This is going to be a long one because, well, I love church. I just got back from Sunday morning service at a church called “La Iglesia Evangelista Bautista” about 15 minutes from my apartment. I went with Kendall and two other girls from my program. It was amazing! The church has probably 100 members and the room was packed. In the beginning they had new people stand up and introduce themselves, so Kendall, Vienet and I stood up and got a warm welcome. The service was set up very similarly to what I’m used to; we started with a prayer and then a woman came up to give some announcements. Then, always my favorite part, the worship. They put the words up on a screen so I could easily follow along and sing with everyone else in Spanish. It was awesome because some of the songs I know in English, but they were translated to Spanish! I was really able to connect and sing loudly with those songs. One of them was interpreted from “Sing, Sing, Sing” a song my band and I used to play when we led worship in high school, so that was definitely my favorite one of the morning.
”Vamos a cantar can la música del cielo
Vamos a cantar alegres porque escuchas cuando cantamos
Para exaltar tu nombre”
It was also neat because in between two of the songs, they opened it up to anyone who wanted to speak out to God, and person after person spoke loudly and thanked God for being Himself, for always being here, for never changing, for His love, and for being at the beginning and end of everything. It was really awesome to see people so boldly stepping up and praising our God. And of course, every proclamation was echoed by the congregation, “si, amen” “ayy, si” “Gracias a Dios!” Loved it.
After the music, the pastor gave the message and I was able to understand most of it! The scripture it was based off of was Juan 1:14-16, concentrating on verse 16:
“De su plenitud tomamos todos, gracia sobre gracia.”
This translates to, “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”
While this is just what an American girl got from it, the message was about God’s great grace and how it is all we need. A phrase I remember was “la fuente de gracia es infinita, nunca termina,” or “God’s fountain of grace is infinite, it never stops.” The pastor talked about accepting that grace and extending it to one another as well. There was probably a lot more that was said in that message, but that’s the jist I was able to get!
Afterwards we met so many cool people! I met a blind man named Manuel, who knew I was American just by how I spoke, he didn’t even have to see me, ha! I also met a girl named Emily who studied at Cambridge (and spoke with an awesome British accent) and now runs a youth group here that I’m hoping to attend. I met Adriano, a boy a bit older than us who liked to practice his English, the drummer named Zach, one of the vocalists April (who is actually from California but has lived here 7 years and looks and sounds like a Spaniard!), and some other girls our age who are from the Chicago area too! It was such a welcoming environment and I loved it so much. It’s a bummer I’ll miss most of these services because I’m traveling most weekends, but I hope I can get involved in the weekday youth groups!
Dios, “no puedo vivir si no estas junto a mi.” I am finding You here in Granada! :]
