Internationalmatt's Blog

3 Languages + 2 Churches = 1 Meaningful Service at the Lake

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of joining my friends from Ministerio Manatial de Vida and Spring of Life Deaf Churches for a worship/baptism service at a lake outside of Lincoln. It was a simple yet profound service under a tree and at the beach of the lake. It was a wonderful contrast to the every detail planned and choreographed services on most Sunday mornings in American church services.

For part of the service Pastor Rogelio spoke in español while his daughter translated into sign language. Candice from Spring of Life Deaf church translated the sign language into spoken English. It was a service of 3 languages in a joint service for 2 churches. Later Pastor Rogelio spoke in español while his daughter translated into sign and my friend Fidel translated into English. We were there to join as one group in a simple yet profound worship service under the shade of a tree.

We were led in worship by Jezharela and Maritza while two young men played acoustic guitar. After worship we went down to the beach of the lake for three baptisms. It was a poignant time that was reminiscent of how Christians would have worshiped when the church first began two thousand years ago. Pastor Rogelio of Ministerio Manatial de Vida and Pastor David of Spring of Life churches performed the baptisms. Alex is a young man who was baptized that day. His grandfather was able to come and I found out his grandfather fought in the Philppines during World War II. It was awesome that his grandfather could be there to watch. I wondered how it must have felt for him to see his grandson at such a special moment.

There was a lot of fun and food as well. We enjoyed some grilled meat and tortillas, salads and fresh fruit. I still wonder how they cut the mangoes. I love mangoes but can’t cut them very well.  I walked around and took pictures while people were eating and mingling. One woman is expecting a baby this week and she joked about how someone suggested she swim in the lake to induce labor. Of course she didn’t follow that advice.

Before I left, the “soccer” ball made an appearance. The men played some futbol. Pastor Rogelio demonstrated his skills for me. There was a lot of laughter during our day at the lake. After I left, I thought about how often the most profound moments are ones that are simple. Perhaps simplicity itself gets rushed by too quickly in our desire to busily prepare every detail of life.

July 12, 2011 Posted by internationalmatt | Cutural Celebrations, Hispanic friends, International Friendships, summer | 2 Comments