Gloria a Dios

Something beautiful just happened today.

Lately, in the hostel there have been tons of Spanish speakers. I've been in kind of a funk-- grumpy for nor really any reason. I've seen all these spanish speakers... wanting to talk to them, figuring I should because many spanishy travelers tend to be bad at speaking english. But I haven't, until recently been saying much more than "Hello-- today's hot breakfast is pancakes. What would you like to drink?"

Then this morning in the cafe, I saw a Spanish girl that had been here the past few days talking to some of our gusts from Idaho. Our "Idahoers" are from a church in Boise and have been between shelter Jordan and our sister hostel for probably around 3 weeks now, ministering to prostitutes in the Red Light District.

Somehow, the topic of faith came up and the Idahoers found her a Spanish Bible in the hostel (we have bibles lying around in something like 50 languages). She stayed up late that night reading Genesis and was amazed.

The next day, Claudia, the girl, was sharing what she learned with Arnau, the boy she's traveling with. Both were amazed by what they learned. Both had been baptized, recieved first communion and even been confirmed into the Church. But, neither of them had ever read any bit of the Bible for themselves. They asked me what the difference was between the Old and New Testaments.

Claudia and Arnau listened so closely, amazed by what I had to share. They said they thought there was a glow around the people working in the hostel and the Idaho group. They wanted a part of that.

We had a beautiful conversation, in Spanish of course, about the gospel. Claudia and Arnau had to leave this afternoon to go on to Copenhagen. However they left with heads full of hope, a Spanish bible, reflection questions in a little tract we have, and a copy of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

Please pray for Claudia and Arnau as they continue traveling. Claudia is thinking of coming back in August to work for a couple of weeks as a cleaner in the hostel. I'm already facebook friends with these guys and am so looking forward to keeping in contact. My mother, who grew up in Spain, has given me the name of a church in their area. I'm so excited for Claudia and Arnau.

Gloria a Dios!