Days before Christmas, I flew down to Southeast Asia to seek medical treatment for my voice. I have several friends and former teammates who now live in that area, some with whom I have been friends for more than a decade. With little more than 24 hours notice, I showed up at their house and they welcomed me to stay for an unknown, extended length of time. These people are like family to me.
While the doctors said there was nothing visibly wrong with my throat, they did suggest I go to speech therapy. The couple I was staying with is friends with a German lady in their neighborhood who was not only a speech therapist, but specialized in muscle tension dysphonia. She figured that tight neck and chest muscles where constricting my voice, possibly from bracing myself as I walked down rocky gravel paths and un-shoveled sidewalks that are everywhere in my village in Central Asia. She came over on several occasions and suggested different exercises to help. Such grace it was to have her close by and able to answer questions.
Grace upon grace was found in his provision of a language tutor. Some of you may remember that I needed to learn a different national language to live in my new location. After three months in the village, I still couldn’t find a tutor who would work with me daily. Yet here I was, now staying over 4,000 miles away from my home, and one of my friends is a native speaker of that language. She offered to teacher me daily, for free!
Still further provision was the fact that all of these things took place within walking distance of a team that is focused on the U people. I could spend part of everyday serving the work of seeing the U people interact with the Gospel. A home, a family, a tutor, help with my voice, and work among my people group: God’s goodness was so apparent in how he provided during these months of uncertainty.
While the doctors said there was nothing visibly wrong with my throat, they did suggest I go to speech therapy. The couple I was staying with is friends with a German lady in their neighborhood who was not only a speech therapist, but specialized in muscle tension dysphonia. She figured that tight neck and chest muscles where constricting my voice, possibly from bracing myself as I walked down rocky gravel paths and un-shoveled sidewalks that are everywhere in my village in Central Asia. She came over on several occasions and suggested different exercises to help. Such grace it was to have her close by and able to answer questions.
Grace upon grace was found in his provision of a language tutor. Some of you may remember that I needed to learn a different national language to live in my new location. After three months in the village, I still couldn’t find a tutor who would work with me daily. Yet here I was, now staying over 4,000 miles away from my home, and one of my friends is a native speaker of that language. She offered to teacher me daily, for free!
Still further provision was the fact that all of these things took place within walking distance of a team that is focused on the U people. I could spend part of everyday serving the work of seeing the U people interact with the Gospel. A home, a family, a tutor, help with my voice, and work among my people group: God’s goodness was so apparent in how he provided during these months of uncertainty.
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