This is the second time that I have been on a team that was assigned Unsung Heroes. That means that as a team we are given freedom to travel around Nicaragua and have meetings to find new potential contacts. We explain to them the vision of Adventures in Missions to partner with existing ministries and support them in their work. These host may also have to opportunity to host other short-term teams from Adventures. It’s an interesting opportunity however I felt I had adequate experience in this back in one month when my team was asked to do this in Cambodia. From the time that our team started speculating that this would be our task I was openly discouraged about it. I have realized throughout the “race” that I am definitely a relational person. I never feel right about a country until I have met our host and new friends, and when we have the opportunity work with a church I literally get excited to meet my family in Christ. Sure, it can be hard with culture and language barriers, but there are other ways to communicate.
Xhino
A short example for you, because I miss those parts of my family and you need to hear more about them. I was in Albania for a few days by myself because the rest of my team took a short excursion to Greece. While I was alone the youth from the church really embraced me, and I met Xhino. This guy is one of the funniest guys you will ever meet, and I hope you do meet him. The only problem is that Xhino doesn’t speak English. You know, when someone makes everyone else laugh you just need to know what that person is saying. One day I expressed to Xhino that I really love ice cream, he responded by telling me (through translation) that he would bring me ice cream the next day… And he didn’t … Knowing his personality I thought it was okay to tease him about this, I approached him asking, “Where’s my ice cream?” We began to laugh and joke about it and eventually Xhino brought me ice cream.
In the weeks following that simple interaction there was a door of communication opened for Xhino and I. He approached me and asked me to teach him English lessons, we started meeting for coffee and working on his English, and my Albanian began to improve as well. We laughed and got to know each other through these times. I also got to know the various friends that Xhino would ask to come along for translation purposes (shout out to Xhoni, Andi, and even Bledi). Despite what others said about his language learning skills, Xhino worked hard and even finish his homework. He was pursuing English and I was pursuing friendship.
These kind of friendships are hard to come by in Unsung months. During month one I found it much easier to pursue friendship with my team. But now I feel like it’s almost over, I’ve known these people for a while and I’ll be home in less than six weeks so what’s the point of pursuing them. I know that sounds really mean, but I’m just being honest. This is one of the reasons I like writing because it helps me to organized my thoughts and see the whole picture. If I had not pursued Xhino and the other youth in Albania because the time was less than a month I would have missed out on a lot. If I don’t pursue my team, because they are the only ones I have here, I will miss out now too.
The World Race has given me a new value of time, rather than waiting around for the right time I have jumped into ministry from day one because I know I only have a month in each place. I want to continue to live that way this month but also take that with me in the rest of my life. One of my teammates encouraged me with this quote and I would like to leave it with you, “If you’re waiting for the perfect moment, you’ll just keep waiting.”
