a love that has no language // Grace Hart

Hello everyone! I hope it has been a happy father's day, and I know I speak for everyone when I say we appreciate all of our dads at home. (That means you dad!) The sense of community in the guesthouse is growing greater with every day we are here. During breakfast cleanup, my team was running around the house asking people to "jazz me over your dirty dish, ya dig?" and we were "Funking each other some good vibes." I regret to report that both of the girls room toilets are clogged... we attempted to unplug them, but to no avail. Sorry to Dan for having to fix those after lunch. We have been having so much fun playing card games, teaching each other guitar, and stumping each other with the most ridiculous riddles ever.

 I am on the music team for the VBS kids outreach. The biggest challenge our team has faced was the language barrier, but when we all put together our Spanish skills, it was enough to get the point across. The thing that amazed me the most was how God's love transcends language. Yesterday at kids club when we ran out of songs to sing with the kids, an older girl pointed to a poster on the wall that had lyrics in Spanish on them. As she pointed, she said something in broken English: "Cornerstone, by Hillsong," which is a song that we sing at shyg pretty often. The kids there loved the song, but they had never heard it with music before. So Anthony started to play the chords, and then everyone in the room was singing  the song in Spanish. Even though they weren't words we understand, you could feel the power of the words while they were filling the room. It was an amazing moment that unified all of us together, even though we don't speak the same language. The same thing happened today when we went to an international church nearby that was for people who speak english, and people who speak spanish. At the end of the sermon, our worship team went up on the stage to sing two songs: Forever Reign, and Amazing Grace. for forever reign, we started the song in english and then switched to spanish halfway through. I could hear the people singing in both languages, and it was a really powerful thing to hear people of many different cultures worshiping together.

Overall, the trip has been amazing so far. Our small team is becoming a family, and I have been filled with joy by the countless people we have met and interacted with, and  can't wait for many more wonderful memories.

Shout out to Mom, Dad, Hannah, Radimir, Grandma, Grandpa, and Teddy! I love you guys and I'll see you soon!

-- Grace