Bilingual Regret

Yesterday I went to the temple and as I was finishing up and preparing to head out to the car, I noticed the little temple ladies all in a dither about something. Not like it was a medical emergency, but you could just tell something was not right. Then I noticed a little Hispanic lady in a wheelchair in the middle of everything.

These little temple ladies had no more Espanol on their tongue than "Hermana" so I leaned down to her and asked, in Spanish, if I could help. Immediately a lightening fast string of words, phrases, and relief issued forth.

But she was quite elderly and not in good health, and consequently I heard a lot of mumbling and some slurred words that I did recognize and many more than I did not.

I asked her, in my very rusty and slightly broken Spanish, to please slow down and I apologized for my lack of instantaneous vocabulary. She just smiled at me.

Finally, after some gesticulating and many repetitions I figured out that she needed to find a phone to call her daughter who was to pick her up. So we did that.

We finally got an outside line and she placed her call. Again she smiled at me.

More gesturing, repetitions, and my pleading for her to slow way down, I got the message that she needed to be wheeled outside to the driveway where her daughter would be coming to collect her.

As I was parking her in the shade, I believe I understood her enough to think she told me that she was visiting her daughter but in her home country she lives 14 hours away from the temple and how glad she was that there was one right close by for her to attend while she was here.

At this point she asked me where I learned my Spanish, and I told her, "In school, a very long time ago." She smiled again.

Then, feeling like I would probably be understood better than I thought, I told her that in the temple we are all friends, we are family. She replied that she was grateful for so many who try to help her here and she thanked me again and again, calling me "lindo" or nice.

She assured me, at least that is what I understood, that her daughter would be there in a few minutes, and that I was good to head home to wait for my children when they got out of school. So I left her there in the shade, waiting for her daughter.

Makes me super anxious that I should know this other language better. And I know I need more practice to help someone in just this kind of situation. Perhaps a refresher class is on my horizon.