Fourteen years ago, I visited my first Spanish-speaking country, Costa Rica. My mom and I went to visit my uncle, aunt and cousin who were studying at a language school in San Juan before their missionary assignment in El Salvador began.
I remember thinking how cool it was that my cousin (we’re the same age) lived for a little while in Mexico, now Costa Rica, and was soon moving to El Salvador. We traveled the country a bit, but I remember meeting her friends from Church, and loving the culture and community they had created in a few short months.
That summer, I came back without my mom and spent another week with my uncle, aunt and cousin. My cousin had school during the summer, so I went with her to classes, we went over to friends’ houses and watched movies, we played in the rain and ate as many tropical fruits as possible.
Once I left, my heart yearned to be back.
I had decided to learn Spanish in school as my required foreign language and took all of the classes available in high school. In college, I took as many classes as I could. For January-Term my first year, I spent the month in Seville, Spain learning Spanish and living with a host family. Then my last January-term, I spent the month in Quito, Ecuador learning about community and development in the different people groups in and around Quito. I could not get enough of the Latin community!
As my life after college continued, I began to wonder if I would ever return to where my heart felt so much at home. I had given up on traveling back to Ecuador. Except God hadn’t given up on that dream for me.
My church advertised a mission trip to Ecuador last year and I wouldn’t be surprised if I was the first person on that list to be signed up.
Then, about a year ago, I found the first All Spanish World Race Route.
I had been searching on Google at about midnight about Bible colleges in Ecuador and came across a World Race blog, and I didn’t think it would hurt to check out this “World Race” thing. I figured that they wouldn’t have very many Spanish speaking countries on the routes, so I wasn’t going to go on the trip anyway. How wrong I was.
As I began to tell people my plans to go on the all-Spanish route, everyone who knew me, knew it was the route for me. They told me that when I talked about my route and my upcoming year in Latin America I would light up.
After two months in the Caribbean, three months in South America and now one month in Central America, I can safely say if I had to do it again – I would choose the Spanish Route, every time.
There is something intimately special about teaching children in the Dominican Republic, Bolivia and Ecuador the same song and dance to “Cristo es Mi Super Heroe.” Just think – Children in two different continents of this large world we live in, are all able to sing and dance in harmony. I can only hope that they are still singing, dancing, and proclaiming that Jesus is their Super Hero.
A deep bond is formed when we land in each of the countries and are able to interact with the people we meet. We’re not just noisy Americans (okay, we try not to be) who blow into town. We are called to “do life” with the people in the community, and being able to hold conversations and spend time with them is such a gift often taken for granted.
Even finding out the language and cultural differences between the countries can lead to quite a laugh. For instance, how many different words can we possibly have for “banana” in Spanish? So far we’ve learned plátano (which is actually, usually, not a banana), guineo, and banano! In Ecuador, our team got really used to greeting every person with which we crossed paths. The next month in Panama, we realized they were a lot more relaxed with their greetings. (They also shake hands, instead of the hug/kiss-cheek and get a little weird when you go in for a kiss instead of just offering your hand.)
Our squad has a special tie as well. At home, I thought I was alone in my passion for Latin America. It wasn’t until I met this squad, this family, that I found people with a passion and a call like mine.
God called me to the Race, and he called me to a specific location. He planted the seed in my heart fourteen years ago for Latin Americans and I can only hope I am doing my best to cultivate this seed.
