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 Vallarta Living | December 2005 
Vivendo en Mexico (Living in Mexico) 7
 Korah Winn - PVNN
One of the nice things about the passage of time in a foreign country is that after you are there long enough, you begin making friends and acquaintances despite the language barrier. I have been fortunate enough to meet some incredibly generous and caring people. One day a couple weeks ago, a dama (lady) in my flamenco class brought to my attention the fact that we go to the same church.
I felt a little sheepish when Dinorah told me this because I had not realized it beforehand. I did not feel so bad later when I thought about just how large my church is. We have a nine a.m. service and an once (eleven) a.m. service and both are full. I sit in one of the last two rows in the back because they have little earphones set up there so that English speakers can listen to a live translation of the service. The English speakers are pretty easy to pick out. You can usually spot us by the clueless looks on our faces the first couple times we visit.
No, it is not quite that bad, but imagine how bewildered we look the first time el pastor (the pastor) says, "Take a moment to greet someone near to you." Everyone who speaks Spanish starts reacting while you are still waiting for the translation. There are normally a lot of grins among us as we finally catch on and welcome each other warmly.
Going to iglesia (church) in Puerto Vallarta is always encouraging to me because it is a comforting thought knowing that even though I do not speak the same language as the people there, we are still united by the same purpose. We love God and want to do what is right. I might not be able to communicate that with my palabras (words) but I can communicate it with my actions.
I go to a Bible study on Tuesday nights that is totally in Spanish. The first night I went I knew I was in way over my head. I caught maybe five percent of what was going on and I sat there just hoping they would not ask me any preguntas (questions) because I had not even the slightest clue how to answer. One thing that kept me holding on was the fact that I have a Spanish/English Bible so I can read along in English when they are going over verses in Spanish.
Charro, the Bible study leader, would even encourage me to practice reading Spanish out loud by giving me a turn to read a certain passage we were going over. It was really intimidating to me but the mujeres (women) in my group were always encouraging and they assured me that I was doing just fine. As the weeks have passed, I have slowly been building friendships with these warm, openhearted women.
Things are slowly but surely changing for me. I had a breakthrough Sunday about two weeks ago. When I listen to the pastor preach, I normally only put on one side of the headphones so that I can hear both languages spoken.
I listened to the pastors' entire sermon and I caught myself being able to translate a couple words here and there. I was able to piece together a whole lot more than ever before. I felt like I maybe even understood twenty por ciento (percent) of what was going on. That was a major breakthrough for me. On days like those I cannot help but give thanks to God. ‘Salud!
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