favorite? pt 2

The rest of what I told Christine at lunch is roughly as follows:

I felt very privileged to have had the opportunity to speak spanish in Perú. I've worked at it for years and it's come in handy many times, tho possibly never so much as last week. I know that some people on our team got really frustrated by not speaking the language, and I was able to at least help out a little bit with translating, to help them connect.

I also felt that I connected so much to Pastor Arturo and Miguel, Carlos in Cusco, and others because I was able to speak with them. There were times when Pastor Arturo wanted to ask people what they thought of being down there and what they would take away to further their walk with God, and he asked me to help him have these discussions, so it was like I got to eavesdrop in these cool conversations and learn so much from this man who was always so quiet and reserved.

I also got to talk to Carlos after we had given him gifts of thanks for guiding us through Cusco and Macchu Picchu; his broken english didn't make for a very coherent thank you and goodbye. He told me that he was very excited to have a large group of Americans (he had only had 1 or 2 at a time up to that point) and he loved that we were down there to help and serve. It blessed him very much to know that we served the same God and if we ever (or our friends) came back to Cusco we would have everything that we would possibly need, he and others would gladly provide it. It made a lot more sense the second time around. I hadn't realized that he was a believer (I must have just skimmed through that email), and just hearing that from him endeared to me even more.

Ever since high school I have felt that there was a reason I was learning spanish, that God was going to use it in my life. Even tho I still wonder why on earth I have a Bachelor's degree just in spanish and not something more "useful", I can see that God has been directing my steps. I pray that I can continue to be more willing to use my abilities to glorify him, and hopefully seek out more opportunities to do so, not just waiting for my next chance to get out of the country.