Hablo Español?

Manuel translated my questions for his mother. She would smile and reply to him in a language I didn’t understand.

“How do you say, ‘sign here’?”

I needed her signature before we could transport him. He told me what to say.  I turned to her and said, “firme aquí.”

“I really need to learn Spanish,” I mumbled to myself.

She signed her name and we moved him to the gurney. Manuel’s father had just drained the radiator of his truck. He told Manuel not to go near the hot coolant, but teenage curiosity got the best of him and a few minutes later he had burns on both of his legs. We were transporting him to the burn center.

The morphine did its job and his pain was bearable so we talked on the way. He complained to his mother about not eating anything all day. His mom said he would be fine.  (Well – at least I think that’s what she said. ) I told him I once went 19 days without eating and assured him he’d be fine.

“Nineteen days? Are you serious?” he said.

“Yeah. But 19 days is nothing. I have friends who’ve fasted for 40 days.”

He told his mother and she smiled at me. They talked for a while in Spanish. He asked why I fasted for 19 days. I told him it was so that I could hear God’s voice more clearly.  I explained that the first time I fasted it was for three days and the second time was for six then twelve and finally nineteen days.  He told his mom. She was reading a book about fasting and was a little afraid to try it, but the experiences I shared gave her courage.

Manuel said his mother is a believer but she fears that he isn’t interested in God because he doesn’t talk about Him the way she does. He said he does believe in God, but he doesn’t know much about Him from personal experience.  I spent a few minutes telling him healing stories and shared a few dreams. He was very interested. Each time I told a story, he told it to his mother in Spanish.

I told him about the woman I prayed with who cut her neck open and about the e-mail I received from her landlord saying that her neck had been healed.

“Wow,” Manuel said. ” I felt something move inside me when you said that!”

We talked about dreams and visions. His mother wanted to know if I saw angels. I told her I see and hear them at times and showed them a picture of angels in worship (below). Manuel and his mom were stunned when they saw it.

We talked about the supernatural all the way to the hospital. Manuel translated everything I said. He had his mother take a picture of us. (He’s the second patient this week who posted a picture of themselves with me on Facebook. So if you’re looking…. they’re out there – you just gotta find them.)

Manuel showed more interest in my stories than I expected. He seemed to be hungry for the supernatural. I told him that God is always looking for people who want to see miracles happen. He wants to touch people who are hurting and He’ll use teenagers to do it. I encouraged him to ask God to show him how to do the things we talked about.

We took Manuel inside the burn unit and moved him to the bed. As soon as we had him moved over they began to pop the blisters and remove the loose skin from his legs.

His mother wanted to know if she could keep in touch with me so I gave her my contact information. If we kept in touch it would be one more reason for me to learn Spanish.

It was a beautiful ending to an amazing shift.