East or West

My father was so grateful to be home, he kissed the wall of our apartment. We had been traveling all day from Canada but hit a major storm when we entered Detroit. The rain, wind, and flooding was so bad, we had to pull over. My five-year-old self was terrified. I just wanted to be home. Apparently, so did my dad. I remember him kissing the wall, thanking God for getting us home safely.

This memory came to my mind as I stared out the airplane window watching the greyish blue below me: the Atlantic Ocean. I smiled as the ocean suddenly began to change over to tiny brown and green islands. We were finally in North America. We were almost home.

I had an awesome time in Germany. I learned so much about a culture different from my own. I learned what it was like to stand apart, to be rejected or snubbed because of my nationality. I learned how much I loved my home and I was glad to be back. Several other questions filled my mind as we flew over Canada: why did God choose for me to be born here? Why did He pick the parents I have? Why did He make it so obvious that I had to go on this mission? The Bible says he did all of this so I would have the best opportunity to know and love Him. The mission trip reinforced this and gave me many God moments.

Moment #1
Someone from Riverview donated a Playstation 2 they had ordered off Ebay. They couldn't use this Playstation because it was European (this is the way I understand the story anyhow). We didn't know what we were going to do with it but took it along anyhow. On Monday, we played Ultimate Frisbee on the Koln Campus. It was my turn to hang out and invite people to join us...but I couldn't. I felt shy and awkward. I didn't want to bother these people. Finally, I saw a young man sit down on a bench. I approached him and asked him to play. He did. We had the best time with him and ended up hanging out with him several times that week. Sometime during the week, our new friend mentioned that he loved to play video games. He explained he did have a Playstation but sold it to help with the family farm. Bingo. We had a connection. We were supposed to bring that Playstation 2 for a reason.

Moment #2
We were playing volleyball and frisbee on Tuesday. We tried to talk to people by asking them to play. Two girls we asked seemed very unnerved by us. They wanted nothing to do with frisbee or to have any type of discussion. They laid down in the grass to sun themselves. A half-hour later, one of them sat up suddenly and started screaming. I ran to her to find out the problem. She had been stung by a bee. I called Joey over to pull the stinger out. I ran to my bag because for some reason, I had packed an anti-biotic cream and an Itch Eraser stick for stings and bug bites. Meg also had a frozen cappuccino which we held to the sting to prevent swelling. The girls were so thankful to us. It wasn't really us, though.

Moment #3
Martin, the pastor we visited and worked with in Koln, had a bar-b-Que for us on our last night there. He gave us directions but never told us his house number. Most of the group had been there before so we found it no problem. Joey and Pete were meeting with our new German friend to bring him to the cook-out so they had no clue where they were going. I became nervous and worried as we finished eating dinner. They still hadn't arrived. I went out to the road several times and checked to see if maybe they were in sight. Nothing. The rain came and I turned my worries into prayers. Please let them find this place. I gave it one last try as the rain poured down. I looked down the road and my heart fell. Nothing. I turned the other way and leapt for joy. It was them! They had passed the house. I yelled to them and they came running my way. Pete said they had gotten lost but took a taxi to the correct street. Still they had no way of knowing which house it was and were trying to follow the smell of the food. "Did you see us walk by, Holly?" Peter asked me. "No," I said. "Then how did you know to come out then to see if we were there?" he asked. "God told me," I smiled.

Maybe I didn't plant any seeds on this mission trip. Perhaps I only plowed the ground or changed people's perceptions of a Christian or American. Maybe I went to learn more about myself. Whatever the reason, I know I had to go and am so thankful for the time I had. Still, the best feeling of all was drinking a Vernors, surrounded by my family, telling stories from the past week. East or West, home is best.