News & Stories

The Language of Love

June 1, 2007

     Missionaries in foreign language study may think that their ministry has not begun because they are not yet on their assigned field. But Alliance missionary Renée Valach recently learned how God is using her time in Albertville, France.  
     Renée is in French language study in preparation for ministry at Bongolo Hospital in Gabon, West Africa. One day, a woman from Renée’s church approached her. “She told me it is a privilege to have missionaries here,” says Renée, who had thought that language study students didn’t contribute much to the congregation because of the difficulty in communication. Renée sometimes serves as a translator for three- to six-year-old Sunday school students who speak English only. “I didn’t think what I do is much of a contribution.”  
     The woman related how a missionary told her mother and her about Jesus when she was young. “It was a little seed that was planted,” Renée says. Years later, the woman asked Jesus to come into her life. “The woman was baptized last week. It reminded me that, even with my limited language skills, God can still use me to bless others. I may say something now which one day will sprout.”