I spent every summer during seminary living in Mexico and working for Baja missions as a traveling interpreter with mission teams who came to work with the churches along the Baja California peninsula in BC, Mexico.
I used to be fluent in Spanish.
I think, or hope, that I still am, somewhere deep down. Somehow.
I spent every day of June and July for 3 summers translating bible studies, home visits, medical consults, eye exams, ladies’ classes after evening worship… whatever was needed. At one of the sites of a future church plant in Zapata, we had enough translators working with the doctors, so I got to set up a counseling clinic (two tree stumps across from each other) just outside the building where the doctors were seeing patients.
Entrenched in the language, the land, and the people, I fit right in. I ordered and ate food like a local, spoke like a native Spanish speaker and seamlessly adopted the slow pace of Mexican life.
I used to come home after the summers and have to think about which language I was speaking, substituting Spanish words which came readily for English ones which were harder to recall.
Baja Translator was a significant part of my life, spiritual formation, and vocation, and in its absence, pieces of who I am feel untethered, floating around without an anchor.
Language attrition, colloquially known as the notion that “if you don't use it, you lose it,” is a real phenomenon that caused a decline in language fluency. It can be devastating depending on the significance of the person’s ties to the language.
One of the things I explored early on in spiritual direction was the importance of multicultural, multiethnic faith communities to my own spiritual growth and ongoing care. That’s something I’m still hoping to find.
Another theme that’s emerged in my SD journal in recent weeks is the spiritual, and emotional toll of language attrition. Spanish always helped me feel connected to God and my faith, the dust of the Baja and the cool breeze helped me feel tethered to wholeness.
I’ve started listening to How to Spanish Podcast on my commute, and I’ve found that I can understand all of it. I've been practicing translating the episodes from Spanish to English. I think next up to tackle will be confidence in speaking and finding ways to do that again.
I’ve also added reading my Spanish bible to my morning time on the balcony.
I aim to be done with school by 2026 and we are currently planning a trip to Oaxaca, the cultural heartbeat of Mexico, as a graduation celebration and cultural pilgrimage.
It’s always nice to find a glimmer of hope, resources to nurture growth, and ways to celebrate and embrace wholeness on the journey of life and the quest for authenticity.
Where are you finding your hopeful glimmers?