On Monday we had an exciting day. I took my first true language evaluation with the outside consultant our mission hires for this. He started off testing my speaking as we spoke about Cambodian immigrants in California, which I didn't have a lot of vocabulary for, but I was able to contribute to the 15 minute conversation. Then, the missionary language advisor opened up the formal part of the evaluation with prayer. She seemed to take this as a good opportunity for the consultant to know something about me as she prayed for my two year old son and our upcoming move to Ratanakiri. The consultant seemed very amiable as he took this opportunity to talk some more. Next, they gave me a passage of gospel scripture and the 3rd grade primer to read and asked me some questions about them. Later he read me a few sentences from each of these books and had me write it out as dictation. He checked my spelling. Finally, I shared my testimony and gave him a note I had written. It was helpful to get much feedback on my pronunciation. He also gave me a good hint for sharing my testimony in a way that would be easier to listen to.
They had me go out of the room while they discussed my performance. 15 long minutes later the missionary gave me the “thumbs up” and gave me more advice in how to proceed in my study. She will keep my classroom time at full-time until I move up near the end of the year. Once we move we will have to come back to the language center periodically for reviews.
That night Sally and I went home with two reasons to celebrate. It happened to be our son’s 2nd birthday. So we invited several friends/team-mates over to consume the cake I had made. It was heart warming to see Nathanael play with Elizabeth, who is just a month younger, and to hang out with friends. One of the friends is a man I have just recently grown closer to even though we have known each other for 4 years. This is because we pray together weekly for personal needs.
The next day I started a training course in website design. Our Cambodia field director signed me up for this after I agreed to help with the team website. You can view it at http://www.omf.org/cambodia/
