Encouragement

     Today is the day the team left Kiev. Max picked my mom and me up a little after 7AM and we all drove out to Boryspil Airport. It's a long drive out but I wasn't thinking about it. Mostly it was about how I didn't want to see them go. But real life intrudes too quickly when we're having fun. They got through to security no problem. So look for their arrival around 4PM local time in Newark.
     However the drive back was what really got me thinking. Max was talking with Marina and Zhenya most of the time in Russian and I immediately felt like the odd man out. It made me think about all the things I would need to do over the next 6 months. Language lessons, shopping, teaching, traveling. In short, life. But it's complicated more by the fact that I can only recognize about one word in twenty. All of the sudden I'm bouncing off the walls in my head about being here. It's not quite a panic attack but I could easily get there from here.
     In comes God with a bit of encouragement. After Max dropped me off near my apartment, I walked up to the building and followed another resident inside. She and I shared the elevator ride up. Somewhere around the 2nd floor she turns and asks something like, "Ви розмовляєте англійською?" The only word in there I understood was англійською (English). I say "English?" She says, "English. American?" I reply yes. It turns out she and her husband are missionaries in Kiev with another organization. They have an English club that meets here in the apartment building. Long story short, I had dinner with her family and another couple from the States. Both are from Georgia. So their accents are familiar and sorta comforting.
     I know the Rolling Stones weren't famous for their theological wisdom but the song that came to mind after the encounter in the elevator was this. "You can't always get what you want, But if you try sometimes, well you just might find, You get what you need." Never before, that I can remember, have I so quickly and obviously been given exactly what I needed when I wasn't expecting it. I was feeling very small and alone but now it's not so bad. It's still a tough, complicated situation. But knowing that I'm not alone here feels really good. I had been told there were other Americans living in the building but hadn't met them yet. Finally though, it's good to have just that one extra connection. It means so much more, now, knowing that I can do this. I've seen that Americans have been doing this for years and are succeeding.
     The journey won't be easy but it can be done. And now I have some comfort and encouragement for the journey ahead. Let's see where it leads.