Reactions of the Heart

Yesterday, my friend Nara (the woman I met at the UPS counter one year ago, this month) and I went on an errand.  We were searching for a fabric store so I could get a little piece of fabric (50 X 50 cm) to create a corner for our fitted bed sheet since we have to "enlarge" that sheet to fit our new apartment's ultra-huge bed!  It was Sunday at 6 p.m. and the fabric stores we found had all closed.  We walked for 40 minutes on this search.  However, I DID get a strip of elastic for a mere 300 Tugriks (about 24 cents) to help with the project. 

Why am I writing about a seemingly non-descript event?  Well, I'm glad you asked....

As we walked on the busy sidewalk, we were talking, exchanging words in English and Mongolian.  We were enjoying our "tutoring" of one another and very absorbed in each other, not our surroundings.  As we talked, we were facing forward, but one moment, I turned to look Nara in the eye.  Out of my peripheral vision, I saw a man right up close to my back, in fact, he was digging in my backpack and I hadn't felt a thing!  Yikes!  I whipped around and caught his hand.  Our eyes met, and he quickly turned away and went slinking away in embarrassment and defeat.  My heart was angry with him.  I couldn't think of a single thing to say to him in Mongolian.  As Nara and I checked my bag to make sure nothing was missing, we talked about what I could've said to him.  "Yamar buduuthlek yume bey!" would be, "What a rude person you are!"  I practiced it a few times out loud with Nara and she laughed, "Ahh, that's perfect!" 

Since then, I've thought about the event over and over.  I have thought, "How could I have been a light that shined in a dark place?"  Even though my human side really wanted to chew him out and make him "lose face" (be embarrassed in front of the crowd), I have also been thinking of how I should've responded.  I've also thought about how my reactions show my heart more than my actions.  How life-changing it could be if I'd respond with "Yesus chamdt hartai" ("Jesus loves you").  I need to be prepared.  Reactions in a foreign language are more difficult than in my mother tongue, because the words don't come naturally...they must be thought out...how do I put them together?  And that's hard to do in a split second.  However, I'll be rehearsing a different phrase than I originally intended.