Language learning

Outside it is getting dark already at 14:30 and to our surprise it thaws a bit. However, the thaw has not been able to remove our 40 cm snow and fresh snow is falling now. So it is not that cold, but the weather still determines the activities here, including the course.

In our last update, I wrote that we would hold a pastoral course. A Greenlandic(!) pastor (Brian) would give this course. He would fly especially for this from the west coast to the east coast. After a flight with two step overs he could be here in Tasiilaq. But all was cancelled. Nothing could continue. The weather was so turbulent that Brian could not even make the first step over. After being stuck in Nuuk for almost a week, we decided to cancel the flight and accommodation.

To our relief we got almost all the money back for the ticket and the owner of the accommodation did not charge us. They are used to cancellations due to the weather. Tasiilaq has a name concerning its remoteness. Nevertheless, we will try again next year, because this Greenlandic pastoral course has the potential to let people deal with inner pain. The gifts that we have received for this course will remain for this purpose. Thanks for that!

What keeps us busy?

In October we have welcomed a Dutch/Indonesian couple, Willem and Judith. For three weeks they lived at our place to investigate if they will also live in Tasiilaq. Their desire is to work with the children. They had a good click with the children and we are curious how God will guide their further steps. It has been a valuable and fun time!

Furthermore, we are intensely learning the East Greenlandic language since two months. A language trainer is helping us and we tell her which sentences we want to learn and then we practice those. Then we look for opportunities to use these sentences for real. This also provides for surprising responses. For example we were learning how to talk about the weather. Thinka asked a friend (Sabine) in a conversation about different kinds of weather which she liked the most. Instead of answering which weather Sabine liked the most, she responded that it was the bible school that she actually enjoyed the most! A challenge we have is that our language trainer has an alcohol problem and has not showed up a few times. That does not make it easier to learn. If something is important in learning a language, then it is consistency and discipline. Thank you for your prayers and gifts. The costs of the past two month have been covered by them. Also in the future we expect recurring costs of € 250,- to learn the language.

A look into the bible school

Knowing Jesus is accompanied with transformation and we see that happening in the bible school. In the past lesson we learned from 1 John 1 that we need to walk in the light. After this, we discovered what God says about occultism and that many people fall for this. After we discussed this, everyone brought things into the light (confessed sins) and we experienced how God brought powerful  deliverance. The joy that arose was noticed for days. It was encouraging to see that one person especially came out of the shell and was just really there. Step by step God gives healing.

Because the language learning keeps us very busy, we will not write a newsletter (neither did we in October). We are not sure what we will do in January. We hope that with this extra time, we can invest deeper into the language learning.

Warm regards and God bless you,

Peter, Thinka, Joël and Cora