You Win Some You Lose Some

One of the challenges of living in another country is buying food. Some things are pretty easy to discern, apples are apples no matter where you live. They do have water apples here. They look like a shriveled read pear but alas Granny Smiths are Granny Smiths wherever you go and you use them to bake an apple pie. There are other uses for Granny Smith apples but none are as good as an apple pie. Rice looks like rice. Beans look like beans, their “musical nature” is also present in Latin America.

However, there are somethings that are not similar. Spices are new and have different names. There are some similarities but more differences. Product descriptions are all in Spanish which we are learning. The most difficult is meat. The cuts of meat are much different and the names of fish differ between Latin American countries. For instance, the name for a fish here in Costa Rica is small type of snapper whereas in Mexico it is an eel so using Google Translate is no help.

Then there are things without names. This comes when we go to the market. It is typically busy and very few signs. We ran into a bit of a problem when we tried out a new stand that was selling leafy items. Katie wanted a go at it so she ventured into the ladies stall. She was surrounded by leafy green edible plants and people. The sales lady talks fast so Katie did her best to understand. She returned with a couple of bags of green leafy things. We came home, soaked them, spun them (in a salad spinner to decrease the drying time), and stored them. While I was looking at the items, I asked Katie what she got. Well, what she thought she bought was not what she bought. She did successfully buy some spinach but failed on the arugula. We now have an immense amount of mint. I mean we have a lot of mint.

I’m not sure what will come of it. I can’t drink anymore mint tea and she’s not allowed to sneak anymore of it into a salad. There is nothing like brushing your teach as you eat a salad let me tell you! So we will chalk that one up to a loss.

Our motto grocery shopping is, “You win some you lose some.” While Katie’s story was more recent, the first week here I attempted to buy some sausage. I had just had some delicious chorizo. So I bought two different types. The first was a Costa Rican chorizo and the other came as a package in a long sausage link with red lining. The first night I cooked part of the big link and one of the Costa Rican chorizos. I was so excited to taste them, if they were anything like what I had earlier I had hit the jackpot. Well instead of hitting the jack pot, I swung and missed horribly. The Costa Rican chorizo was the worst sausage I had ever had in my life. It was slimy, bland, and bad all at the same time. It was worst sausage I had ever eaten until I took a bite of the other one. What was in the nice large link of sausage? Bologna. Yep, you’re every old day bologna. Now if you are a person who like bologna two things. First, I feel sorry for you. Food is so good and meat tastes so great there is no reason to put it in your mouth. Secondly, I bet if you eat it, you probably don’t eat a two inch thick piece of it. You probably mask it with mayonnaise, lettuce, cheese, mustard, bread, or some combination therein. It was a big letdown, far worse than drinking unsweet tea when you are expecting sweet tea. So we still have some mint in our refrigerator, we got rid of all that sausage.

While we do win some and lose some, you only do if you play the game or in our case, go to the market. But if this is all about nasty sausage and enormous amount of mint I have wasted your time. However, I think about us sharing the gospel. The motto is true, you will win some (to Christ) and lose some (they are already lost) but you can only win someone to Christ if you step out and share the gospel. As a comfort to you, remember sharing the gospel is not about your convincing someone. No one has ever been won to Christ because you came with polished arguments and defending the gospel like a seasoned pro. People come to Christ because God draws them to himself. How does he do this? Through your faithful obedience and by your stepping out in faith by sharing the gospel. Sharing the gospel is primarily your bragging on God and what he has done in Christ. The gospel is the good news. The good news is that no one is too lost to save, no sin is too great, and everyone is welcome. So get out there and share the gospel!

So I’m learning español. People ask how it is going. To be honest, I do not know enough to tell you. In class, I do not understand enough to ask questions! There are some people in class that are having complete conversations and I am completely lost. I’m not without hope in the process. God has called me and he will equip me. This doesn’t mean I don’t need to study it just means he is with me when I am.

There are three ways to say give a demonstrative pronoun in Spanish. They are éste, ése, áquell. These are masculine forms. For you grammar types, there are also masculine plural (éstos, ésos, aquéllos), feminine/plural (ésta/s, ésa/s, áquella/s), there is also a neuter form (ésto, éso, áquello). Now that I have satisfied the grammar nerd in all of you and figured out how to do accents on letters, which was no small feat. Let me tell you why this is comforting to me.

In English we use, “this” or “that” as demonstrative pronouns. These words represent things that are in our hand (this) or things that are far away (that). In español, it is different. They add a different degree of distance. They use éste, ésta, and ésto for something at hand. They use ése, ésa, and ésto for something close but not in hand. They use áquell, áquella, and áquello for something far away.

So while studying this for class, I began to think about how there are some people close at hand. I can talk to them on a daily basis, get to know them, and share the love of Christ with them. There are others who are a little farther away. I may see them occasionally or I may speak to them on social media. There is yet another group of people, those who are far away. Those people, I will never meet. I will never get to know them. They are too far. Even though someone may be too far for me to reach, they are not beyond the reach of God. God is omnipresent. He is everywhere. No one can hide from him.

It makes me think about the people Sentinelese people. They are uncontacted. They live on an island in the Bay of Bengal. When contact has been attempted they have shot arrows and killed anyone who comes close. For this reason, India has imposed a three mile buffer zone around the island. The Sentinelese people are too far for me but not for God. I’m praying that these far off people would be open to the Gospel and those who are far off would be brought near.