I do not consider myself to be a dancer. My wife loves to dance but does not consider herself to be a dancer either. However, when you begin a Spanish immersion and your elderly host mother tells you that her favorite thing in the entire world is to go dancing for five hours every Sunday night, what do you say when she invites you to join her?
“Welcome to the living room of one big family.”
Heading into the vicar assignment service at the end of May, Abby and I were excited to learn where we would spend the next year of our lives. We were thrilled to hear that I would serve as a vicar at Santísima Trinidad in Medellín, Colombia. Neither of us knew Spanish, but WELS World Missions sent us to the Spanish Institute of Puebla for a four-month immersion. We both had a goal of one day learning another language, but I never expected that language-learning would take us to a dance floor along with a hundred other people to dance to traditional Mexican music.
Would I have preferred to go dancing after a month or two of language learning? Yes! But after only one week in Puebla, we decided to accept our host’s invitation. Despite feeling exceedingly out of place every time we joined our host on the dance floor, I will never forget how her nephew described their weekly tradition. He said, “Welcome to the living room of one big family.” What at first felt like a terrifying opportunity to demonstrate my beginner-level Spanish (and dancing) skills turned into a wonderful opportunity to bridge a cultural gap and deepen a relationship.
Vicar Ben Hillmer and his wife, Abby
Cultural immersion involves a lot of new experiences, but even after a few weeks you begin to realize that all people are fundamentally the same. A beautiful example of this is the gathering of Mexican Lutherans at Templo Cristo Glorificado. We arrived in Puebla in time to join them for Sunday worship. The fact that we could hardly understand what they were saying did not prevent us from seeing that these believers were delighted to be strengthened by God’s Word together. Jesus’ love transcends cultural differences and unites his people into one family.
When we began our language training, it did not take long to see the other side of the story. Understand me correctly, Puebla is a beautiful and safe city, but the devil is at work wherever there are people. He is always causing hurt, doubt, and loss. Going dancing is relatively inconsequential, but what about when a fellow student judges my belief in the validity of the Bible, or a guide tells me that life doesn’t really matter if we all die. Would it just be easier if I said that Lutherans and Catholics are the same? In these moments, I was given the opportunity to go dancing.
In a culture where Jesus lives in the shadow of Mary and the saints, there is a need for clarifying conversations about faith and belief. This is also necessary in places beyond Latin America. Everyone experiences hardship. Everyone experiences doubt. Bible-believing Christians have the truth and have no need to be embarrassed about it. God’s Word gives us the confidence to make connections for the sake of another person’s eternal wellbeing. At times, those conversations may feel uncomfortable, and there will probably be an easier option. But when you remember that Jesus gave everything to bring you into the family of believers, you don’t need to be afraid to dance!
Written by Ben Hillmer, vicar at Santísima Trinidad in Medellín, Colombia
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