The title of this blog will mean about as much to you as it did to me, the first time I saw it. But if you Google it, you’ll realize it is the Spanish version of “hehe” or “lol”.

I have a friend that lives in the mountains of Mexico and he text (or texts) like we do in the U.S., using texting shortcuts. I am in the process of learning Spanish and he isn’t helping at all. Not only do I have to figure out what the Spanish phrases mean (and by the way he doesn’t use periods) but I have to decipher “dtb” and “t” and “jeje” and many others.

But I guess the fact that he feels comfortable enough to communicate naturally, like he would with anyone else, is pretty cool –and for that I am greatly appreciative.

I think sometimes I look at other cultures and countries with so much mystery that I forget that deep down inside they are just like us. The language is different and even some of the everyday struggles are different but we all have a need to communicate as effectively as possible.

God has blessed me with some great Latino friends here in South Carolina as well and I look forward to church on Sunday where I get to spend time not only playing the guitar but worshipping with a culture that is different than mine. I am not just learning to appreciate the differences…I actually enjoy them. It is the differences between them and I that make it the most fun. I laugh at them when they say something ridiculous in English and they laugh at me when I say anything at all in Spanish.

But at the end of the day, it is what’s on the inside that counts. And what’s inside all of us at that little Hispanic Church service is a desire to worship the one, true, God that created all of us and put us on this planet for a reason……no matter what language we speak.

royb

With a group from Radius Church, I recently went to a part of Mexico that I’ve never been. We flew into Mexico City and drove 4+ hours to Rio Blanco and then an hour or so up the mountain to Atlahuilco, where we stayed each night for the remainder of the week. To say it was green and had many trees and farms would be an understatement. The parts of Mexico that I’ve visited in the past were in the far north and looked nothing like this, they were flat and barren in comparison.

But, from the get-go it started to grow on me and I ended up taking nearly a thousand pictures. And out of those thousand or so I chose four to share with you; these four were some of my favorites –as an aside, the main title picture at the top of the blog is also from that trip. Each one of these four pictures are from a different town in the area –Atlahuilco, Tepepa, Tequila and Xoxocotla.

This particular short-term missions trip was different from any of the others I’ve been a part of. We were there strictly as an evangelism team and from day to day our individual roles changed. Depending on the weather (rain, rain and more rain) and the amount of people in the towns, we may be going door-to-door or playing soccer in the town square for three hours. Each morning we split up into different teams and boarded a bus, knowing only one thing: today we would be sharing the love of Christ with people –where, when and with whom, was the unknown part.

If you’ve read any of my previous posts or my “about’ page then you know I have a heart, or a weakness, for playing the guitar. I take my guitar to every country I go to and pray that God will allow me to find like-hearted people to worship with. I played my guitar on this trip more than I ever have. We woke up playing, played on the bus to the town, played on the bus home from the town and then played again at night. We played for hours every day and it was great. I help lead worship at a Hispanic church in S.C. and I was able to bring back a whole bunch of new songs to play here in the states.

What I brought back from this trip was a sense of fulfillment; like I had been training for something that finally came to fruition. I felt more at home fumbling through Spanish and playing the guitar in the mountains of Mexico then I do at any church here in S.C. For the past year and a half I’ve been learning Spanish worship songs and the Spanish language, and for 8 straight days I was totally immersed in it. And I felt more comfortable then I could have imagined.

I don’t think the comfort I felt was because the churches I attend here are not any good, but it was because God has called me to be a part of a specific type of ministry and this trip allowed me to do what I I’ve been training to do.

Thanks for reading,

Roy Bauer