ven, barát, tomodachi, prijátel, amigo, friend

I received a letter from a friend this week. She is Polish. She came to the states in the foreign exchange program...kind of! But, that is a long story saved for later.

For now, she came over the start of my sophomore year in high school. I was stuck up in my own circle of friends and left the "new girl tending" to someone else. But, there was something about her that I could not shake. I could not, not talk to her. Finally I broke out of my small shell (not the comfort one) and went and talked to her. I am and so forever thankful I did. I can only accredit the Hold Spirit as to why I did. The entire year we were involved in a Bible study together and we were able to share some struggles she and I were going through! We prayed for each other and loved spending time together. For several years we were only able to talk through one of our leaders from the youth group. She would relay messages but it was not the same. 2 years ago I finally entered the rest of the world on facebook. We found each other and have loved writing each other back and forth.

She came from a harder childhood and yet she is a beautiful picture of the how God takes the used and abused and uses them for His Glory. Her one prayer since she prayed to receive Christ is that her father and brother would as well. To this day they haven't but she has not given up.

Back to the original thought. I received a letter from her a few days ago and she was explaining to me some things she is working through. As I was praying for her in my quiet time I began to think about all the other friends around the world. Let me introduce you.

This is K in Poland.

This is T in a location that I am not allowed to say here. We met the summer after I met K. She came right on the heels of K leaving. She was only a year and a half older than I but was hired as our summer intern at church. She was one of those interns that I was able to look at past the "adult" part. We got along really well. She just left for a 2 year commitment.

This is E. She is in Peru where she and her family live in Lima. She was able to go up to the mountains with us when we were there in August. No one else wanted to share rooms with us, which we didn't mind one little bit. So, we got an amazing room with a better view. We would stay up late talking about everything and neither one of us were morning people so we got along VERY well! =)

This is J. He is in Mexico. He prayed to receive Christ about a year before my trip where he served as our translator. We called him our teddy bear.

Finally this is a future overseas prayer. This is R and she has taken a teaching job in Thailand. She will be there for at least a year. She leaves in a little less than a month. If you think about it, pray for R as she learns the culture and the language! She has a huge task ahead of her! But, God does not call the equipped...He equips those He calls...