Eleven church leaders sat in a bare classroom with no electricity or modern teaching gadgets. Despite the spartan conditions, the natural light from five-foot windows across an entire wall lit the place with a clear, bright presence. Armed with nothing but a whiteboard and their Bibles, the students worked their way through two different passages from the Gospel of Mark. One of TLI’s newest volunteers, a retired medical doctor and passionate lay teacher named Jim, jumped in the deep end to lead them through these texts. Over the course of the day, I watched as Jim experienced many of the joys and frustrations of teaching overseas. One big frustration is trying to communicate across the language barrier. It was Jim’s first time teaching with an interpreter and I could see a look of desperation on his face more than once. You can easily feel in the dark—completely unsure if the points you are making are the ones the student is hearing. If your interpreter is struggling on his/her end, it can feel nearly impossible. And yet just before lunch, as Jim brought his lesson on Mark 2:1–12 (the healing of the paralytic) to a conclusion, the students rose to their feet in a standing ovation that turned into a passionate group prayer of praise and thanksgiving—not so much for Jim and his teaching, although he had communicated well, but for the amazing truth that Jesus forgives our sins by faith and he can even prove it by giving a lame man legs.
