Thanks be to God, I have finally begun language studies in an attempt to learn Telugu. As I was searching for a teacher last year a number of people (not our fellow pastors but others) told me I shouldn’t even try. I wouldn’t be able to do it. They of course no neither the power of God nor His love towards us, that though I am weak yet for the sake of His kingdom, perhaps He will grant even this. Some would of course consider it a great miracle if God were to give me directly the ability to speak in tongues as He did the apostles, but after a week of gagging and spitting and hacking I am certain it is an even greater demonstration of His power if He gives me the patience and fortitude to plow through it one syllable at a time.
My teacher is a man named Martin, who is a Christian though unfortunately not a Lutheran. He works at “Faith Track League” which is a track outfit out of Michigan. He is their distributor for the state of Andhra Pradesh. He is as excited that I am learning Telugu as I am that he is teaching me. He takes the bus 1 ½ hours each way to teach me for one hour. 1
There are of course many letters in the Telugu alphabet that simply have no business dealing with the Western tongue. Most recently we were going in circles with 
which is supposedly the Telugu equivalent of “V” so I would say “va” and he would say no “wa” so I would say “wa” and he would say no “va”. Obviously it must be somewhere in between but I have yet to figure out where.
Everything else is on the back burner as Telugu is a priority at this point. Unfortunately this year is way too short. I have about four months until the Mission helpers arrive. 2 At that point I will be busy with them and then it’s off back to the states and Africa, so I have to pack as much into these four months as I can.
The Telugu word at the top of this post is pronounced kanikaramu and means compassion.
Psalm 78:38 But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, And did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, And did not stir up all His wrath;
Exodus 33:19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
You know, on the plane on the flight to Nepal one woman when she found out I was a missionary to India responded, “Are we still doing that.” Well no actually WE obviously aren’t. But also another person said to me, “Why do people have to go around trying to prove their god is better than someone else’s?”
Well sorry to both of you, but when you have a God like this, (namely the two passages mentioned earlier) how can you possible settle for anything less? Or how can you remain silent? No God comes even close, not the gods of the Hindus, or the god of the Muslims, or the god of the Catholic Church, or the god of Rick Warren or Joel Olsteen. And I am not going to apologize, nor am I going to keep silent and pretend that all these gods are about the same, when the rest don’t even come close. I’m not even going to keep silent and let them pretend that their god is just as good, not when we have this to offer them?
I am afraid I didn’t really give that woman on the plane a good answer, Todd started talking to her and in my sinfulness I thought, “Ahh good I can enjoy the rest of the trip, Todd can deal with her.” May the Lord forgive my laziness and my cowardice. Here on this post it is easy, but may the Lord give us all the strength to stand up and say, “Yes my God is greater. Just look at what He did!”
To this end may He whose right arm no foe can overcome give you strength to stand firm in faith and love and confession against all oppression until the end and His glorious return, even so come Lord Jesus.
Romans 1:16,17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
– Matthew R. Ude
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