Mondays are our designated Sabbath day and last Monday, I went to a coffee shop called Café Revolución. I was with a few teammates but I needed to spend time with the Lord and writing blog posts, so I tried to find a spot that was separated from them so I wouldn't be inclined to be chatty. I saw a comfy and secluded spot on a couch but it was in between two people, so I walked over and said, "¿Podría sentarme aquí?" which means "Could I sit here?" The man sitting in the seat next to the empty table nodded his head and after I sat down, he asked me if we were students, and my response was: "Oh thank goodness! You speak English!" And then I proceeded to tell him what we were doing here. 

It was not only nice to meet someone else from the States, but refreshing to be able to interact with a complete stranger in English for the first time in two weeks. 

Actually, a lot of people in that café were from the States or spoke English which I thought was pretty neat, but it made me reflect on how powerful our God is so to remove any and all barriers to the Gospel—especially language barriers. 

On our team of thirteen missionaries, two of us speak Spanish—and I am one of the two. I wouldn't necessarily consider myself fluent, but I can hold conversations and translate for other people, so at times, it can become slightly exhausting retraining my brain to function in a different language. However, it has been such a privilege to see the ways in which the Lord has been able to use those of us who do speak Spanish to speak truth in a language that is not our own. To each day understand and speak more fluently than we were able to the day before. 

But more than that, what a far greater privilege it has been to see my teammates, who do not speak Spanish, learn to communicate through gestures, laughter, games, smiles, and the intermingling of broken Spanish meeting broken English to form an indistinguishably special means of communication.

See that's the thing, the Gospel is a language of its own. It is how we act, how we love, and how we live. To see the Lord use my squad mates who don't speak this language communicate the love of Christ in such unique and intricate ways is such a testament of our Heavenly Father's desire to reach all of His children no matter how lost, no matter how broken, and no matter what language. 

It reminds me how intentional God is, that He speaks every language, and that He created every language and knows them well. Moreover, He is a personal God who knows every person that speaks each language and knows them intricately. What a good God. 

And to think, this all started in a coffee shop. 

Joyfully, Gracie