Iglesia Bautista Monte Sión

On Sunday we attended the Spanish church that helps to sponsor our English camp here in Alcoy. The pastor's name is Pedro and his wife is Maria Jesús. All the Americans sang with the choir because our host families were invited and we wanted to do something special for them. The choir director's name is Charlie but he is Spanish and doesn't speak English. It didn't matter though because he is able to lead a choir with just his body language and facial expressions. He is very animated and likes the choir to sway and clap and be very active. He leads by example so he basically is dancing around the stage to lead us. Combine Charlie's leadership with the voice of Mark Hanson and you can imagine how we rocked that service! The choir had learned and practiced in advance some English songs so that we could join in. Also during the week before, Carla taught us a couple of songs in Spanish during our lunches together. What a blessing it was to hear "Shout to the Lord" in Spanish and to know that our Heavenly Father is not an American but God of all the Earth.
I'm humbled by the prayers of the Spaniards. In English there is only one word for "you" but in Spanish there are 2-one is used with friends and people you are close to (tu). The other is used to show respect to people you don't know, the elderly and professionals (Usted). When the Spaniards pray they call God "Señor" which is translated Sir or Lord. But they also address Him as "tu" and not "Usted". This is a strange and somehow perfect combination because it shows that although God is all-powerful and majestic, He is also our loving Father.
Using translators, Abby and Nick shared their testimonies about how God had led them to this point. If you know them, ask them to share because their stories are powerful! When Abby talked about leaving her grandfather knowing he has cancer, there was not a dry eye!
I directed a group of the younger members of our team to perform a wordless skit put to music. Some of you will recognize the skit Lifehouse Everything Three of the Americans and three of the Spaniards had performed it before so it was easy for us to put together in a few lunch-time practices during the week. They performed it beautifully and the message was clear in any language!
After Pedro preached (and I admit I didn't catch much of the sermon because he speaks very fast), we ended the service with more singing. The finale was a medley of Down by the River, Amen, and Oh Happy Day featuring Mark.
Afterwards almost everyone wanted to kiss us on both cheeks. Even Susanna commented that we had an instant connection with our Spanish church family. It didn't matter that we had just met them and that we couldn't really understand each others' words--we understand each others' hearts. This is the view from the church windows. In the close up you can see that there is a cross on the mountaintop.