Jon and Jen Quast Learning Language and Culture of Paraguay It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. However, either due to our internet connection or my lack of computer ability I am unable to upload a picture of Jamen holding our new daughter Jade. So I guess that means I’ll just have to write a news article at least a thousand words long :)
Maybe it would be cool to give an update on life/ministry (can the two be distinguished?) on each of us.
Jon. I have just started my linguistic training. Linguistics is basically just fancy talk for the process of taking sounds in a language and reducing them to writing. Sounds easy, but I assure you its not :) Many steps are required to get a useable written language. Right now we have been reviewing a process called Phonemic Analysis that we have studied previously in our training. We are now starting to dive in deeper into the subject, and it is definitely difficult. I wish I could be more descriptive of what is complicated with the process, but in order to do that I would have to talk about how symmetry would make you suspicious that a pre-nasalized bilabial stop would unite with it’s unmodified bilabial stop conterpart based in the pre-nasalized one’s limited distribution and also by the fact that a pre-nasalized alveolar stop united with its unmodified phone, but despite all this you have a contrast in identical environments making the two phones separate and not allaphones. I could say all that, but that may be confusing because it contains a lot of linguistic lingo. Just know that its a blast (for me) and also one of the most (if not the most) useful tools I will get before the mission field.
Jen. Jen is taking a Spanish course right now through a computer program we got for her. While we are not hoping that she is fluent in Spanish before we get to Paraguay, it would be nice for her to have some knowledge of the language so that we can start building friendships day one in Paraguay.
Jamen. Completely potty trained and can identify every letter in the alphabet except “v”. Is there anything this kid can’t do? He is truly amazing and we count it a blessing to have him every day. His favorite things to do these days is play with his matchbox cars (rolling them into things to watch the cool crashes) and also reading Dr. Seuss (or more accurately having Dr. Seuss read to him). He likes Jade, although most of the time he just kind of ignores her. At least he’s not jealous…yet.
Jade. Jade is very healthy despite our concerns early on with her big birthmark. She is over ten pounds already (geez) and likes to be awake. (especially when we like to be asleep) She is doing everything a kid her age should be doing. She is definitely the life of the party at our house and we thank God for this new blessing.
So as you can see life is going on for us as we continue to pursue tribal church planting in Paraguay. Praise God with us about our support level as it is the highest it has ever been since we started with New Tribes. We still have a long ways to go, and we are already praying for our partnership time coming up this summer. By God’s grace we will see an indigenous tribal church established in an unreached people group in Paraguay.
