If you know me, you know that I love languages. In college, I’d sit in my linguistics classes breaking down words to find their stems and labeling parts of speech, holding a piece of paper in front of my face and saying a word to see if it was aspirated or not, listening to voice recordings over and over again to identify the Herero word for ‘he’ in a sentence. It was tedious. It was so fun.
I think I’ve been drawn to languages for most of my life because I have such a desire to know and communicate with people. I love people and traveling and different cultures–if only I could communicate with everyone.
You may be familiar with the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. Genesis 11:8-9 reads:
“So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world.”
Basically, humans-in one location and speaking one language-were striving to build this huge, elaborate “tower to Heaven” in their own strength. What was meant to bring them closer to God actually created a rift in their dependence on him. So in his divine power, he scattered everyone and made it so we couldn’t communicate with one another. And here we are many many years later in 2018, with over 7,000 different languages present on the planet. Wowza.
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Spanish is one of those languages that I do happen to know. I’ve been studying and practicing it since high school, and I love it. When I was choosing which route to go on for the World Race (this time last year!), I received a lot of advice about picking one with a handful of Spanish-speaking countries. My language skills would be useful, I’d know what was going on, and it’d be easier. There were plenty of countries in Central and South America.
But the Lord had different intentions. He led me to a route that started off speaking Spanish in the Dominican Republic and…that was it. One whole country of getting to speak Spanish, and 10 other countries of struggling to communicate with the people who live there. I was a bit apprehensive, but it also just felt right. When a decision is in line with God’s will, it just feels right- even if it doesn’t make the most sense. A route in the Caribbean, Africa, South Asia, and Eastern Europe…I didn’t know what to expect.
Month one in the DR got rollin’ and Spanish was not just common-practice…it was a necessity. I was full-time J Squad translator and enjoyed always knowing what people were saying (maybe except for that time the middle schoolers were making fun of us, but you get the point). I felt useful and in control and honestly had a lot of fun with the locals (they don’t expect you to tease them back in Spanish!).
And then we took that bus ride to the other side of Hispaniola, and it was all gone. Haitian Creole and Spanish and not similar in the least bit, despite being on the same island. I know bits and pieces of Creole phrases from previous trips, but I knew it would be vastly different than the month before. Flash forward to two days in-our group is on a tour of a community on top a mountain. A handful of locals were around, playing and talking with us. One of my teammates approached me, “Katie-there’s a guy over there who speaks fluent Spanish, and I told him I’d come get you!” LOL, what?! And sure enough, I went over and had a 10 minute conversation in Spanish with a Haitian guy who had studied in Santiago, DR. The randomness of it all was funny and sweet.
Later that night, I had a thought. What if I asked the Lord if I could speak Spanish with someone in every country on my route? Hahahaha that’d be crazy!
…that’d be crazy cool.
Ladies and gents, we serve a God who is so BIG. We serve a God who wants us to ask big and bold and weird things of him because he wants to prove his faithfulness to us. Because HE LOVES US. God, can you create an opportunity for me to speak in Spanish with someone in every country on the Race?
Let’s jump ahead again to the beginning of October. Our team members had just gotten back from the grocery store. As we were unpacking the groceries, I realized I could read the side of a cereal box…but it wasn’t in English. And it wasn’t in Spanish either. It was in…Portuguese? What? Here in South Africa?
Turns out, people in Mozambique speak Portuguese (you learn something new everyday!). Many people from there have immigrated to Johannesburg, SA in search of work and live in the squatter camps we do ministry in. Also turns out I can understand Portuguese. Who knew?
In the past three weeks, I have had multiple conversations in Spanish in a country that has 11 official languages (none of which are Spanish). One of those conversations was with a woman who spoke entirely in Portuguese but could understand everything I said in Spanish. Also, the staff intern director with Impact Africa did the World Race a few years ago, AND he’s from Costa Rica. So his Spanish is much much better than mine (lol). I’m in awe of these conversations in this place. Only God can do that, people!
It might seem so small, but to me it’s God literally wrapping me up in the biggest hug! He hears me and sees me and knows me. He knows the Katie who used to memorize poems in Spanish class and write 50 page research papers for her linguistics capstone. And I want to be the Katie that said ‘yes’ when He asked me to do this route and who expects big things from her God.
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We leave for Botswana in a week! Our time here in JoBurg has been absolutely incredible, and I can’t wait to tell y’all about it. I’ll also keep you posted with my Spanish convos next month 😉
Thanks for reading! I hope you’re encouraged today to know just how much God sees and knows you too.
-K
