When I first started doing missions, my biggest concern was the language barrier that I would face while abroad. My desire was always to serve in Latin America because I also speak Spanish.
Of course, seeking the comfortable.
When my church in the Bronx presented a trip to Haiti, I realized God had different plans for me. In all honesty, I wasn’t excited about Haiti but I was sure I needed to go.
Language barriers were experienced. It wasn’t fun. It was’t comfortable for me. But I still went and I served.
Now 13 countries later, and I actually get it now.
Even though I love learning new languages, there is no way I will ever learn all the languages in the world. Africa alone must have hundreds.
Should that stop me from visiting and serving in other countries?
Coming back to Botswana & serving in the Okavango Delta, I got to meet cute little 3 year old Judy during children’s ministry.
Amongst 60 children, she caught my attention the first day. Her naive child-like spirit drew me to her.
I wanted to be around her.
I looked for her.
Her and her cute little smile.
We didn’t speak we just played and smiled, and played some more.
I just wanted to hug her and hold her hand. I wanted her to know she is seen and that I loved her even though we had just met.
Eventually, I tried talking to her. I wanted to get to know her more, see if she had brothers and sisters, who her parents were, etc., but clearly we didn’t understand each other. I spoke English, she spoke Setswana, it just wasn’t going to happen.
So I understood, my words didn’t matter right there and then. I just needed to love her in those two hours. Love her the way Jesus would love her.
And that’s what I did.
Judy will always be in my heart. But mostly, she’ll be in my prayers.
I pray she becomes a strong woman of God and that the Lord protects her from all the evil that can occur to little girls in Africa. I pray her future is fruitful and filled with love!
