I did want to tell you about last Sunday, since I had requested that you be praying. Thanks to the prayers of many, the combined bilingual service with the whole church was a very edifying time. I’ve heard no negative comments (though I don’t know that anyone would have shared those with me).

We had a number of bilingual speakers participate: Lee Penya did the welcome, Gerardo Lara gave the announcements, Steve Austin led singing, Paul Roggendorff read scripture, Daniel García translated Gary McCaleb’s elder’s prayer (Gary isn’t bilingual, but regularly attends our bilingual service, so he’s part of the group), Ronnie Rama did the communion thoughts and Carlos Reyes led the closing prayer. I give that list only because each of those guys did a great job with using both languages. I’ve heard a lot of people try to work in two languages that did not do it well; each of those men did a great job.

Things did take longer doing everything in both languages. It was 10:50 when I got up to present the Bible lesson; the interim preacher we have right now nearly always ends the service right at 11:00. People didn’t seem too impatient, however. In fact, I was surprised at how responsive the audience was. Admittedly it’s been years since I’ve done anything on Sunday morning at University; the crowd was very lively, with lots of “amen”s during the sermon. The message seemed well received.

What I most wanted was for the ground to be laid for this to happen more often. Lots of people expressed the desire to see just that, so I’m hopeful that it will happen. We need to strengthen the ties between those that meet in the auditorium and those that meet in the chapel. We aren’t two congregations under one roof; we’re one congregation speaking two languages and meeting in two places.