a day. crowded in emotions and happenings. gracious in feeling, giving joyously fruits of peace, love, community. welcoming others in, new life, good thoughts to say, keep. goodbyes looming and happening. good. sad. wednesday.
this one might be rough. my brain is slowly but surely devolving into a sleepy mush.
i love having a tree in the corner, lit up, wrapped in an electric rainbow, crisp welcoming sounds, songs, filling every space; songs we know, love, enjoy. memories are always. is that we like the season? memories? is it all nostalgia? let’s hope not.
i left this morning in a bit of a hurry as it was ten and i was planning on meeting eli at piazza bologna at ten. but then friend number one found me. i had met him before, this man from nigeria, selling socks and umbrellas, and gave him some change for coffee or whatever. again, i try to talk to these guys as much as possible. i was sorry that i only had sizable bills that i had set aside for other purchases in the near future, and was unwilling to relinquish them. but a chat ensued as usual, and then we parted ways, when, on the next block over, another sock seller hailed me. hands shook, greetings exchanged, i talked a bit and again passed with my bills still in my pocket. at least they are gracious and smile a lot. and then, i kid you not, on the next block, no, wait, just at the end of the same block, i ran into a friend i have not seen in some weeks but always hoped and prayed to see again. we had a great conversation a while back. so, again sorry i couldn’t help, we chatted and then moved on. i laughed as i walked, as this was getting kind of ridiculous, but i would take nothing else; i loved every moment. these are a bunch of rad guys that i am very ok getting to know. next block stood a man with a hat out, a few coins huddled together at the bottom, like lonely men on a harsh winter night bereft of any coal or flame to warm them. he i talked to as well, quickly making another new friend. finally i made it to the piazza and waited for about five minutes when something showed up on my phone from eli. so i called him and was given the news of his being late and that he would see me in 25 minutes or so. ok.
i thought. then i acted. i went to the grocery store just around the corner and bought seven apples. one of these i ate as i wanted to eat it and i bought granny smiths, which are my favorite. i took my bag of apples and gave one to the hat man, he receiving it with great smiles. phil came by, having just been to the bank and planning on buying this man some coffee and/or something, which the hat man graciously declined. I walked down the street some more and saw no one else, so i went back to the piazza to wait, and by this point it was about the time i expected eli to show. but as i waited i gave another apple to a poor woman with a small dog and another woman from ghana who stands by the post office most days and sings praises to Jesus and dances around. it was very nice to give apples.
then eli came. we sat in a coffee bar and drank some stuff and talked for a long while. we gave each other geography and climate lessons on our respective homelands, we planned a trip out to some ruins towards the coast for next week, and just had a great time talking and laughing and learning together. i had felt that he was a little distant with me, but today he was very open and alive. walking back to the apartment with him we gave another apples to a guy i had met earlier. then we sat in the kitchen and showed each other pictures on the internets of the different beautiful places we talked about. and then just kept talking and talking. finally we got down to business and got a few more pages down in the story. afterwards i made for him and i the wonderful simplicity and joy of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. a great taste of america. and he enjoyed it! he then went back to the internets and showed me a wide array of afghan dishes and wonder. oh goodness it all looked so delicious. i have had only a small sampling of afghan food, made by non-afghans, but i loved every bite. i can only imagine! i want aziz to come back so he can cook for us. after spending the late morning and over half of the afternoon together, we finally said our farewells.
at one point in our conversations, i brought to his attention the fact that i will be leaving here in about a month and a half. this took him by surprise. it would be hard to describe the shock, maybe, or stunned look, or maybe even sadness over the news. his face held a sea of emotions. it honestly broke my heart a little. especially when he asked when i was coming back. the answer to that question was very obscure even for me. maybe he was just sad to lose his help in writing the story, but i felt like there was more to it than that. like, maybe i actually have a place in his life and he will be sad to see me go. i am sad to have to leave him.
tim had said something last night, talking with sarah, about how it has been great for him to see me come into the rome ministry with a huge heart for the poor and outcast already, but then enter into a place where i can not only serve them, but also be their friends. and from my side of things, that has been a pretty amazing experience. today is a good example of this. and know that i don’t tell you these stories of giving and sharing to flaunt how cool i am. in all actuality i had a hard time deciding whether or not to tell those stories, as i kept thinking about how Jesus told us that when we give we should not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing, and maybe this is one of those things best kept quiet. but from the numbers that show up on this thing, this is a pretty small and intimate, shall we say, group, and maybe i can let you know about the things that Jesus decides to do through me, as that is probably the main reason you read this anyway. or at least i would imagine. so, jesus does cool stuff. i just said i would be ok having Him use me to do cool stuff. and i guess He thought that was a pretty ok idea, too. that’s all, really. i am still very small, and it is probably best if we all keep that in mind.
we had another meeting for the refugee team tonight, which was just a game night really. and the games played were very number specific, leaving me out of any games the entire time. which was certainly ok, as i got the extreme joy of trying my best to wrangle the little childrens as their parents took a break (i hope) and had some fun with others.
phil and i made our way to the train station to hang with walter and crew and with the many new faces of the afghan refugees these days. phil shared the story of the prodigal son, which i got to paraphrase for an english-speaking friend. another friend asked me if i ‘believe on Isa.’ to which i said yes (Isa being Jesus). he said that was good for me. i asked him the same and he said he ‘believed on mohammed.’ we talked for a bit more and he laughed and said he couldn’t really understand the whole God-in-the-form-of-a-man thing. fair enough. in time, hopefully. a few more guys stayed behind to ask questions and we left while walter and our iranian friend prayed with another refugee. good things. very good things.
a couple crazies showed up again. the usual guy was standing right in the middle of the circle and phil figured that should stop, as he was being his usual distracting self. so phil locked eyes with him and said, ‘come here.’ and the guy took a step closer. and phil said again, ‘come here.’ another step. phil said, ‘come here, i am going to pray for you.’ the man was close now and phil placed his mands on the man, now strangely quiet, and began to pray. at this the man seemed taken aback, shocked, visibly agitated, trying always to turn and walk away from phil. but phil stayed with him and kept praying. as i recall, the man left us then, silently. this was an amazing thing to behold, as i stood on the opposite side of the group praying for phil. there are some pretty big things happening here.
we also said goodbye to a soccer friend of ours, one of the last familiar faces around, who is planning on making his way into france tomorrow. we do not know if we will ever see each other again, but we exchanged addresses, email and, in our case, otherwise. it is actually getting hard to do such things.
this is the Advent season, when we wait eagerly for Christ to come. let us pray for such a coming, for His Spirit to be present in our lives and our world. He loves us. all of us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyyDtv5MFTo
have a good night.
and everywhere i go i see You.. 