¿Còmo se dice...? (How do you say...?)

On Sunday we had the privilege to speak to Dawson Memorial's Spanish congregation, Congregacion Hispana. Byron Mosquera, the pastor, was so kind to allow us some time to share with the church how they can partner with us in missions. I gave them a short speech in...(gulp)...Spanish, and Ken introduced an amazing video in Spanish that really shows the heart of missions in South America. It was such a wonderful service and a great opportunity to meet some people from Birmingham's Hispanic community that have a heart to pray for missions and be a part of leading people from their homelands to the Lord. Here is their website if you would like to see it:

http://www.dawsonchurch.org/index.php/ministries/international/hispanic_congregation/congregacion_hispana

Now, we were prepared for the whole occasion by several people. Our dear friends from orientation, the Marlins, helped translate the speech from English to Castilian Spanish. This was then translated to Latin American Spanish by Byron, and then Saturday night was practiced with two great families from where we will be serving.

Glenda and Carlos were so gracious to invite us and my mother to their house Saturday night for dinner with them. Glenda and her sister-in-law even taught me how to make arepas. We brought some gazpacho, and they gave us some wonderful carne mechada (shredded beef slow cooked with spices, peppers, onions, etc...) It was muy delicioso! They taught us how to put the cheese and meat in the arepas to make a little sandwich...a taste of heaven! I do not believe it will be too big of an adjustment for us to learn to love the local cuisine. If anything I believe we may have to restrain ourselves a little!

We spent most of the evening learning all about foods, customs, and the people we will be serving. It was so wonderful to hear about how friendly the people are, how warm and hospitable they are. It was even better to experience this first hand from these two sweet families. We will always treasure that night as our first real taste of our new home.

We are now preparing for our final week here in the states for the next 3 years and have been going around town having that "last meal" at our favorite spots. I see it as a good excuse not to cook and Ken just sees it as a great excuse to eat! Either way we are both happy with the end result, except that extra few pounds we need to lose. Remember, IMB is BMI spelled backwards! Yes, I see a trip to Full Moon BBQ on the horizon, or Luna's as we affectionately call it.