Have you ever had a conversation that seemed to bring up memories of the past? A statement made by one of my teammates in frustration of having to leave Thailand sparked a conversation about friendships. She was frustrated with having to leave Thailand after the Lord had brought a friend into her life she really connected with. She has had the best soul connection with the pastor’s wife and has found herself to be a great teacher of English to her, which has opened up the opportunity for a deeper bonded friendship. A real sisterhood relationship has been created.
As a result, my memories have turned to a time 9 years ago. I was teaching in Brazil and going to a Portuguese Church. It was that year I developed a bonded friendship that due to a language barrier seemed to be based on hugs and smiles only. But in reality it was much more. Ehud and I seemed to connect in a sisterhood manner. There was a mutual love and adoration for each other. However, we seemed to always struggle with the same understanding of wanting more of a spoken connection. My dear Swiss friend, Astrid, who was fluent in Swiss, German, French, English and brilliantly learned Portuguese, was in some way always translating our charades into to something we mutually could understand.
Throughout our eight years of separation we have kept in touch through only several email correspondences. A month ago Ehud and I were reconnected. I have been flooded with memories of her personality, family and fun times together. She always showed a life of hard work and drive toward finishing her schooling, which she did! This taught me a lot about perseverance in life when things aren’t easily handed to you. Through her broken written English a reestablishment of connection is occurring. It is as if she is still the same and time had never passed. I love those rare friendships.
Another rare friendship has bloomed over these past weeks of being in Thailand. Jiap (her nickname) has meshed so well into our Ignite family. We would be lost without her ability to translate Thai into English. She has slowly fit into our jokes, laughs, and prayer times. As our translator she has welcomed us foreigners with opened arms. What amazes me the most is how open her life is to serving God. A life of seeking led her to leave the religion of Buddhism and embrace a relationship with Christ. After this both of her siblings followed into the Christian faith, leaving behind their parents to the Buddhist faith. Still with the differences of leaving a family faith, it was so neat when we met her mother she had the faith and boldness to have us prayerwith her mom about her ailing health. Jiap displays such an obedience and walk of faith that is encouraging.
I also have been blown away about the intelligence that this humble gal has. She is fluent in English, is starting another 6month discipleship program with WYAM, translates for mission groups, and is finishing up school. And in her spare time she is learning Spanish from Aaron. I am barley able to remember hello and thank you in Thai. :0 Her laid back attitude of life: sleeping, reading, watching movies, hanging, talking and hugging have been such a great fit with my personality. The one thing that blew me away was how I have again connected with a foreign friend in a sweet way. Throughout this week she has been coming up and hugging me with the words “Hey sista”. This speaks volumes to my spirit. I’m the only one she refers this to, and as one of my teammates said, “She is speaking “my” lingo”. This is so true!
As I ended the conversation that made me think of the past and back to the present, I tried to end it with an encouraging revelation. Relaying these thoughts to my teammate was a true reminder to me of what God calls all of us to. I brought up the reminder that God brought us to the World Race for this very reason of friendship disciplining. He is such a personal God and He calls all of us into this. And even though it stinks to leave friendships behind, I think our life would be less joy filled and have a void if we didn’t allow ourselves to enter into soul connected friendships. Plus, how cool is it to stay connected with people from all over the world? And also have the chance to call or email someone in another continent? It is like a family of community going global. One thing that I am sure of is that it makes God smile when I truly say, “I have sistas from a foreign land”. It sure makes me smile.
