J'AI COMPRIS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Translation: "I understood!" Today I am just plain happy! After over a year of living in France, today, I understood the pastor's message at church for the first time! I just wanted to share the joy and to let those of you who are praying for me know that I am indeed making progress in my language learning (by God's grace, of course)! I didn't just catch a word here and there, I really understood the message! He was preaching about the verse where Jesus says, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." He really emphasized that Jesus said He would be the one "making us". I actually left church encouraged in the Spirit by God's Word (this is a first for me as I usually don't understand God's Word preached in French).

When we first moved here I felt like a character in Charlie Brown's class- you know Charlie Brown's teacher who just speaks in gobbledy-gook? Well, that is what all French people sounded like to me when we first moved here. After a few months, I started to be able to pick out words here and there. Then I began to understand bigger bits and pieces, but today, I really understood almost all of the sermon! This is indeed miraculous considering that I only go to French class 4 hours a week and we take 2 week breaks about every 6 weeks, and everything else that is involved in my language learning is informal and self-initiated. I get together with a French friend once a week to talk and work on grammar, I listen to the radio in the car and watch a little French TV every day too, and as much as I can, I shop in the same small shops or stands at the market where I can chat with the owners. Understanding always comes before speaking, so I really need to make an effort to speak in French every day. Today, I had coffee with a lady from church that I could not understand at all this summer. I understood her much better today, and I was able to communicate with her too! I am so thankful to God for enabling me to begin to learn this language!

I am a pretty schooly person, so if left up to me, I would be attending intensive French classes in order to learn, but the Lord arranged it so that my responsibilities, time, etc. make it necessary for me to learn wholly dependent on Him - through a little class and alot of different relationships (provided by Him). My favorite Christmas card from last year is on my refrigerator- it has a picture of my cute little niece and nephew (A&A) discovering a snowball. The verse at the top says, "The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy." Ps. 126:3 That is my theme verse for today! He has done great things, and I am filled with joy!