The wonders of God in their own tongue

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit worked a miracle to make sure people heard the good news about Jesus. In an instant, he enabled the disciples to speak in languages they hadn’t previously known. Parthians, Medes, Cretans, Arabs and others in the crowd that day were all amazed: “We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues! (Acts 2:11)”

We might wish the Holy Spirit would work this miracle for us! Wouldn’t it be nice if, instead of years of language study, our missionaries could instantly share the gospel in the language of anyone they met?

But the Holy Spirit is still making sure the wonders of God are being declared in foreign tongues.

Last month, I visited Bolivia and met with Erasmo Condori (pictured above). Erasmo has been studying with Academia Cristo for the past year. He speaks Spanish, but his first language is Aymara, an indigenous language spoken by 1.7 million Bolivians. He lives in El Alto, a city where many people only speak Aymara – including his wife, Benita (Also pictured above).

When we met, Erasmo shared with me that if it weren’t for Academia Cristo, he wouldn’t know who the true God is. The church he and his wife attended never taught them that God is triune: one God in three persons. The Holy Spirit used an Academia Cristo course called “The True God” to open his eyes to that truth. He loved learning how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit were all actively involved in saving him.

And now the Holy Spirit is using Erasmo to proclaim this wonder of God in his own tongue, Aymara. First, he taught his wife what he learned. Then, he taught “The True God” to members of his church. Now he’s sharing other Academia Cristo courses with them.

Erasmo isn’t the only one. Other students who are learning the gospel in Spanish through Academia Cristo are sharing it in their native languages too. Diosnel Castro Lopez in Paraguay shares what he learns with others in Guaraní. José Cormachi, Carlos Minagua, and José Chafla in Ecuador are teaching the truth in Quechua.

It might not seem as miraculous as what he did on the day of Pentecost. But when the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of the spiritually blind to see the truth, it is a miracle. When he opens a believer’s mouth to share the truth, it is a miracle. And the result is the same: more and more people are hearing the wonders of God in their own tongue.

Written by Rev. Abe Degner, world missionary on the Latin America mission team

Read Diosnel’s Faces of Faith story at wels.net/faces-of-faith-diosnel.

 

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