My First Mass in Spanish

I attended an evening mass last weekend that was lead entirely in Spanish. I went with a friend and wanted to go even though I knew I would only understand a word here and there. I like going to places of worship of any religion. I find they tend to be peaceful places. I meditate and pray in my own way. I also like listening to the songs and the prayers said aloud have a rhythm that is calming to my soul.
So, off we went to mass and as I sat listening and at times kneeling (yes, I sit, stand, and kneel whenever the congregation does, when in Rome...), I tried to imagine what the priest was saying. I didn't get much. At one point, people laughed at something, then another time, many people raised their hand in response to a question. I didn't know what was being asked, so I didn't raise my hand. I didn't want to interrupt my friend's spiritual experience, so I didn't interrupt her and ask for a play by play every few minutes. I waited until the end of mass to ask her what the sermon was about. She said it was about being welcomed into God's kingdom. I asked her what the question was that he asked and she said, "He asked who wanted to go to heaven."
"Really?, I didn't raise my hand, in fact, not everyone raised their hand."
I thought about that and wondered why people wouldn't raise their hands. Do the people who didn't raise their hands not believe in heaven? Did they not necessarily believe in all the teachings of the church and didn't even want to humor the priest with raising their hand?
I thought it was mostly US Catholics that were ornery like that. My Catholic friends in the states vary in their spiritual beliefs and their views of the world. I found when talking to Colombian Catholics, there is the same diversity. My friend, who attends mass every day here, is very open minded. We talked about God and spirituality and we have the same view that religion is about people and God is so much bigger than that.