One last post for the day:)  I guess I’m trying to make up for the last week.

On Saturday Jen and I went to our friend-Pastor Juan Garcia’s– ordination.  He is our friends’ dad and he pastors a Spanish-speaking church in the Dearborn area, called Oasis de Benedicion.  It was an awesome time:

1.  We got to sit in a Spanish-speaking service for 3 hours.  That’s a long time for someone to hear very words in her own native language.  I know several words in Spanish and it helped me to understand a number of things said throughout the service, but most of the time I had very little ideas of what they were talking about.  Everyone should do that every now and then.  I think it would help people to be more sensitive to people that are in this country and who have had a hard time learning to speak English.  I think that to live in any country a person needs to learn as much of the language as possible to survive and to thrive.  But I have to admit that I get sick and tired of high and mighty Americans whose pride in their English language causes them to become angry at immigrants (legal or not) that don’t know our language too well.  Working in Hamtramck has heightened my awareness in this area, and it was great, experiencing what I did on Saturady.

2.  In the midst of not knowing what was going on half the time, I found it incredible that I still sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit moving and working.  (imagine that!)  My spiritual senses were heightened, as words didn’t mean as much in those moments, as my heart-and the hearts of those around me.  God showed up and…no one around me was speaking English!  🙂  I think sometimes people forget that God speaks every language.  He understands every language.  I don’t forget that, really, but it was certainly on my mind that day.

3.  In talking with Jen on the way home, I said that it probably meant a lot to Pastor Juan that we came to his ordination.  He’s a very humble man to begin with, and he loves people.  He loves talking ministry with me, and I with him.  As a man who was called into the ministry later on in life, he knows that there’s still so much to learn, and he depends on God everyday.  But for two white girls, who know very little Spanish, to spend three hours listening to a language that they didn’t know, all to honor him at his ordination, that probably meant a lot to him.  He’s worth it.  I know that he invests into our lives with prayer when he thinks of us.  He’s encouraging and well, Juan is just awesome!