How's It Goin

Nehemiah 1: 1 – 11

Hey, How’s it goin’??

1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, 2 that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” 4 So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. 5 And I said: “I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, 6 please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. 7 We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. 8 Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; 9 but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ 10 Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. 11 O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” For I was the king’s cupbearer.

What do you call a person who can speak three languages? (tri-lingual) What then do you call a person who can speak fluently two languages? (bi-lingual) Lastly what do you call a person who speaks only one language? (American)

When I first went on a mission trip to a Latin country I didn’t understand how important greetings were when meeting new people. I used to greet people by saying, “Hola,” which nobody else does.

The result of saying this is that people would think that I didn’t speak their language and would ask my friends questions about me.

I was annoyed by this, but I realized it was my own fault that they treated me like that because I didn’t greet them in a way that they were expecting in their culture language. Once I started saying things like, “E ai cara, beleza” (a popular greeting in Brazil) people started treating me somewhat like a normal person.

Because greetings are a part of every conversation, it is important to know how to use them properly and with confidence. It’s easy to become fluent with their use because you have an opportunity to practice them every time you talk to someone.

Over the course of a day you can practice dozens of times until you have achieved total confidence in their use.

The first moments of an interaction you have with someone are crucial because they set the tone for the conversation to follow. If you start a conversation doubting yourself and unsure of what you’re saying this will affect your performance for the rest of the conversation.

But if you can effortlessly use the right greetings then you will feel confident during the rest of the conversation.

It’s important that you feel confident when greeting someone because they will quickly form a first impression of you that may be hard to change later. If you greet someone with confidence, they will feel more comfortable with you and will form a positive first impression.

If you stumble around and aren’t sure of what you’re doing, they may misjudge you and speak to you differently than you’d like.

In the United States we have different ways of speaking. So, it is important to research how the citizens of the area you are visiting talk.

To gain confidence and control during conversations here is a list of greetings that you can use.