The Translation Booth

The sign above the glass says KOREAN. Bill is inside, headphones on, microphone in front of him, translating simultaneously between Korean and English at the National Prayer Breakfast.

He had arrived in Korea not speaking the language. Now he was the voice in the booth — the bridge between two rooms full of people who could not otherwise understand each other.

This is what four years of language school, immersion, and refusal to give up looks like.