Español–Ingles

Today is the first day of our mission trip to Ecuador. We have gone through 1 bus ride,  2 airports, and 1 flight so far. We are currently on our final plane ride before the journey begins. And God is already showing up. I am seated next to one man, whose name I didn’t catch through his very thick accent. Despite hi, speaking very little English, he asked me where I was from and what we’re (the team) doing in Ecuador. After about 20 minutes of struggling to converse, he pulled out a Spanish–English dictionary…or, as his reads, an “Español–Ingles” dictionary. He handed it to me and I began reading.

I started to ask him how to pronounce certain Spanish words. Then that turned in to him pointing to words and phrases and me pronouncing them. He wanted to help me.We did this for a solid half an hour. It was awesome. No, we weren’t talking about the gospel or anything, but I think what happened is important. God’s love for all people, including him, is what pushed me to say “hola!!” to him in the first place. While the fear of a language barrier pushed me away, love conquered that fear. Being love has dominance over fear.

– Gabby