Yo Hablo Espanol!

I remember back to my tenth and eleventh grade Spanish classes when my lack of any foreseen purpose in comprehending, speaking or writing in a foreign language produced the same grades as I had care.  Although I passed both years, my greatest foreign language accomplishments during that time went no further than my ability to turn the Spanish rendition of ‘The Pledge of Allegiance’ into a way of pretending I was angry with someone, as I would yell, “Yo prometo leatad a la bandera de los Estados Unidos…” all the way through until I produced either laughs or fearful stares from my audience.  (Impressive and brilliant, I know). 

The same jokester that you read above is also the Spanish interpreter for 60 Days Walking.

What happened? I found purpose.

After graduating high school, I took my first ever mission trip out of the country.  The trip was nine days that our team spent in a rural village in the northwestern mountains of Guatemala.  I had very little memory of my Spanish at that time, but during this short trip, something clicked and my desire to learn showed itself.  Eight months later I moved back to this same village for a summer, immersed in the language and culture of a people group that I had come to care for greatly.  This trip was the pinnacle of my Spanish learning, and also the reason that I can serve to interpret today.

Lives and activities conducted without purpose have very little care to develop.  Even when placed in situations that insist we learn, our growth is slowed by our unwillingness to see potential behind every new lesson, idea, or way of thinking.  It takes humility to mature.  When we look down on potential areas of growth, we often consider ourselves greater than the lesson or teacher themselves and our minds convince us that, ‘there can be nothing learned here,’ and we miss out on great opportunities.  But we have the choice to see life and its teachers for so much more. 

Believe that in every situation or hardship, an opportunity to mature only waits to be seen.

See and appreciate that everyone you meet knows something that you do not, and speak to them in an expectation that you will learn.