FTC, Installment 3

Oh, right now, I’m listening to Coldplay’s newest CD, X&Y. It’s so classically Coldplay. You know how some groups experiment and deviate so far from their solid original sound that endeared them to you in the first place? Not so with my fave British blokes. Chris Martin’s haunting falsetto soars above the driving drums and the melodically melancholic guitar. (sigh).

I bring to you the third installment of Flirt to Convert (FTC). For backstory, see here and here. Tonight, at FTC’s suggestion, another Spanish-speaking friend and I met him at Olive Garden. His Mexican chivalrousness refused to let us foot our part of the bill. We had an exquisite dinner and had a good, if not profound, conversation. Again, he gave neither of us any reason to suspect his motives of anything ulterior. We talked about many things, ranging from the atrocities that many Mexicans endure to try to cross the border into the US to having an intimate personal relationship with God. Actually, he was the one to bring up “religion.” And though he didn’t, you know . . . fall out speaking in tongues or whatever after our conversation, I could tell that he was taking it in. Maybe this is the first time he’s ever talked with people so frankly about spiritual matters. Something that he asked that sort of caught me off guard was, “Why do you think the three of us are here together right now? Do you think there’s a reason?” Yes, there’s a reason, but we don’t always know what it is. Some things we may never know in this life.

And I finally, finally, finished translating the Bible study that my pastor wrote into Spanish. Well, actually, I didn’t do the initial translation, but I sort of revised and corrected grammatical and stylistic errors. And boy, did it take forever. But I finally finished it. Now I just need to get it off of the dinosaur of a laptop that I own and onto the sleeker and CD-burning-capable computer that my family owns so that I can get it onto a CD, give it to my pastor, and eventually get it into print. Pentecostal Publishing House, wassaaapp??

I’ve got a new group of 6th, 7th and 8th graders this week. Today was our little intro day. With one rotation already under my belt, I feel a little more equipped this time. I think I have a bit of a better group than last time, too (especially of the 8th graders). At the beginning of the rotation, after the bell rings, and they’re all sitting expectantly in their seats wondering, “What’s this new Spanish teacher all about?” I look at them all and start rattling off in Spanish: Me llamo Señora Smith, y soy la profesora de español. Vamos a aprender muchas cosas en esta clase . . . lol. I just love the wide-eyed look it produces from each of them. But then I give ‘em a break and translate what I just said. But it sure gets their attention and lets them know that I do know Spanish for real. Señora Smith’s ready for you this time, baby. Bring it on!