Love Across Language

I recently purchased my first bilingual Bible. Ever since I began studying Spanish this past summer, I have been enamored with the beauty of the language. I had a Spanish Bible, and whenever I found a verse that touched my heart, I would look it up in Spanish to see how it translated. The Holy Spirit simply abounds through God’s Word, and learning to study His word in Spanish blesses my Spanish language acquisition, as well as my love of His word. How incredible is it to call Jesus “La Brillante Estrella de la Manana” (The Bright Morning Star) or to hear Jesus say, “Permanenzcan en mi amor” (Remain in my love)?

Now with my bilingual Bible I can engage the heart of God in my native language and the language I am learning simultaneously. I love going back and forth between the two, seeing truth weave itself into the words. Initially, the two languages seem so different from one another. But in Christ, the truth transcends language.

“Yo amo Dios” and “Jesus te ama”—some of the first words I learned from my bilingual Bible. “I love God” and “Jesus loves you”—simple phrases with profound implications. With those few words, God laid a foundation for true communication with the people here.

I recently taught the students in my English classes the familiar Sunday school song, “Jesus Loves Me.” When I told them what the words meant, their faces lit with joy. As we continued to talk of the love of God, I heard a child cry, “Dios ama todo del mundo!” God loves the whole world! The same words He has been inscribing on my heart were there again, and I marveled at the way God has taught little children to give Him praise.

Those sweet words have been riding on my heart and God has been showing me why they are there. A couple of weeks ago, I was visiting an orphanage where over the past two months, I have been getting to know the kids better. One seventeen year old girl has been particularly glad of my company when I visit. I didn’t know much of her story before that day, but I knew she hadn’t been in the orphanage long, and she’d come from a hard life.

On my last visit, she started opening up to me—telling me how she was sad and wanted to leave. She tried to convey to me something she wanted but she couldn’t get. I didn’t quite understand, and when I questioned one of the directors of this orphanage, she told me that this young lady had been very involved in drugs. I guessed that was what she wanted, and was trying to ask me for.

I’m not qualified to counsel teenagers with drug problems, and my Spanish is still too limited to hold very complicated conversations even if I was. But the words God has taught me were rolling around in my heart and head. God gave me a beautiful opportunity to share them with this young lady on that day. I told her as adamantly as I could in Spanish, “God loves you. Jesus is better than anything else. Love Jesus!” I repeated these words, and asked if I could pray for her, broken and nonsensical as my prayer might have been. It wasn’t really mine at all, for it was in the name of Jesus, the King who holds her life and mine in His mighty hand. I don’t know how He’ll grow my relationship with my little friend, and how He will choose to use it. But I’m so thankful that the few words I could convey were the most important things she needs to know in this life.

Sometimes the language barrier can be frustrating. Many times I’ve been misunderstood and misunderstood others. God continually calls me to lay down my pride and my need to communicate perfectly. He calls me just to take hold of opportunities with the tools He’s given me now. His grace is sufficient for me, and if the only thing I can ever tell someone in Spanish is “Jesus loves you,” then that is more than enough. And when I am flustered and wondering what this whole journey is for in my own life, those same words are the only assurance I need. Jesus me ama. Jesus loves me. Really, what else matters in the end?

blog numero uno: fruit

Buenos tardes and dios te bendiga! Spanglish has become my new best friend in the month I have spent living and working here in Ciudad Juarez, as an intern with IFM! I am doing a six-month internship, seeing where God wants to lead and how He wants to use my time here! I live and teach at a Christian school in a colonia called Felipe Angeles. I am the English teacher to all the kids first through fourth grades and it has been an adventure for sure! Coming almost straight from spending a month learning Spanish in Guadalajara, and jumping into teaching English to Spanish-speaking children (it was hard enough teaching English in a middle school in the United States!)—it’s all been one opportunity after another to rely on the Lord. I love my kids, and I love the school I’m working with, as God is using it to break His kingdom into a community that needs Him badly. All the parents there know it is a school based on Christ, whether they follow Christ or not. And though their children get to attend the school for free, all the parents must be involved, and thus are hearing the word of the Lord and surrounded by people at the school who know and love him..

It has been an amazing few weeks with my Lord. I’ve been blessed to spend time with different people in a variety of ways. I’ve gotten to know the community in which I live better through helping with our new store on the school grounds, and I started an adult English class. This was a wacky experience, but one that made me watch through my own eyes what God was doing. The afternoon of the first adult English class, I was feeling very under the weather, had NO idea what to expect as far as what kind of people would come or how many, and I knew I wanted this class to go beyond just teaching English for the kingdom of God, but I didn’t know how. With all these weaknesses in me, all I could say to Jesus was, "Welp! I sure don’t know what I’m doing, but you do! Here ya go!" and hand it all to Him. And praise His name! He did it.

I say I didn’t know what to expect, but in reality, I did have a few expectations, the biggest being that not many people would show up. I thought, eh, maybe five or something. I boldly made 15 copies of a packet, laughing at my own optimism. I should’ve known better. Sure enough at 3 o’clock when the class was supposed to start, no one was there. Yet slowly but surely people began to trinkle in…a few more…a few more…until finally there were too many people for the classroom we were in and we had to move to the cafeteria! And then, they still kept coming! These are the moments that would normally cause me to fly into flip out mode. And yet, calm was my companion and I taught as only I knew how: by being goofy and expressive. People laughed and spoke their English phrases when I asked them, so I guess that was something! And the same amount of people returned this past week, many of them asking why I was only teaching an adult class once a week!

Teaching English is great and all, and I pray these people can use what they might learn from this class to bless their lives. But I am asking God for relationship opportunities through this door and all the others. I am amazed to see how many teenage and pre-teenage girls are coming to the adult class, when they are exactly who I have a heart for in ministry. I get all enthused thinking of possibilities talking to them about Jesus, having movie nights together, just letting them know I am here to be a friend and mentor to them. Mostly I want to tell them that their lives can be different than all they see around them. They don’t have to follow the cycle of friends and siblings they might have seen before them. They don’t have to latch on to some older guy to find fulfillment. Jesus Christ is the ultimate fulfillment. EVERYONE needs to hear this, but Jesus has put it on my heart to express it to adolescent girls. He keeps giving me such awesome opprotunities to be with them! I am blessed to be able to visit Casa de Refugio weekly, which is a rehab center for girls who’ve been runaways, had problems with drugs, and more. Also in orphanages I have worked with over the past few weeks, already bonds are being formed with, yet again, the adolescent girls. I love teaching them, talking to them, listening to them. I don’t know what the Lord wants to bring of all this!

It’s easy to get discouraged after even just one short month and think, "What good am I really doing? What if after my six months here are done, I don’t see that anyone has been brought to the Lord? What if none of these hopes in my heart come to pass?" But that is where the word of God comes in. He is so good at breaking His truth in! One of the many things I love about Him, I must say.

Check it out. In John 15, Jesus says, "Remain in me and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them, WILL produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." Wow. Okay, now, there are several things I love about these few words. First of all, it puts things in perspective. Who’s the one in control here? Who’s the one making the magic happen? It is Jesus! It is ALL Him! I have one job: remain in Him. You know what is so super about my job? I love it! I love remaining in Christ! To me it means talking to Him, singing with Him, hanging out with Him, listening to His voice through His word, laughing with Him, crying with Him, sharing my love for Him with others. It’s living inside His will and presence—THE BEST PLACE TO BE! So, that is my privilege and my job in this life. But there is this aching inside me to do good on this earth, whether in Ciudad Juarez, or Colorado, or Madagascar or the moon (wait, I said this earth)—I want to know that my being somewhere has made a positive impact in the lives of others for the kingdom of God. And this can put a lot of pressure on! It’s easy to evaluate every day and try to figure out if I’ve been effective—if I have been "bearing fruit". But then there’s His word again! Reminding me, all I need to focus my heart and mind on is loving, serving and remaining in HIM! Then, and only then, He said, my life WILL bear fruit! Not, maybe it’ll bear fruit. Not, could be fruit, could be vegetables. Not, if you’re lucky, there will be a little fruit. No! I remain in Jesus, and my life will bear fruit! I may not always recognize it for what it is, and others might not either. All I know is I trust my Lord, and if He said it, it is true. So I am going to keep doing what I love: living in Him and loving Him. And only through that communion will my life truly mean something and make an impact in this world.

I see this awesome truth in lives of those around me. When I’m with someone who is focused on loving the Lord, their life touches and affects me profoundly. And they may not even know it! Yesterday I went to church with 45 kids from an orphanage called Hogar del Ninos. On the way back in the van, "Shout to the Lord" came on the radio in Spanish. I had a little seven year old girl sitting on my lap, and as soon as the song started, she began singing along. She was moving her hands, part of a dance to the song she had learned. She wasn’t performing for anyone, but just enjoying sharing the moment with her Lord. I listened to her sweet little voice and was just so thankful for the reminder of the way God makes Himself known, and teaches children to give Him praise. I don’t think she was even aware I was listening and watching her. But that is often the case. We don’t even know who may be listening and watching. Yet someone always is. Just as the Lord used her worship of Him to encourage and bless me, so will He use all our lives to bless others as we remain in Him! Wow. It’s a sweet life indeed.

Esperanza en Dios

Love Across Language

blog numero uno: fruit