a fresh encounter

I just got home from attending a Spanish-speaking home-church service with Trey, and I have to say it was a very cool experience... A friend of ours from church has been leading this worship service in his home every week, which grew out of his heart to reach his fellow brothers and sisters in the Latino community here in Wilmington. As we are preparing to go to Guatemala, Trey and I decided to go see what it was like, also in hopes to later bring the team with us at some point. We think it will be great for re-entry just as much as pre-trip, to get back home and have an opportunity to reimmerse ourselves in this culture as we continue to worship God.

Attending a local church in Guatemala is one of the things I have been looking forward to the most, just knowing how much I LOVED church in Kenya and experiencing that in a totally different part of the world. There is something about the solidarity of purpose in a room during worship, even and especially when languages are not shared or understood. Tonight we sat in a circle of about 20 people or more, on folding chairs and singing from small binders with the words to the same songs we sing at PC3 printed in Spanish to go along with the Spanish-language singers. I could feel the excitement to be in Guatemala but also just a cool aura in that room as we all focused our hearts on the same God. Javi then gave a message in Spanish (all I know is that he spoke on David, and he is very good at addressing a group of people), then we finished up with a couple more songs and prayer (I picked up "Padre," "amigos" and "gracias"... but, sadly, that is about my limit as of right now).

For one, it is just so cool to see this happening in town. It caused me to remember that home churches are gathering all over the place all the time, and it brought to mind what a new friend said recently about the church, that it cannot be thought of as the four walls and roof of a church building—because otherwise we could just leave and do whatever we want. No, the church is the body, and worship can take place anywhere there are people gathered in His name. As I am about to start working full time at PC3, this was a timely reminder for me: that we are just a very small part of God's movement all over the world, that people can "church" in all kinds of ways, and that they are all "OK" with the right heartset.

Trey remarked on the way home that sometimes, singing praise and worship songs in a different language can just be so powerful. I thought about it and wondered out loud if maybe it's because when we are reading someone else's words they wrote for a song that we understand, we are filtering our perspective through that person's words. But when we don't know what we are singing, it's our own hearts that come through as we focus on the Lord to whom we are giving praise...

I loved how friendly the Spanish culture is, and how unpretentious and unashamed this group of friends were as they came together in this way, both genuine and passionate. I love the way "Dios" and "Christo" roll off the tongue. I love to have an out-of-the-norm, fresh experience of God such as this. He is everywhere and everything, and I believe we are slighting ourselves of the fullness of what He has to offer when we refuse to see Him outside of our boxes. I think that's part of why I love missions so much. My own scope is drastically too small for what He wants to show me—show us all. How cool it is of Him to offer us such opportunities... :)