Words - MY Story Part 16

I am a college drop out.  After three and a half years of mediocrity in my studies and several changes of major.  I dropped out of college.  While I recognize the importance and value of a good education and don’t recommend dropping out, at that time I felt I was going no where in my studies.  I couldn’t find my calling on the list of possible majors.  No classes or studies offered by the university inspired me enough to want to dedicate my life to them.  

So I left my little college town and headed to stay with a friend while I figured out my next step.  I knew I wanted to serve God, but wasn’t sure where to start.  

So I started by leaving, the country that is.  I went to missionary training school in Mexico.  I can’t even begin to tell you how much I learned or how God shaped my heart in that time.  There were only a few students in my school and I learned much more observing the way the missionaries worked together and separately than I did in my “classes.” 

Of all the things God did in me during my time in Mexico, one of my greatest testimonies is how He gave me the gift of Spanish.  For those of you who do not know, I am fluent in Spanish.  But when I went to Mexico, I was not.  I stumbled my way through trying to communicate and could make myself understood about 50% of the time when I arrived.  After 6 months I was being asked if I was Mexican because of how well I spoke.  My goal was to never use a translator and I became a translator.  

I did not sit down to study the language.  I did not take classes.  I had tried that before with very limited results.  I needed to be immersed, but even more I needed the Holy Spirit to teach me.  

I don’t have an explanation of how I learned Spanish.  I don’t have a system you can follow.  I know that the Lord gives us the words we need to minister to the lost and hurt.  The lost I came into contact with in Mexico spoke Spanish, so the Lord gave me words that spoke to their hearts, in their language.  

It’s a beautiful language.  And it’s become mine. 

God said, "And who do you think made the human mouth? And who makes some mute, some deaf, some sighted, some blind? Isn't it I, God?  So, get going. I'll be right there with you-with your mouth! I'll be right there to teach you what to say."

Exodus 4:11-12