A Non-Spanish, Spanish Lesson

As many of you know, I(Stacy)  have been slowly practicing Spanish over the past year.  I've been attending a Spanish Bible study and working on Rosetta Stone.  Now that I'm here, in Ecuador, a Spanish speaking country, I've been dunked into the language at full speed.  I've learned a lot more vocabulary and phrases and it's been a safe place to practice (by safe, I mean, safe for my ego), as people here have helped me tremendously.  The past four weeks have been an awesome Spanish class with many lessons, but the biggest lesson I've learned has been while speaking Spanish, but has nothing to do with the specific language...

The biggest lesson that I've learned is to THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK!  I've had brief lessons in this at home that have ended with me and a mouthful of foot, but this is different.  To speak Spanish I have to actually stop and think about what I am about to say.  It's been a difficult lesson for me to learn.  When I don't think before speaking I fumble my words and it leaves the other person with a confused look.  When I think before speaking I tend to butcher the language a bit less and am able to communicate more clearly.   Wow, what a revelation!

Isn't it awesome how the Lord uses unconventional ways to teach us life lessons?  Now I just need to bring this new lesson home!  Pray for me; I'll need it!

This is Cessia and Leonor.  They bring lunch for us each day.  We start with a different type of soup each day, followed by meat or seafood, veggie and rice.  Lunch is the biggest meal of the day in South America.  They make fresh fruit juice each day too.  They teach me more Spanish each day... names of foods, recipes, fruits, etc.  It's one of my favorite Spanish lessons each day.