Interpretations

Despite the fact that the Rio Grande Valley right next to the Mexican border is an area of 80% Hispanic population, I thought most people spoke English.  An elderly lady at the snack bar at the Ford dealer (imagine, a free snacks at a car dealer!) where we were waiting for an oil change didn't, however, speak much.
           " Can I get a couple of hotdogs? " I asked.
            "Cuantos?"
           " Two."  I said, instinctively holding up 2 fingers for emphasis.
After getting the hotdogs I said, "Gracias!"
Then I heard another sentence, but I didn't realize what it was until she asked, "Coke, Sprite...?"
So I just waved my hands, "No, no, gracias."
On Sunday our whole group was invited to a Spanish speaking church.  We thought we might get headphones, or at least a group translator, but to my dismay the preaching was in Spanish with no interpretation.  I could only understand a few words like, "blood, Christ, sin, and Lord".  After a short time, though, everyone was relieved to be shown a video, in English, that related to the sermon. 
The best part, however, was at the Mexican restaurant afterwards.  We were treated to a lunch of "botana".  After googling it, I found out it meant "appetizer" .  It wasn't a normal pile of taco chips and cheese, but an appetizer with a difference.  There were large tortilla chips, cheese, but also onions, strips of tasty steak, and refried beans, avocado, and hot sauce on the side.  We all dug in until we were stuffed. Superb!  The pastor, whose sons are directors at the camp, wanted to thank us for the volunteer work we're doing .  Next week we're invited to one of their homes for dessert.  Now food is something we can understand!
Last night one of the sons showed a video and shared their vision of a new camp, several miles down the road from this site.  His enthusiasm was contagious.  Today we ladies had a tour of the new camp, which is a former gravel pit.  The terrain was more interesting than our flat field.  The best part is that when they dug out one of the pits to make a lake, it filled up with water the next day.  There are also pumps to add more water from a deep well, and now the lake is about 8-10 feet deep.  It didn't take much to imagine the campers having fun swimming, boating, and jumping off a tower onto a thing called " the blob" .  I'd never heard of this, but apparently when someone lands on one end of the inflatable raft, the person on the other end is catapulted into the lake.  Sounds like a blast!  We needed Jason to interpret the vision for the new camp by actually showing us wherre everything would be built.  It would be hard to picture if someone merely said, "We're building a camp in an old gravel pit."  With Jason's help we were able to interpret what we saw into what could be. 
Proper interpretation is so important!