Refreshing

Yesterday was such a day of healing for me. 

Thank the LORD, I didn't even know how much I needed it until I was actually in Cuenca talking with Jennie and Samuel. 

Some friends from Salem, Samuel and Jennie Pino, are visiting in Ecuador right now. Samuel is form Ecuador and they met while Jennie was going to school in Quito and eventually got married. Now they live in Salem, but were here to visit family/visit Ecuador. I knew that they would be around during the next couple of days, but I didn't know exactly where or when I would be able to meet up with them, or if I would even get to meet up with them. I did know, however, that my heart was desperately hoping and longing for a chance to visit with them. I was trying to tell myself that if I couldn't meet up with them I would still be ok, but even with that, I couldn't let go of the desire to visit with them. 

Saturday, I got a call from Jennie letting me know that she and Samuel would be in Cuenca Sunday and if I could take a bus out to meet them, they could pick me up at the Terminal and we could spend the morning and afternoon visiting. Of course I wanted to go out to Cuenca and be with them!! To hear from her was wonderful; I didn't even care that it was 7 hour bus ride (it really isn't a long distance on a map, it's just that the buses go through the windy mountain roads so it takes quite some time), I just knew that I wanted/needed to visit with them. So that night, Ivonne and I got on the bus to leave for Cuenca at 11 PM and arrived in Cuenca the next morning just before 6 AM. Ivonne went to her parent's house and Jennie and Samuel picked me up and took me to their hotel. 

Like I said before, I didn't even realize how badly I needed to see and talk with them until I was actually sitting with them in the hotel lobby, sharing completely honestly about EVERYTHING that has been going on the past two months. One of the greatest things, is that Samuel and Jennie also know Robin and Wendy very well. The few people that I have shared with, in some details, don't really know Robin and Wendy and so conversations were never really ones that made me feel completely at rest. But to talk with people who know both myself and Robin and Wendy quite well, it was sooo good. 

Among many, many things that were healing about the conversation/time with them, one of the biggest was this was the FIRST time I truly felt recognized as an adult. Really. The way they spoke with me and listened to me and the advice they gave, was completely from the perspective of me being an adult, having proved I am mature,  and being able to govern myself. One thing Jennie said that I really appreciated was that I am beyond my maturity level in that I have completely left my home country with the desire and passion to serve this year in a completely foreign environment, and I deserve a lot more trust and respect than I have been receiving lately. It was also incredibly refreshing to talk and listen from someone who, like myself, went to Ecuador at a young age to live with a family she had not known before and trying to figure out how to best live together. Like I mentioned before, when Jennie was 19 going on 20, she went to school in Quito for a semester through Willamette University. Many of the things/circumstances I have been going through she experienced to a certain level of similarity. 

It was so healing for my heart to have sympathy and understanding from people who love and care for me dearly. To just sit with them and hear their words of encouragement, and empathy for what I have been going through lately, it brought me so much peace. To share ways that my heart has been hurting and experience the rest and healing that comes from "letting it out" with people I trust and admire so much. . . I can't even begin to explain. 

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for healing, resting, refreshing and rejuvenating my aching and tired heart. Thank you.