Such a Small World

So far on the race, I have met so many people. More people that I can count. Some of those people were from the US others are simply people from around the world coming together to honor the Lord in missions. But, every once in a while I got to meet people from where I am from. 

The first time I met someone that was from close to home was in Kosovo! I was walking back to our apartment with my teammate Renee. We had just left our favorite coffee shop and we ran into Alban, the director of the houses of hope that BPZ ran. He was accompanied with another man that we had not met yet. We exchanged hellos and then we were introduced to the other man. His name was Mark and he works in sports ministry in Vienna. I could tell though that he wasn’t from Vienna. He then explained that he was from the US. So, as you do we asked where in the US he was from and he explained that he was from Southern California! I was obviously excited to learn more since that is also where I am from. He told me that he was from Garden Grove and a few other smaller cities in Orange County. I then explained where I grew up close to that area and he was familiar with the church I had grown up attending. 

After meeting someone and talking with someone that knew exactly where I was from made me so excited. In a place that is so unfamiliar it was nice to talk with someone who was from somewhere very familiar. 

The second time happened the first night in Ukraine. Our host for the month Joel, picked us up from the airport and while we were on our 4 hour drive to Mukachevo we went around and told him where we were all from. As he was talking about himself he mentioned that he to was from California. So, I asked him where in California he was from and he told me he was from a smaller city called Santa Ana… if you know me you know that is where I grew up until the age of 15. As we kept talking we figured out that he worked at the In-N-Out around the corner from my childhood home when my family and I lived there! During my month in Ukraine I got to talk to Joel more, there were so many times when our paths crossed completely unaware of each other.

All that to say that sometimes when the world feels so big and unfamiliar the Lord blows your mind. He knew I would struggle with homesickness and he placed me and my team in the home of people that felt so much like home and reminded me of my own family. I got to reminisce about my hometown and childhood memories with someone who knew exactly what I was talking about. It truly goes to show that the world gets smaller to more of it you see.