¿Me preguntó qué?

The title of this blog is in Spanish for a reason. The English translation of it is “you asked me what?!” This has double meaning to it. Today I was asked if I could make a phone call to a Hispanic family that the Dallas Leadership Foundation helped during Celebration of Hope. Celebration of Hope is one of the big events that takes place in June (so before I arrived to Texas) but during that time, they work on houses by painting them and doing various other things to help the neighborhoods out. So, they helped this Hispanic family out and now they are wanting to interview them and video them talking about their experience with the Dallas Leadership Foundation and the work that was done on the house during Celebration of Hope. Here’s the thing though, I am really the only one that can speak and understand Spanish so that’s why I was asked to make this phone call and help out with the interview. So, my first thought to myself was “¿Me preguntó qué?” well actually in English but you get the point. I was definitely at a loss on what to say since I have not used Spanish (well spoken Spanish) for 9-10months or longer. I am not fully confident in my Spanish capabilities but I realize that this is a time where I need to rely on God and trust that He has equipped me to do this. I took Spanish for 8 years, studied abroad in Costa Rica (living with host families where I only spoke Spanish), and majored in Spanish. It will be good to be able to utilize what God has allowed me to do and my major but there is fear. I will be sure to post back how things go tomorrow.

The second meaning of this title is that I was with the president of the Dallas Leadership Foundation this evening and he ended up asking me “what have you been learning?” I tried to give a cheap answer but that didn’t work, I tried to stray the conversation away from that question, but again that didn’t work, so why the hesitation? The hesitation is because I have not really taken the time to realize what it is that I am learning so far in this experience. I have been on the job for 3 weeks now and been in Dallas for 4 weeks, so what am I learning? I wish I could answer that but at the moment, I don’t know. I am mainly learning more about who God is in me and what God has me here for than I am learning about things from the job. However, I will say one thing that I am learning from the job, and that is that the Dallas Leadership Foundation truly gets what “ministry with” is all about and they realize the importance of relationships. They are not going into the neighborhoods and telling those that live there how to do things and doing everything for them but they are there to be a support and to do ministry “with” not for them. This goes right along with what the US-2 program is all about and I look forward to learning from this organization these next 2 years and understanding a different approach to ministry and reaching out to others.

So, ¿Me preguntó qué? I am sure I will be saying that to myself a lot over these next 2 years and I hope you will follow me on this adventure and through these questions and tasks that I may have this response to.