The Lord understands Spanish!!!!!

The Lord understood a Spanish request when we didn’t.

Healing of a little girl in Canyon del Pato! (Duck Canyon)

In the early 1990's and the beginning years of our missionary life, we did not know much Spanish. Therefore, we had to work with translators. On many occasions that proved very frustrating. Our ability to communicate with people was hindered by our lack of understanding and speaking Spanish. 

From August 1990 to May 1992, we worked with an American lady from Imperial Beach, California. Six days a week we would drive to her house, load up her van and drive her to wherever she was going that day. On the way to where were going, we always picked up a translator. Although she had been on the mission field for many years, her knowledge of Spanish was somewhat limited. 

Every Sunday we drove to a church she had founded in Colonia Canyon del Pato (Duck Canyon) on the west side of Tijuana. It was a very small church building. It was dirty, smelly and the people were extremely poor. Inside, it had a dirt floor and some old chairs and benches. The congregation was almost exclusively made of women and children. These ladies very a precious group of God-fearing women. We had an immediate connection.

We had visited that church back in July 1989, so when we returned in August 1990, the ladies recognized us. In 1989, we were there as part of a mission trip, because our daughter Chantal was already in Tijuana. She loved the people and they loved her. This was her second trip in the space of a few months. We went down to Mexico to make sure she was coming back home with us.

At the time, the irony was that I was scared the Lord would call her on the mission field. Roger was not concerned but he humored me into going down to “bring her back home”. Little that we knew that while we were in Tijuana to bring Chantal back home, the Lord would call us to this mission field, not Chantal.  After that trip, our lives would be forever changed.

One Sunday after the church service and the weekly groceries had been distributed, one of the moms approached us. She was holding the hand of a little girl probably about 10 years old. She proceeded to talk to us, but we had no clue what she was saying. This lady did not try to talk to our leader or the interpreter, she wanted to talk to Roger and me.

Finally, it dawned on her that neither of us understood Spanish, she then took my hand and put it on the little girl’s forehead. I did not need to speak Spanish to know that this little one had a high fever and that her mom was probably asking for prayer. Immediately Roger and I laid hands on her forehead, closed our eyes, and started to pray in English. We did not realize that some of the ladies had been watching and had gathered around us and had begun to pray in Spanish. 

As we prayed, I could feel the fever leave her. A few minutes later when we concluded our prayer, the fever had completely left and her cheeks which were red like beets a few minutes earlier were back to their normal color.

Her mom hugged and kissed us and carried on a conversation with us which the only word we understood was “gracias” (thank you). I bent down and gave the little girl a big hug and we instantly became the best of friends. After that day, every time we went to that church, this little girl would seek me out and hang on to me like glue.

After that experience, we realized that although we knew no Spanish, the Lord had used our hands and our faith to instantly let His healing flow from our hands to this precious child.

Later that evening, we gave glory to God for the healing of this little girl. We went to bed knowing we were in the center of His will. This is one time out of many other times, that the Lord reassured us that He was in control and taking good care of us. The truth is that when we do what the Lord asks us to do, He will come in and do what we cannot do.  We just need to listen, have faith, be available and obedient. Amen!

As long as you have passion, faith and are willing to obey and work hard, you can be assured that the Lord will come into the situations of your life and do what you cannot do.

But Jesus looked at them and said to them:

“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Matthew 19:26, New King James Version

Please note:

Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of this little girl, nor do I have a picture of her and of her mom.

I did not mention the american lady by name. She died in July of 2021, at the age of 94 having served the Lord for almost 60 years. Since I had no way to obtain her permission to use her name, and out of respect for her privacy, I did not include her name in this BLOG.

 Denise