June 8, 2016 was the day my family arrived in Hungary. Prior to arriving, I spent my free moments trying to memorize some of the language, so upon arrival, I would at least know how to greet people, tell them “please”, “thank you” and other polite phrases. I became quite comfortable with the greeting, “Jó napot kivánok,” and “Viszontlátásra,” when parting ways. I had “Tessék,” down while placing John and Romans Bibles into the hands of the people our second week when the Reaching Hungary team showed up. During the bilingual church services, I listened carefully to the Hungarian words followed by the English translation, trying to recognize at least one Hungarian word per sentence before the English translation was revealed to me. I could quickly recognize God, “Isten”, and family, “csalad” in the morning announcements. During the song service, I opened up the Hungarian hymnal and followed along, doing my best to mimic the Hungarian singers around me in their pronunciation of the words. I patted myself on the shoulder at my efforts to learning the language.
Then we sat in an English service translated into Hungarian.
One verse of the song “Rock of Ages Cleft for Me,” was sung in English.
And I started bawling like that was the first time I had heard the song.
Then I realized, the language the Lord speaks to me in is English. If He pricks at my heart to do something, He says to me of the lady in the store, “Go give her a tract,” and not “Menj, adj neki egy traktátust.”
I realized how these words do not speak to my heart:
Óh, csodás kegy, amely engem
Megmentett, mint roncsot!
Egykor én el voltam veszve
S vak is, de már látok.
The way these words do:
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
And then I realized if I understand best in my first language, English, how much more important is it to learn Hungarian so I can share Christ with the Hungarians in their first language, because that is the language that speaks to their hearts.
So I will spend my days studying Hungarian but must not forget to also spend time with the Lord in the language that He reaches my own heart with.
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