As we immerse ourselves in such Spanish language tasks as "Interview a Missionary," "Discussing Missionary Transfers," "Help Resolve Concerns," and even such simple things as "Give Directions," it seems to us that being a mission president in an English-speaking mission would be a relatively simple thing. Not that it is ever simple to be a mission president, but imagine trying to run an entire mission in a foreign language! And that includes training local leaders, conducting temple recommend interviews, working with missionaries to resolve serious problems, meeting with Area Authority Seventies. Even my counselors are unlikely to speak English.
Then last night in the "lounge" at the MTC I met a couple from Davis County who are also going out in July - to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He will have 180 missionaries, all of them from Cambodia or surrounding countries, none of whom will speak English! He served his mission in Thailand, so he has some familiarity with the general geography (i.e., he can find Cambodia on a map), but neither he nor his wife speak the language. After talkling with this couple, Barcelona seemed like an especially wonderful assignment!
As Einstein reminded us, everything is relative.
1 comment:
Whitney and Rob tell me that in Taiwan and Hong Kong, they call Spanish a P-day language. So, yeah, relativity.
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