Angels Teach What They Know

by Charlles Nunes
(Angra dos Reis, RJ, Brazil)

There are many ways of expressing true friendship. One of them is by serving those around us.

Some years ago, I met a young man called 'Cowdell'. We were both serving on a mission in Brazil. We met lots of interesting people, and did our best to learn with them.

His influence still remains with me, as he touched my life by the way he served others. Though we spoke Portuguese from morning to night, one day he simply decided that I should learn English...

And I accepted the challenge. ;o)

We started getting up before 5.30 every day. We read the Scriptures aloud. While he read in English, I followed along with my Portuguese version under the English one. When it was my turn, I tried to imitate his pronunciation.

Within 3 months, I was able to express my thoughts in a new language. Since then, it has opened so many doors and given me more opportunities than I could ever dream of at that time.


One More Precious Gift

On our last Christmas together, he gave me those same scriptures we had read months before and wrote these words on the first page:

"Dear Friend - you usually make old things look newer. That's why I'm giving you my own scriptures. I hope you may keep renewing your life time after time with Our Lord's teachings..."

Nowadays, I am still learning with his gifts. Every time I am reading those books and see his remarks on the margins, I think of the remarks he left in my life.

Besides helping me to learn a new language, he inspired me to follow a career. I don't know if he thought about it at that time but I didn't.

To pay forward what he did for me, I have been doing my best to help people learn languages since then be it English or Portuguese.

Married, and with 4 kids to raise, I feel privileged to have something more than a job. This teaching-related career makes language learning a priority in my routine. It is something that I ponder, study and enjoy. Somehow, my mission still goes on...

Because an angel showed me the way.