Los Guatemaltecos

In our tour group, we were like an international UN with the different theme countries represented in that tour bus: Indonesians, Chinese, Koreans, Americans, and Hong Kongians (right?). It was a fun mix, and we all used the international language of English to communicate. It was fun.

We toured another five places today, with an eclectic mix of a museum, natural sites, and a garden. The natural beauty on this island is amazing, its got palm trees and today the weather really cleared up. At Hallim Park, seeing the flowers bloom, the cacti spiking out, the parrot screaming "hello" in Korean, to the emus, the wild birds, the bears we saw yesterday, and the bonsai trees, were all a testament to God's Glory. I was amazed to see the rock formations after centuries of cooling after a major volcanic eruption occurred on Jeju Island centuries ago. There was only divine design imprinted on this. The sea was beautiful.

During this time, I happen during these two days to meet and know two people of an unusual region that I have never encountered before: Central America.

I've met Salvordianos during my time at the Chick Fil A in Maryland, but I never met anyone from the Central American republic of Guatemala.

These two people: Zoher and Susana, are two friends who for vacation are travelling around the Asian powerhouses of Korea and China. They started in Seoul before heading to the island paradise of Jeju. We met on the tour bus. What a blessing it was indeed, because they are believers in the Lord.

In the span of two days, we got to know one another and had the major privilege of being friends with one another. What made it even more special was that we came to know that we are believers through casual conversation. Jyea!

Another special thing during our interactions was something I haven't used in such a long time: Spanish. It was through my middle and high school classes, one enthusiastic teacher named Mrs. Beierle who learned her Spanish in the city of Salamanca, and hours of free practice at the Chick Fil A with my Salvodorian friends, I finally came to learn the Spanish language.

However, coming to Korea, I had no use for Spanish. Now and then, I would meet a Spanish speaker, but slowly I came to realize that I was starting to lose it. As Korean started to naturally take an importance in my life, I suppressed the languages of Spanish, Russian (which I learned for one year), and English (now and then, I'll forget words or expressions and get made fun for unusual spelling mistakes).

Yet, I remember in 2008 a meeting in Incheon with a pastor from the country of Macedonia. He speaks several languages, and I told him about my situation of learning Korean, taking the prime importance in my life as I am finally living in a country where I have to use it daily. I was worried I would lose my considerable investment into Espanol (Spanish) and what was left of my marginal profit in Russian language education stock.

He said (paraphrase), "you don't lose information. Basically, your mind locks away information, what you don't use. When you start learning again, your mind finds the information and brings it out again. You don't simply lose information, its just resting. It will come back."

So back to today. Susana speaks English fairly well, but at the same time she was allowing me to speak Spanish to her and Zoher. Zoher, a fairly young guy, speaks hardly any English but understands it very well. He too, allows me to speak my "prison, locked-up" Spanish to him while we build a relationship over the course over two years.

My two friends, "los guatemaltecos," (the Guatemalens) helped me with words I forgot, and when they replied, I had my "I knew that" moment in my mind as I became more comfortable speaking la lingua again. For me, something I realized early on when I go travelling, is that in speaking multiple languages you can get easily confused. I wanted to say "Mi Chingu," a mix of "my" in Spanish and "friend" in Korean, or substitute vocab for Spanish. Then there's the whole English thing. Try mixing three languages into one sentence. My goal when I learn languages is to share multiple convos without missing a beat. Through Christ's strength, I can do it!

So the highlight was tonight, when we got some good Mexican food at a place called "Zapata's," (my second time, he he), and eventually through the Holy Spirit we got into some mad fellowship about the Word of God and how to receive salvation from Christ alone and His redemptive power. It was bananas! Like, Zoher asked not only if my father was a Christian, but how did he become a Christian. We got into a discussion about rules and regulations and religion, but more importantly we get salvation because of His grace. It was good, real fellowship, beyond just, "oh, God is good...yeah. Ya ha." Nah, deep stuff in Spanish about how to read the Word and live and grow in His grace. I mean, to steal from C.S. Lewis, it was more than just mere Christianity.

We ended up praying for one another before we parted ways, but we exchanged contact info so we can keep in touch and perhaps meet in the future. I am loving it, yo!

So, to top it off I have to ask this question: how in the world did, through my father, one day before my first class at John Hanson Middle School, after we just moved to Waldorf, Maryland, how he encouraged me to enroll in a middle school Spanish class, would end up using Spanish again halfway across the world to meet and pray with Christians from Central America? Only the Lord can bring such things together.

Oh, the surprises of life that only Christ can bring. Zoher was telling me how thankful he is to be living and knowing the Lord. The same with Susana. I was sharing the power of what I saw during my time Jeju, from the animals to the tulips that were screaming "glory" to God our Father. We all nodded in agreement, I mean, how could you not?

I hope they have a safe trip to Beijing now, their next stop. I hope someday to travel to Guatemala and visit them someday, Lord Willing. I was meant to come to Jeju for a purpose.

And I am also going home for a purpose. My family doesn't need me...but I need the Lord.