I sat in the church service, completely overwhelmed. Tears filled my eyes. I had been to this church once before and was blown away by what I witnessed–dancing, waving flags, speaking in tongues, receiving words from the Lord, and worship music that lasted for hours. I’m generally not moved by music, but something about this particular service struck me deep. It was all I could do to keep myself from sobbing over the beauty of it all, so I had to sit down.
But then doubt started to creep in. The pastor had asked my team and me to present our mission in front of the congregation; we decided Ashley would speak, which means I was to translate. And that’s why I was doubting. I looked around the congregation and realized that half of these people speak English…The pastor himself is a former professional translator…Who was I to translate in front of this group? Seriously, translating in front of people who know both languages is probably the most intimidating thing I’ve ever had to do. I did it once in Ecuador, and I didn’t want to do it again. And here I was in La Paz, Bolivia, once again facing this scary thing. I was freaking out.
So I started to pray in my head. For some unknown reason, it came out in Spanish.
“Dame las palabras,” I thought. “Dame las palabras. Dame lo que voy a necesitar.”
[Give me the words. Give me the words. Give me what I’m going to need.]
Meanwhile the worship service continued, with all of its music and glory. It ended several minutes later, and my squad leader Allison sat down next to me. She whispered, “I think I wrote this for you,” and handed me a little slip of paper. I couldn’t believe what I read.
“Yo te lo daré.”
[I will give it to you.]
There it was. A word from the Lord, a direct Spanish answer to my Spanish prayer. I was blown away.
I got up and translated for Ashley, and all was well. It wasn’t perfect, but I was able to do it, thanks to a boost of confidence from the Holy Spirit.
A view of La Paz and the surrounding mountains
Later on that night I was retelling the story to Allison, for I wanted her to know how God had used her that night. A huge smile spread across her face. That’s when she told me her half of the story.
Apparently she, too, had been overcome by the Holy Spirit during the service, so she started asking the Lord for a word for anyone, anyone at all, anyone in the whole congregation. And that’s when she heard the message, “Yo te lo daré.” She thought that was odd because she had never received a word in Spanish before. But what was really strange was that she didn’t just hear that phrase; the phrase came out with an accent. It wasn’t just “yo” that she heard, it sounded like “sho.”
Sho. That’s Argentine. That’s how you’d say “yo” with an Argentine accent. That’s how I would say it. That’s the Spanish I learned. That’s the Spanish my heart speaks. And when Allison heard “sho,” she knew the word was for me. What she didn’t know is that it was exactly what I needed to hear.
The Holy Spirit speaks, y’all. He is alive and talking to us. And to me, he speaks in an Argentine accent.
