The Interpreter

Medical mission to a foreign country has its challenges, and Vientiane Laos was no exception. The moment we got off the bus in Nong khai, northern Thailand , and boarded the van to Laos , the challenges confronted us in the form of one of our drivers who didn’t speak or understand English.

I wouldn’t take time to deliberate on the other challenges like eating spicy food or sharing one bed and blanket with a stranger. These challenges have their own paper to fill. What I want to tell is about the greatest barrier to the success of the mission – language. The Tower of Babel incident happened many thousand years ago and yet its reverberations are still felt and manifested today.

Let me tell you frankly. It is impossible for a Filipino who doesn’t know the Laos language to conduct a clinic in Laos . There is no way that the doctor or the patient could verbalize his intent in this situation, and gesturing will only compound the problem. I tried it many times when my interpreter had to take a break and my futile attempts came to the point of hilarious.

The day before we opened clinic at the Naxai Thong District Hospital , we were introduced to our interpreters who were mostly medical students and dental practitioners in Vientiane . A dentist who is also a Christian pastor was assigned to me and we bonded perfectly. The first day of our clinic was not flawless but yet it was a success. The following clinic day was already into full swing and he was nowhere to be found, and so a non-medical person was assigned to take his place. This new interpreter’s English was almost next to poor and so I had to spend more time breaching the language barrier than treating patients.

On the afternoon of the final clinic day our interpreters were already tired and bored and some of them had to leave for a seminar on discipleship. This left me and the two dentists without interpreters and so we had no other choice but to close shop. Well, that could have been my last sentence about interpreters but God had a situation prepared for the next day to show to me His power as He has done marvelously ever since I became a Christian.

Sunday was the last day of our mission to Laos and it had to be spent in giving our hosts, the Laos Christians, enough spiritual food to keep them in high spirits as they shared the gospel and endured the persecution. This was the job of Kuya Jim [an American] who had to keep to his laptop while the rest of the team toured the city.

The time for worship came and I entered the hall that was crammed with chairs. I saw Kuya Jim feverishly tapping on his computer and obviously concentrating on his sermon. He explained that he had to make last minute changes in his prepared piece and I could see him sorting out his PowerPoint files. I was quick to think that this guy was a procrastinator. He had all the time months back in the Philippines to write his sermon and a few minutes to start he was still at it? And yet I realized something that also previously happened to me. I realized that God was redirecting him towards a more fitting and appropriate presentation. Maybe some encouragement that a specific person present in the audience was in dire need of, and there Kuya Jim was obeying the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

That’s when my hair follicles started to tinge and my tear glands started to swell [I always feel this when I am certain that God is concocting another miracle for me]. I sat back and waited to be surprised.

Kuya Jim starts his sermon but something is amiss, he didn’t have an interpreter. This is unthinkable, I said to myself. The Laos audience couldn’t get the message without an interpreter, and I imagined that the most important part of our mission would go to waste. I approached some of our teammates and told them to pray that the Laos audience would somehow get the massage notwithstanding the situation.

I was imagining something really far out. Maybe Kuya Jim speaking in a different tongue or the PowerPoint showing Laos characters. About five to ten minutes into his sermon somebody who wasn’t previously introduced to us raised his hand, and Kuya Jim acknowledged him. He was volunteering to translate Kuya Jim’s sermon into Laos . Wow, this is great I thought. Now let’s see what this guy can do. The sermon resumes and the interpreter proves his worth, something I didn’t see in the past two days of our mission. He was not only translating very well, but even better than all our previous interpreters, and he was actually even adding some lines to make the presentation fit the Laos culture. I could imagine that he was sent by God to add the icing to Kuya Jim’s cake.

Here was the best interpreter for the mission, and God obviously saved the best for last. At the most crucial time that a good interpreter was needed, he was there. Kuya Jim’s sermon was done, and in my heart and in the hearts of our Laos brethren God’s word was stamped forever. Hallelujah!