Heart language...

Today I went to a Spanish speaking meeting/fiesta today. I don't this often because:

1. I don't speak Spanish (hardly at all - can't even cuss well in Spanish)
   
2. Their meetings usually last at least 3 hours - they love to hear themselves talk and talk and talk and then, at their fiestas, they eat and eat and eat and eat...
3. I hate that they have to work to accommodate me for understanding what we're saying (imagine how they feel at my meeting?)
   
4. I always overeat (you have NEVER had tamales like these...)
   

But today, an important member of my home group who is Hispanic wanted to have a celebration with the people of his culture. It was also important (and "right") for him to be with "his people" since he's currently serving as a DCM of our area's Spanish speaking district.

I usually go to the whole meeting about every couple of years - like at some special occasion like today. My wife speaks some Spanish and so, when we go together, she can translate some of what is said.

If you've never been to a Spanish meeting (here or anywhere), you might try it sometime because:

1. These folks really understand about doing AA in life's adversity
2. Even with no Spanish, you eventually get that some of these folks are really passionate about AA and that AA has miraculously restored their lives.
3. Absent words, the "language of the heart" does speak loud enough to hear
4. These folks really understand the whole thing about how to do Public Information - at their fiestas, they invite their families and community members to their fiestas and, as they are sharing their stories, they're pitching the others about how AA has healed their lives.

The mother, wife and brother who all cried and wept and thanked us for saving their family; the father who came to the podium and apologized for being there drunk (as they said, "...where else should you be?") but who wept tears of joy for his son who had been saved from what he knew was a certain death; the meeting "elders" (with up to 25 years of sobriety) who talked about the miracle of their sobriety and ; the children who are obviously loved and cherished running around as comfortable as if they were in their own living rooms; the members of Raul's home group who shared how much he's grown in AA in 5 years.

We laughed, we cried, we shared our wonderful program...

It's a wonderful program and a blessed life - no translation necessary...