When I was appointed to go on a short-term mission to Mumbai in India before 2020 began, I was half excited and half worried because of the pressure that I had to learn Hindi. Wondering if I really had to learn Hindi, I asked a few members if I could just speak in English.
However, they all replied that I might have difficulties unless I understand Hindi. After all, I had to learn Hindi, but Hind alphabets seemed like a drawing, making me confused. Hindi has many difficult grammatical elements to learn, such as masculine nouns, feminine nouns, and singular and plural distinctions. In addition, unlike Korean language which has 14 consonants, Hindi has 31 consonants including the sounds that are not found in Korean. For example, there are four Hindi consonants of which the pronunciations are similar to the Korean consonant ‘ㄷ (d),’ but since the sounds are so slightly different, it is difficult to choose the correct Hindi consonant only by listening to it. It was not an easy language to learn at all. I got on the plane after learning just simple expressions such as “Hello,” “God bless you,” and “Thank you.” It made me feel more burdened.
When we arrived at the Mumbai airport and went through the entry procedure, it was close to 3 am. We were leaving the airport, exhausted. Then, one of the team members looked outside the airport and shouted with an excited voice.
“There are so many members!”
We were all startled. How could the local members come together for us this early at dawn? Since our check-in was delayed, they had to wait even two hours longer than expected.
“We love you!”
“Welcome to India!”
Although we had lived far from each other, we were definitely one family. Otherwise, how could our first meeting be touching this much? We were so happy to receive the banner they had sincerely made and the postcards with the message of encouragement. Suddenly, one member came and said,
“Aane ke liye dhanyavad (Thank you for coming).”
“Excuse me? Dhanyavad?”
I could not understand what the local members were saying, making eye contacts and holding each one of our team members. I smiled while repeating the words I understood, but I had no idea if it was correct. I tried conversing with them in English, but a sudden silence fell and the members looked confused. Only then did I regret.
‘I should have studied a little harder in Korea. Why did I sleep in the plane without studying it more?’
I regretted again and again. With a faint hope that my Hindi speaking could improve while staying there, I waited for the bright morning.
Fortunately, some members whom I went preaching with could speak English. Making up for my poor Hindi through English, we could deliver the words of the Bible together. So I was a little relieved, thinking that there would be no problem if all things would go this way. However, my relief was broken to pieces on the Sabbath day. As the worship service was held in Hindi, I could neither understand the prayer and the sermon nor open the Bible. When the local members greeted me in Hindi between worship services, what I could say was only “Pita Mata, dhanyavad (Thanks to Father and Mother),” and “Parameshvar aapko ashish de (God bless you).”
Then I keenly realized why I had to learn Hindi. Language is a channel for communication. Although I had so many words to tell them including Mother’s words of blessing, realization I had while preparing the short-term mission, and heartwarming comfort, I could not deliver the grace of God I had received that I was very sorry to them.
‘What am I doing now? I came all the way here to deliver Mother’s love.’
These thoughts weighed heavily on my mind. With the determination to start delivering God’s love in Hindi at least from then, I opened the Hindi textbook, which was in my bag. When there was something I didn’t understand, I asked the Korean member, who was carrying out the long-term mission in India. I could improve in speaking faster than I thought.
“Aaj ham acchaa phal praapt karen (Let’s bear good fruit, today)!”
“Hamare saath svarg ke raajya men jaaen (Let’s go to Heaven together)!”
Though I said a word, stuttering, the members liked it very much. They opened their eyes wide with surprise, smiled at me, clapping, and gave a thumbs-up sign, saying, “Excellent job!” Finally, I could speak what I really wanted to say to them.
“Mata parameshvar aap se bahut prem karti hai (Heavenly Mother loves you so much).”
Both I the speaker and the members who listened had tears. I was poor at speaking the language, but there was no problem in conveying my sincerity.
While struggling with the language problem, the local members, who participated in the short-term mission schedule, looked great. India has 15 official languages. For me, I feel dizzy even at the thought, but the members in Mumbai speak Hindi as their basic language and also speak English, Gujarati, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali, and Telugu. When they go preaching, they deliver the words of the Bible in the language of the listener. At first, I thought they could naturally speak in other languages while living in India for long. Only after studying Hindi could I realize that nothing can be done by itself. Fathoming how much effort all the members would have made to do like that, I had a lump in my throat.
Also, I thought about how many members have put their efforts and were sacrificed to preach the gospel to the whole world. Thanks to that, we are now able to preach quickly and joyfully while walking on the good path. Thanks to God’s help and the members’ efforts, our short-term mission team, too, could reap the precious fruit despite our poor language skills.
Heavenly Father came down to this earth to save His children and preached the secret of the gospel in words that we could understand. Heavenly Mother, too, gives the words of blessing to each and every member of the Overseas Visiting Group, who visit Korea, in their own language, and tells them that She loves them. The members in India were following these footsteps of God by learning even minor languages in order to deliver the news of salvation to everyone with earnestness to save more souls.
God allowed me the blessing of directly hearing the voice of God, who came to Korea at the ends of the earth in the east, and understanding God’s words fully. At least from now, I will study the foreign languages hard to convey the love and grace I received to all our heavenly family members dispersed around the world. Of course, I must not just improve my language skills. Studying the Bible diligently, I will realize God’s love and put it into practice as well. For what makes the nations of the earth listen to what we deliver and come into the truth is not our language skills but God’s love contained in the message.