From Romania to Ukraine to Chile I have been blessed to find family everywhere I go.
In Romania it was a chance for me to grow in deeper relationships with my squad. Whether long nights staying up in deep conversations, screaming on the sidelines of soccer games, cooking in a kitchen for 40 with one stove, movie nights, walking the street evangelizing, or just hanging around the town, we grew from friends to family and created unbreakable relationships. Romania gave me the chance to begin my journey of vulnerability with people who, at that point, were mostly strangers to me.
Ukraine was a little bit of a change of pace. My team happened to be the only team about 12 hours from all the others, so for me Ukraine was about building family among my team. Being placed on a summer camp and having to spend every night in the same room with 7 others girls ended up creating some of my favorite memories from the race thus far. Midnight grilled cheeses, singing and dancing with music so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think, family dinners (chicken and waffles was my fav), helping with retreats, and placing an hour for team time and ending up in such deep conversations we didn’t realize 3 hours had past. We didn’t have to become family, but we did and I truly couldn’t imagine life without them.
I have only been in Chile for a short time but I have been blessed beyond measure. This month my team was separated into four homes in groups of two. Haley and I were placed in the home of Jacqueline and Antonio Diaz, and their two daughters Sophia (5) and AnaPaula (3). This family is truly God sent. Coming into this month I began to have feelings of being homesick but more just because the holidays were coming up and I knew I would miss my family traditions the most. When I arrived in this home it was like God heard my prayers and placed me here himself. This family treats me as if I was their own and to have that makes the sadness of missing home a little less sad. We have family dinners together every night, and before we go to bed we read a bible verse in English and Spanish together and then take time to sit and pray as a family. Antonio is helping to teach us Spanish, while we help with his English. They took us in no questions asked and from the moment I stepped foot in this home I was treated like family and nothing less. This month God didn’t give me friends to become family, He gave me a family. I cannot wait to see what the next two months have in store for me here, but I’m blessed to say I already have family all over the world.
