God speaks our language

Sunday was a day of praise and celebration. Nancy got up early and cooked for all of us. She made plain, banana and apple cinnamon pancakes and we enjoyed them very much. Pastor Gregorio told us that the morning service would be pretty much like ours back home. It would start at 11:00 a.m. and go for about an hour. The evening service would last about an hour too, but it would be less formal and more laid back.

We arrived at the church in time to catch the tale end of Sunday School. The church has a very active education ministry. They have classes for all the kids as well as a class for young adults and adults. The only difference is that they don't seem to need to gather around the coffee pot before going to class.

Worship actually began about fifteen minutes late. Sunday School classes broke up and people began drifting in. The worship leader took his place and offered a short prayer and then invited us to sing. Almost immediately I recognized the first song even though the words were flashed up front in Spanish. It was "Lord I Lift Your Name on High." That put us all at ease and made us feel at home.

After singing together each of the Sunday School classes were invited up to share the verse of the day. It was really cute. Every class participated including the Adult Class. Mercy told us that each class will either tell a story, sing a song or read a verse. The worship really involved people of all ages and I would guess that they had over 120 people in this small church building.

There was more singing and time seemed to fly by. Finally about 12:15 p.m. Sheldon was invited up to preach. He was introduced by our ABC missionaries Rick and Mercy Barnes. One of the leaders in the church, Marco Maya served as his translator. I have to admit that it was great to hear English spoken and Sheldon made us proud. All week long we had been immersed in Spanish at the church as we ministered to the kids. Even throughout this service we listened on in Spanish, picking out words here and there. When we sang, "what a Friend We have in Jesus" in Spanish, I think we were all moved at how music can bring us together in wonderful ways. During the service David helped us to prepare to pieces of special music. We sand "I love You Lord" in English and then finished the service with "God Be With You Till We Meet Again" in Spanish.

When church got out at 12:45 p.m. it reminded me of home. The people came out renewed and with smiles of joy as they gathered outside the church. It was clear that even though we were separated by culture and language, we were united in our love of God.

Cal