Speaking a different language that you aren’t fluent in can be a funny thing, especially when you say one thing that means something entirely different. During the weekdays here, we go into a school for most of the day to teach English and Religion classes to kids from 8th grade and up. Once in a while we have younger kids. During the Religion classes, we tell parts of our testimonies. Being one of the resident experts of Spanish on our team, I have had to translate our stories of my teammates to the students. While I like the challenge of speaking a different language, it is difficult to communicate deeply when I mostly only know basic words and phrases. This past Wednesday I used this phrase 3 times while translating the stories of Nicole, Tori, and myself: “El amor de Dios está completo en ti.” The love of God is complete in you. Seems pretty good, right? I thought so, but later that day I learned that in Chile, completas = hot dogs. Oops…
Just a pic of part of the school
When the school day was done we bought some hot dogs out of the back of a van just outside the school. While Marcos, our ministry host, was ordering them from the lady I thought I overheard him say the word completas. Originally, I thought he was just completing the order, but I decided to ask him what they call hot dogs here (all in Spanish, he doesn’t speak much English). “Completas,” he said. “What an interesting name for hot dogs,” I thought.
The van we got hot dogs from
Once we got back home (Marcos’ church) from the school I was thinking about how I could improve my Spanish to communicate in a deeper way with these kids. Then my brain remembered the phrase I used in each of our stories, and something dawned on me: I had literally told 3 different classes that “God’s love is hot dogs in you.” I couldn’t help but laugh when I thought about it from the student’s perspective: “Why is dis Gringo telling us that God’s love is like a hot dog?” I had tried to tell them about a way to fulfill their hungry hearts, but instead I told them how to fill their hungry stomachs. Who knew spreading the Gospel could be so filling?
An accurate portrayal of what its like to learn about God’s love
On a more serious note, I have really enjoyed speaking in a different language. I wrote in my journal the other day about the beauty of being able to fellowship and worship in another language. It really opens your eyes to what unity in the body of Christ looks like. Being here in Chile I’ve had the opportunity to worship, tell my testimony, and do life with brothers and sisters of the faith from a different culture, and I’ve learned that unity in Christ surpasses any cultural or lingual boundary.
I hope this has been entertaining to everyone, and that you got a little laugh out of it. For future Racers or anyone looking to do foreign missions, let this be a reminder to not be afraid to fail and to laugh at yourself when you do. Remember that everyone has a hot dog, I mean, Jesus shaped hole in them waiting to be filled.
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