Working on Spanish

My Spanish continues to improve, bit by bit. Last month I spent an evening at Campestre Hispana, or Spanish Campmeeting at Oregon Conferece. I really enjoyed singing contemporary worship songs in Spanish, with the words up on the screen. My brain mostly processed whether I should know the word or not, not what each word actually meant. But it was really powerful to experience that, singing with hundreds of other worshipers who serve the same God.

Last Sabbath I visited Vancouver Spanish church. This was definitely a more intimidating experience, because there were only maybe a hundred people at the service, and there was no way to hide my poor Spanish. But they were very gracious and showed great hospitality. I found I could follow the general flow of the various presenters at Sabbath School and church, and was able to find a few of the scripture references as they were announced.

There were several kids there who I know from school, classmates of my kids. It was fun going up to them during the greeting time and seeing their shocked look as I said, “Feliz Sábado!” (happy Sabbath).

I left church with my head hurting. But here’s my new mantra: Si mi cerebro no duele, entonces no estoy intentando lo suficiente. If my head doesn’t hurt, I’m not trying hard enough.