Our language instructor in Colorado told us: “You’re going to make a million mistakes so get started!  Here is one of my million.
 
Ellie Beth and I were taking Frodo, our puppy and people magnet, for a walk one day when two girls about Ellie’s age started talking with us: “Baš je slatki!” He’s so sweet/cute!  “Muski ili ženski?”  Is he male or female?  “Kako se zove?  What’s his name?   “Koliko je star?” How old is he?

Ellie Beth answered them all!  But then they asked us another question – one we hadn’t heard before…we had no idea what they were saying.   Ellie Beth and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders.  I gave my typical answer – “Ne razumijem."  I don't understand.  Then after a second to think it through: "Tvoy hrvastski nije dobar."  Our Croatian is not so good.  Well that’s what I meant to say!  They looked at me strangely, smiled and walked away.  We walked on. 

About 20 meters later I stopped, looked at Ellie Beth and said, “Oh, no! I just told that girl that her Croatian wasn’t good, didn’t I?!!”

 “Yep – you did.” Ellie Beth smiled at me and we started laughing.  It’s better than crying! 

If you are like me, every once in a while you get a little tired of language learning, but then something happens and you remember why it is so important.  The other day was my moment.  Our teacher asked us a question that translated would mean, "What is your life plan?"  For me, that translates into my walk with Jesus, not work, recreation, travel goals, or something else.  So in my mind, I immediately went to one of my favorite quotes by a puritan author named Henry Scougal.  In his book, The Life of God in the Soul of Man, he says, "Whatever you most love is what you will most be like.  If you love base and vile things, you will become base and vile."  This quote is very close to my life plan, to become more Christlike in character.  So I quickly ran through the Croatian words I know and when called on to share my life plan said something like this, "Ja mislim da što volim najbolje, što biti kao. Ja volim Isus Krist"  Those were not exact, but I was really quite proud of myself.  My teacher smiled kindly, and asked me a question or two and I quickly realized I had effectively said a random string of words that did not translate into a coherent thought in Croatian.  So I quickly added, "I want my character to be like that of Jesus Christ."

Later, I asked one missionary and two friends what my sentence meant and they laughed at my phrasing, saying that it was indeed jibberish.  The words were correct, but the way they were strung together did not work.  So I asked my language helper and she gave me the following sentence. "Vjerujem da ono što najviše voliš najviše utijeće na tvoj život.  Ja volim Isusa Krista. (I believe that what you love most, most affects your life.  I love Jesus Christ.)

So, we are pressing on in school, and learning well.  To end this on a different note, I brought our car into the Ford dealership for servicing today, and was able to communicate with the guy at the service counter about time, cost, and small talk as well.  so while I am struggling in communicating the philosophical thoughts, I am able to relate in several different contexts.