By Minda Kleman, Honduras
July-September 2012
As I approached a curve, I met a car coming at me head-on in my lane while passing another vehicle. I immediately moved to the right as far as I could on the narrow shoulder. As the car squeezed by, the driver beeped his horn twice as he passed me.
Thirty years ago, without much understanding of the culture, I would have thought or even said out loud, “What nerve to honk at me after nearly pushing me off the road!” But having lived a good number of years in Honduras, where car horns are liberally used, I have learned to discern the meaning of different kinds of beeps in different kinds of situations. On this occasion, it took me only a second to process that particular “Beep, beep!” I knew immediately that the driver was saying thanks for getting over. Of course, at the same time, I was thinking he should be saying, “Thank you for getting over."
As I meditated on what had happened, I was reminded of how important discernment is for a missionary. Not only do missionaries need discernment on the road, we need discernment in understanding all the words and actions of the people with whom we work. And just as important, we need discernment in our responses to each of them.
PRAY: Pray that WGM mission-aries, like Minda, will have discernment when sharing God’s love in a foreign culture.
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