Last night was my friend Hannah's 21st birthday. I went out to dinner with her and a big group of friends at a Chinese restaurant in Nervion (a neighborhood in Sevilla). It was a really fun time with friends, and the food was pretty good. Afterwards, we headed back to the center of Sevilla and then crossed the bridge into Triana, where I live. Fatima met up with us there. The group wanted to go to a discoteca (dance club) called Boss. When we got there it was pretty empty so we headed down the street to Big Ben, another bar/club.
While we were walking over there though, I randomly ran into Jake, a friend from the Bible study that Fatima and I go to. We stopped to talk with him and with the group he was with, which were mostly Spanish people that he knew from a different Bible study type group that he is involved with. It was so cool to meet them and talk with them, and I felt comfortable around them right away, which I did not expect since I knew nothing about them at first. It was a really neat experience for me because I realized that God calls His followers the "family of God" for a reason - even when I meet Christians from a completely different culture and country, I still feel at home around them, even if I do not know them very well at all.
After we talked for a bit, they invited Fatima and I to go salsa dancing with them. I was a bit skeptical of the idea just because of my lack of experience and rhythm as far as dancing goes, but at the same time it sounded like a lot of fun. Fatima and I were also not feeling up to staying in Big Ben, as there were a lot of people in there and it was just really hot and smoky from all the cigarettes and such. Just not really our scene. So, we decided to take a chance and go with the group to find a place to salsa.
It ended up being SO much fun!! Our group consisted of Fatima, Jake, and I and our new friends Abraham, Inma, Carmen, and Martha. They are all part of a group called Connexxion, which was started by Martha (who is from the U.S.) and which is a ministry group for young Christian adults here in Spain. They were all super nice and welcoming and fun to talk to and hang out with. We all took turns dancing, and for the first time in my life I actually didn't feel as self-conscious about how I looked when I danced. Maybe it was the really good music they had there. Maybe it was the fact that the people there didn't really know me. Maybe it was the fact that Abraham and Jake were super patient with me when they were trying to teach me how to salsa. Or maybe it was just the fact that we were a group of friends just having fun and laughing when we messed up. I don't know... probably all of the above. All I know is that it was a ton of fun, and I totally want to go salsa dancing again!
I think the reason this experience stuck out to me so much out of the many that I have had so far is that I finally stepped out of my comfort zone and decided to try something new while trusting God that He would keep me safe and give me wisdom in how to act and in what decisions to make. And in return, He arranged the circumstances so Fatima and I would be in a particular place at a particular time so that we would randomly run into Jake and our new friends and end up salsa dancing and having a great time! I think it was a God-thing. I felt like I got to experience a part of Spain I had never seen before. And I got to meet some new Spanish friends! It was awesome. Thanks, God!!
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