My First Ministry in Spanish

Good morning to all! How is everyone doing? Our family is doing well. Sherry and I are excited to be done with our first semester of language school. We have two more semesters left, and then we are off to Paraguay! We cannot wait, but we know that it is important for our ministry to stay here in Costa Rica and to learn Spanish, well. We had a good first semester, and we are looking forward to learning more in the next eight months.

We would love to hear from you as you read our blog. Please let us know what you think, how you feel, what is going on in your lives, and what is going on in the U.S. (new restaurants, movies, games, news, weather, what is happening in your church, etc.). We would love to hear from you all as well. It helps us to not miss home so much. So, please, when you have the time, drop us an email or post a comment to a blog! We would absolutely love it!

This blog is about my first opportunity to minister, completely in Spanish. I wrote about the taxi system in San Jose not too long ago. So, I won't go back over that, but my first opportunity to really minister came in a taxi. On Tuesday, April 17th, I jumped in a taxi to go to the kids' school for soccer practice. As we began our short trip, I noticed a picture of a woman at the bottom of the dashboard. The driver had made a small shrine around this picture, and I asked him if it was his wife. He said, "Yes." I thought. As the conversation progressed, I noticed he was using a verb tense that I have not learned, yet.

Finally, I understood. He has said that it WAS his wife. So, I promptly told him that I was sorry for his loss, and I asked how he was doing. He said he was doing fine while he worked during the day, but when he went home at night, he was lonely and would cry a lot. He said that she had died a year ago, and they had been married for 18 years and have three children. I asked how the children were doing, and he said okay. They have moments of rough times as well. He went on to talk about how much they miss her.

As we neared the school, I asked him if I could pray for him. I told him that I didn't know Spanish, well, but I would pray a little in Spanish and the rest in English. He said I could. As I prayed, I looked over and noticed that this man was crying. I put my hand on his shoulder and asked God to please be with him. After I had finished, he looked me in the eyes, thanked me, and smiled. Then, he asked, "How many years have you been here in Costa Rica studying Spanish?" I told him, only three months. He gave me a huge compliment! He told me that I spoke very well and had good grammar. I told him, "Gracias a Dios y Lizbet (my phonetics teacher)!"

Now, I did not think I had enough Spanish to be able to minister to anyone. I thought I did not know enough words to say in Spanish to allow God to use me in any way, verbally. I think one of the biggest hindrances to sharing the love of Jesus with those around us, is our brain. We think we do not know enough words or scriptures to be able to share Jesus with someone. Well, if I can do it in another language, any of you can do it in English!

For about a month now, Sherry and I have been praying the Prayer of Jabez before we go to sleep at night. It is a powerful prayer! If you do not want to be used by God to change someones life, then do not pray the Prayer of Jabez. I promise you that opportunities to minister will come your way if you pray this prayer. The way I pray it is this, "Lord, bless me greatly! Expand my ministry to even include other languages! Keep your presences around me and protect me from my sinful desires! Be with me, Lord! Help me to be your light to the world! I want your desires to be my desire that I might always be available to be used by You!"

This prayer is not exactly the Jabez prayer; however, it is what I have been praying for over a month. As a direct result of this prayer, I was able to speak in Spanish with a taxi driver for over 20 minutes. Not only speak, I was also able to minister to him and to pray for him. Let God use you to change the world around you, one person at a time.

My family prays for blessings to be upon all of you as you read our blog,

Charley