Sometimes I am reminded that the world is a little larger than what I usually see. Most of my language barriers, for example, are fairly minor. Like the other day, I was listening to a 4-year-old classmate of mine explain to me that she had left a brown purse in the preschool Sunday school room and wanted to know if I had seen it.
Well, if only the words had been that simple. As she tried to express just that message, I concentrated on her face, watched her hand motions, and excitedly came to the conclusion, “Yes! I saw that purse!” And I gave it to her.
Language is a wonderful thing. Conversation is a connector between people, and sometimes between countries. Richard Alford knows quite a bit about this concept. As many of you know, I post stories from time to time about People I Met at Church. This time, I had a chance to talk with Richard about his experiences improving cross-cultural connections, especially by helping visitors to this country improve language skills. Hope you’ll take a look at his story here: http://minnielamberth.com/richardstory.