A Treasure...

Let’s go get some coffee. I’ll take you to my favorite place, El Sendero. Let’s say you did go with me, the first thing you would see when you walked through the door would be the smiling face of Susi. “Buenas Tardes!”

Susi, with her dark wavy hair and beautiful brown eyes stands at less than 5 feet, but she is the feistiest, bubbliest person I know (See picture to left). Susi became a Christian only 6 months ago and got baptized a few months later. This may not seem like a big deal to most, but here it means that you have put yourself on the side of the “Evangelicals.” For most this is something highly looked down upon. But Susi took the plunge and is growing like a weed!

A week ago, she introduced me to her friend, Joe who is a English teacher from Colorado. They work together and she invited him to come to El Sendero for coffee. About an hour later she came bounding into the kitchen smiling from ear to ear. “I talked to Joe about Jesus!”

Of course we bounced around being very excited as she told me how she asked him what he believed. But then she gave me a look that I knew all too well: frustration. “I couldn’t express my heart in English! There are just so many words I didn’t know how to say.” I just smiled, put my arm around her and said, “Welcome to my world.”

But isn’t that the great part? We think we need all the right words, but isn’t it the Holy Spirit who speaks for us? Isn’t it the Spirit of the Living God who draws people to himself? So what do we need to do? I love this Spanish phrase… we need to be a “pierda en su zapato”… a rock in their shoe. A challenging word or an insightful question that makes them walk around thinking about something spiritual that otherwise wouldn’t have entered their minds.

Only a few days later she shared with me another conversation she had with another English guy who comes into our store all the time. She had a million questions about why Muslims and Buddists are different than we are. As I shared this with Susi, I praised God for this beautiful Lojana who is willing to share her newly found faith. Susi is filling out her paperwork to be a missionary in England starting in April. Its kinda fun to be able to talk to her about my own fears coming here and how the Lord calmed each one a day at a time. Pray for Susi that the Lord would continue to grow, teach and use her for his glory.

If you ever get the opportunity to walk into El Sendero, be sure to look for a bubbly, joy-filled Lojana standing behind the counter. She’s a treasure worth getting to know.