One day two of my new friends, Callie and I were left alone in the apartment we were staying at while the others went out for lunch (we were going to finish leftovers.) While they were gone, my friends and I started asking ourselves what we should do… play games, go for a walk, take a nap… when my friend suggested we build a fort! A FORT!! So my two friends and I get uber excited and start remembering back when we were so young and would make forts all the time! We had a lot of long tables, sleeping mats, sheets and other random things, and we put it all together in less than forty-five minutes into a huge two room fort complete with entry way and staircase! We were playing cards inside when the group came back from lunch, with our instructor who was a half-an-hour early!! Fortunately, he was a good sport and even came inside for a little while. We made everyone laugh, which was great!
I learned so much during that week. Each day we would start off singing praise songs and studying the Word. We talked about suffering and how as our Father’s children, part of our inheritance is to suffer. “You are expendable,” I was told. This made a light bulb go on in my brain. Expendable. So often our Body fights against suffering, against death, for temporal or material things instead of turning our eyes to our eternal hope! Paul wrote in Romans 8 how suffering is our earthly inheritance, like a pregnant woman in labor—it hurts! However, there are glimpses of the coming glory that are evident in our lives “between contractions” if you will. It is not all about receiving blessing in this temporal lifetime, but spreading the glory of our risen Lord. I have been challenged greatly by this.
Callie, my new friend Sarita, and I all had to leave the country to get our Visas changed. Since we will be students in September, we now need student Visas. We got to the airport two and a half hours before our flight was to depart. When we got there, we were not allowed to go through to check in because we were too early! So, we sat down and soon afterwards, we started talking with a local woman! We talked with her all the way through security until we had to board our flight! We hope to continue our relationship long-distance! She was really sweet and curious about Americans. She had gone to Turkey to take Islam classes and was returning to visit some friends. The three of us girls really took to her and hope we can meet up with her again, Lord willing.
Our flight was really short. We took off, reached elevation, drank a cup of juice and not everyone had finished before we were ready to land! We were told to take a taxi when we got to our destination. We were the last ones through customs(we picked the slowest line… oops). On my way through, I was approached by a customs officer. He had been consorting with some of the other officers and looked rather concerned. He said, “Excuse me, do you need taxi?” I, slightly bewildered, said, “Yehhs…” Then he looked at one of his buddies and tapped him on his shoulder than told me, “This man take you.” He then asked me for directions and made sure that that was the exact location we were going. It was so funny. I think this other guy left in the middle of his shift to drive us into town. On our way out we passed some sleazy lookin guys asking us if we needed taxis. I was glad we were with a nice officer. We passed a lot of people partying on our way into town and while we were in town there were people everywhere. It was getting pretty late, past eleven, and then we remembered—it was the end of Ramadan! The next day was a holiday! So people used it as an excuse to eat a lot and even, if they weren’t devout, drink! It was probably a combination of all the partying, that it was late and that we were three girls without an escort that made the security guys want to give us a ride back. We did pay him and it was more than we would have spent on a normal taxi, but it was worth it.
We have been here almost a week and we have been pretty restless. The embassy took an extended vacation, so our paperwork hasn’t been processed yet for our Visas. Fortunately, this has given the three of us time to catch up on homework! Which though sometimes it is not the most thrilling of activities, it is important. We are getting a little anxious though because we want to move into the dorms and make friends and start Russian classes! It is so weird to think that all my friends back home have started classes! Dad is really teaching us some patience right now. We have made some friends at nearby stores and a coffee shop, which is great. We have also spent a lot of time getting to know each other better, which is also a blessing.
Anyway, long story short. We are tired of running around and not having local friends. Please pray that our Visas get done quickly and that we have patience to last until we get them!
Love you all!
Peace and Blessings!
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