In one word our ministry this month has been: encouragement.
We go about 4 times a week to different churches in and around Lago Agrio to
visit and usually preach, and in doing so the Lord has called us to encourage
these churches whether by our presence or by God’s Word through us. One of the
nights it was my turn in our rotation to give my sermon at the church we
originally thought we would stay at, “Emaus”, so I was very excited to speak
there. And on top of that I was going to have one of the men that goes to our new church here, Luis, so that me and Jeff can have a break from translating for the night. But picture almost everything that
could go wrong for the night and that’s what happened. Here is how my first night giving a
sermon went:
First, we were running late, which already stresses me out
since I am the one speaking and I wanted to just relax during worship before
speaking, but we get there right after worship ends and I say hello, sit for a
minute and then go right up to the podium to speak.
The church (also where we first landed when we left launch)
Second, since we are running late we are driving really
fast, in the dark, on a curvy road, with lots of stray animals. So what
happens, yes you guessed it, we hit a dog on the way over! And me being the
person that I am start crying in the car because I do that when animals get
hurt. So when we get to the church my eyes are all puffy and I am trying not to
cry in front of everyone because in reality it was just a dog, but I am still
really sad and upset when we get to the church. So my team not knowing yet what
has happened calls me over to pray for my speaking to the church but now that
they have seen me they think I am crying because I have to speak, so I tell
them all that happened with the dog and then a look of recognition falls across
their faces as they realize this was just about the worst thing that could
happen to me right before I speak. But we all go in anyways knowing we are late
and I have to speak in about 1 minute.
So we go in and I don’t see Luis, the guy from church who
was going to translate. Now we are at the third thing. I now have to give my
whole sermon in Spanish, when I hadn’t practiced or looked up words or
anything, but by this point I am about to start laughing at the night I have
had so I just say to myself, “Ok Jesus now is your time to shine since I am
about to botch the crap out of this! Hope you’re ready to work through a whole
lot of miscommunication.” And then knowing there is nothing I can do but get up
there and pray that God gives me the words to speak, in Spanish, I head up,
head high and shoulders back.
Luis, one of the guys we spend time with at Alianza church
But that can’t be the end of it, so now for the fourth
thing. I am finally up there after being late, hitting a dog, and having to
give a surprise sermon in Spanish, and what happens, the “tech guy” starts
working on the microphone for Jeff (who’s going to help me translate when I can’t).
This guy is talking into the microphone, saying hello a lot while I am trying
to talk and so now I am extremely distracted, not knowing if I should stop
talking or keep going. I keep going thinking he will be done soon, but no, it
goes on for about 1 minute. To top it all off even while the tech guy is
speaking into the microphone over me there are now children running around the
church playing, crying, laughing, and screaming (kinda normal here, but not to the
extent I had seen that night). Needless to say I finally finished the sermon
quickly, sat back down in my seat and thanked God it was over!
It is definitely something we all joke about now, but that
night it seemed like it was all going wrong and it wouldn’t stop. But after
lots of looking back and revisiting that church I have a lot of peace about that
night. My team was able to completely understand my sermon (since I did it in
English and Spanish for them) and I have had a few people from that church tell
me that they really enjoyed what I had to say. Does God not work in every
situation, bringing glory to Himself, and growing us in the process?! It was
not a fun night for me, but I can now say that I gave a sermon in Spanish, that
God’s Word was proclaimed through me to a bunch of people that needed
encouragement and teaching as believers, and that I had to rely on God every
step of the way (the most important part). Relying on God is not always easy or
fun, but it has definitely brought me closer to Him and given me a confidence
that I really can do anything He has called me to since He is going to work it
out in the end anyways and always. This month so far has already given us as a
team many stories of God stretching us and this is just one of the ways God has
chosen to use me in spreading His Gospel around the world. Get ready for more
fun stories from Jessie about God’s ability to draw me closer! J
My first time translating a sermon into Spanish
Preaching my first sermon in Spanish (by myself)
