prieten= friend in Romanian
I'm riding through the Moldovan countryside
with small village houses on my left
sun-kissed hills on my right
and a stinging in my heart.
A few days ago we had to say goodbye to the people who poured more into my life than I ever anticipated this month. I knew entering the Race that I would be coming and going to each place just after one month, but I thought it would feel okay to come and go. I thought the process would be easy, and sometimes it is, but this month it's not.
I painted this picture at the beginning of the month of playing with kids, and visiting villages. Instead, there were many mornings where we would sit around until someone came to tell us what to do that day, but there were 9 consistent factors that made my month the best month yet!
At first, I thought these youth that kept coming around were just doing us a favor by hanging out with us, but when we kept seeing them I realized something….we were actually friends. We were living normal life with them and it was so great. Over the course of four weeks we had built a friendship that would forever cling to my heart.
So this is for Catalina, Giku, Ion, Irina, Cornelia, Silviu, Andrei, Veronika, and Vatali. Thank YOU for:
ping pong matches
Adele on the accordian
Romanian/Russian/English lessons
breakdancing
futbol training
Sunday lunches
many cups of coffee and tea
Abduction and The Vow
chocolates and sweet notes
Friday night worship
traditional Moldovan dances
learning the Cupid Shuffle
pancakes
tolerating the volume of 6 American girls
laughing when our words were lost in translation
and simply for your friendship. It was never forced and always refreshing. I don't know if we will ever see each other again in this world, but we will one day see each other again in heaven!
