Day 16

día dieciséis: Today I am thankful for the Spanish skills I have learned over the past eight years & my ability to use them to keep in touch with friends.

Dear God, today I thank You especially for the ability to communicate with people in other parts of the world. Thank You that You created human beings to be capable of acquiring language skills different from their native language. Lord, in an incredibly diverse world, You make it possible for us to relate to and befriend others, no matter where they live. Thank You for teaching me the Spanish language from the first school year I was able to. I am also thankful that You have molded my mind to make me able to pick up on the Spanish language fairly easily. Lord, You made it so easy for me to continue my Spanish education. You made it so I could take every Spanish class offered at my high school, including AP & advanced conversational classes. Thank You for placing me in exciting classrooms with genuinely kind teachers. You've worked through them to get me where I am today. Thank You especially for Yencer, who was a teacher as well as a friend. You have given her gifts of encouragement and teaching... teaching the highest-level Spanish classes can't be easy. Going into college applications, thank You for pointing the Spanish major out to be something important. Lord, You have kept me a Spanish major from the beginning, despite changes in my career path involving how I'll use the language. Thank You for blessing me with great, fun college Spanish professors. Be with my awesome professor & advisor Dra. Harllee as she is on medical leave this semester. Thank You for the many ways Dra. Harllee & I can relate & the ways she has helped me. Lord, You are so passionate about enhancing my Spanish ability that You sent me to Spain to study abroad this past summer. I was able to interact with the other students from JMU, as well as people who live in Tarragona. Thank You for working through Belkys & Kevin to organize that trip & show us all around their beautiful hometown. Lord, they are such a caring couple, & I am so excited to see them & their little son Patrick back at JMU. Thank You for connecting some of the girls & me to Alejandra & Dariela, Belkys & Kevin's nieces. Lord, I love keeping in touch with them. Please use our friendship to enhance my Spanish conversational skills further. I pray that I can see them sometime in the near future. Thank You for also placing me on mission trips where I can use my Spanish. El Salvador was a particularly great experience for me... in so many ways, but partly in being able to communicate with the Salvadorians. You blessed us with time to spend with our sister church's youth group, & I loved getting to know them. I also pray that I can see them again sometime & that they are doing well. God, continue to challenge me in using my Spanish. Break me out of my comfort zone and help me practice my Spanish on a new level. Lord, take me where You may... lead me, Father. Place me in situations where I can become more fluent. Thank You for this gift of communication You have graciously given me. Amen.