Our second week of language learning is well underway and we've been trying to practice Acoli in everyday conversation. Yesterday, we went to the market to pick up a few things (Lawor ceto wa i cuk kwanyo jami ma nok nok). The market is a great place to practice what we have been learning and it always seems to brighten someones day. We were looking to buy a charcoal stove (it takes about 3 hours to cook beans and uses a lot of gas when using our gas stove), and found one just outside the market. Tim was attempting to use the acoli name for charcoal stove (cigiri), but was confusing the pronunciation. The lady selling it seemed as if she was having a difficult time understanding what he was trying to say.
Finally, Tim asked her, "What is the name for this?"
She looked at us like we were crazy and responded very slowly, "Charcoal stove."
We all laughed when she explained she wasn't from the area and didn't speak Acoli.
We are have language lessons on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays for an hour and a half each day. It's amazing how only having 4.5 hours of lessons a week can add up when you are making time to study and practice speaking. So far, we have been studying the following things: places, transportation, pronouns, time, colors, prepositions of location, numbers and household items.
Our new teacher is teaching a number of other missionaries in Gulu through a language immersion program. Within each lesson or LAP (Learner Acquisition Program), we learn themed vocabulary, sentence structure and speaking. Learning the local language is crucial to the ministry we feel the Lord leading us too. We've been talking with other missionaries who say they regret not making time to learn the language when they first began. Our goal is to be able to minister from the Acoli Bible and speak the language fluently. It's ministry in itself to be able to communicate through the local language and we know the Lord will give us the patience and learning ability to tackle this goal.
