concern with him. They testified to the neighbors and other family members of the love and grace of God. And, they increased their tents by bringing home Gautam's youngest niece to become the newest member of the Karuna Ghar family.
Please remember the family in your prayers.
We are all well. We thank you for your prayers over the past few months. We have been busy-sometimes more than we should be. But God has been faithful. Please let us know better how to love and pray for you all. And don't forget to log onto our blogs and catch up on our lives and those of our children (www.xanga.com/silasinkathmandu.com www.xanga.com/kimberlyinkathmandu.com).
Grace and peace,
Silas West