It was our day off so a group of us decided to spend an adventure weekend in Bucharest, the capital city of Romania.
The train tickets the group had purchased was leaving at 6am. For some reason, I decided to stay behind and take a later train at 8am instead. Well, mainly because I wanted to sleep in for a few, extra hours and I just thought it would be nice to spend time alone for the day.
As I got on this 2-hour train ride and headed up north, I used this time to reflect on how my month went, prayed, listened to worship music, and thought about my family back home. Before I knew it, I noticed everyone was getting off the train as it looked like the final stop.
I wasn’t sure if I arrived to my destination, but I asked a few people where we were and nobody responded because they didn’t speak English. I looked around and all the seats were empty, but there was one girl that stood up right behind me.
I asked her if she spoke English. She said, “yes.” I asked her if this stop was “Downtown, Bucharest?” She responded, “No it’s not. Where are you trying to go?” I told her I was trying to get to my hostel. She said downtown was still a few miles away and I had to take another train in order for me to get there.
She looks like she was in her mid/late 20s, she seemed very sweet and harmless. As we were exiting the train station, she kindly asked, “you know, I can take you there if you want since I’m on my way towards that direction anyway?”
I was shocked, but at the same time excited. “This is going to be an interesting morning…” I thought to myself.
I’m lost in a big city I’ve never been in and a total stranger just asked me if I wanted a ride from her. I typically don’t say yes to someone I don’t know, but I felt a sense of peace with her. So what did I do? I hopped in her car and we drove away.
This was totally unplanned, but somehow God made us cross paths. We were having a great conversation in the car and something in my heart just told me to ask her out for coffee as a ‘thank you’ gift.
Here I am… in the middle of a big city… somewhere in Romania… lost… suddenly gets in a stranger’s car…. and then asking her to go on a coffee date with me… this was definitely not a part of my itinerary for the day!
But she surprisingly agreed and had some time to spare so we parked up, found a coffee shop near my hostel, and we just chatted our lives away! She also ended up asking if she can take photos of me because she loves photography. So basically… we even had a random photo shoot! (God just knew I love getting my pics taken! LOL)
As we were hanging out, I also just felt a tug in my heart to give away my “key” necklace that was given to each World Racer from our leadership team prior to the start of the trip.
Each key represents a specific, prophetic word that’s supposed to be tailored to our individual journey with the Lord. The word on my key says ‘HOPE.’ The point of having this key is to discover and walk in victory with it and once you do, you give it away to somebody else so they can walk in victory with it as well.
The funny thing is I actually misplaced this key for the last three months and I randomly found it the day before I had to go to Bucharest so I decided to wear it. Then I happen to meet a new friend who I just happen to hang out and connect with out of no where?! Coincidence? I don’t think so!
I ended up giving my key away because this was definitely a divine appointment from God and I feel like she can walk in HOPE and expect for great things to happen in her life! I also got to pray with her as we parted ways.
We ended up exchanging contact information as she also told me that she had plans to visit San Francisco this coming fall! Well, look at that!!! Now she can contact me and I can show her around when she visits my home!
This may be one of the most memorable moments from my month in Romania and I’m grateful for this unplanned, yet planned morning adventure from Jesus! Cheers to new friends in foreign countries! God is always full of surprises!
