This month, instead of staying with our ministry host, we are living in a hotel. (that’s right, I get my own bed!)
Staying in a hotel gives us a great opportunity to build relationships with the staff and plant seeds for future World Race teams to continue to cultivate.
Last week a teammate and I decided to put together a goodie basket for the staff and spend some time chatting with them. And by chatting, I mean typing/speaking into google translate back and forth.
I had a wonderful time conversing with a girl named Beth (*name changed) who is on the cleaning staff. I love seeing her around the hotel wearing her panda face mask (these are very popular in Asia) and waving at me when I pass by. She would always happily get more toilet paper for our room even when the other staff members seemed annoyed by how often we needed a new roll. (…typical)
We hit it off pretty instantly; talking about our favorite movies, what we like to do for fun, what our favorite foods are, and how many people we have in our families. She is the same age as me (23) and has been working at the hotel for a few months now. She works every single day from 7 in the morning to 5 in the evening.
I decided I wanted to take her out for a smoothie at my favorite juice shop down the street. She was so excited! We had trouble deciding when to go because by the time she gets off of work, I am heading to the school to teach and when I get finished at the school, she is going to bed. But we finally settled for Sunday at 5pm since it was my day off.
As the week went on, she would smile and wave every time she saw me and I would remind her of our date (this consisted of me pretending to drink out of an invisible cup-saying “smoothie” over and over). She would laugh and nod.
When Sunday rolled around, I went to meet her in the lobby at 5 and the receptionist told me she had gone home sick. I was sad I didn’t get to meet with her, but went on with my evening.
The next week, I forgot all about not getting to go for smoothies, but would continue my routine of smiling and waving when I saw her.
Today I came to my room to find a a roll of toilet paper laying on my bed with a note in english saying: “I am truly sorry for his promise to you. I did not mean to do so. I hope you understand I am really sorry” -Beth …and she wrote “I love you” on the back. Google translate isn’t always the best, but I got what she was conveying. She felt really bad about missing our date and thought that I was upset. She doesn’t know one word of english, yet went through the trouble to write me a note. I laughed/cried for about 5mins at the whole situation then walked down the street to a bakery, bought her a doughnut and attempted to write her a note in Vietnamese.
I told her that I was not upset and have enjoyed my time getting to know her this month. I wanted her to know that she has a beautiful smile and that she is deeply loved. I also said I would never forget her and the gift of toilet paper she gave to me. (Lord, I hope that translated correctly because the last part could have come out real weird)
Communication is such a funny thing. It can be frustrating and difficult at times, but God is so good at breaking down language barriers and presenting me with sweet moments like this that display his love and infinite glory.
And for that -I am grateful.
xx
Ali
