Seeking Hospitality...Finding Love

What am I going to do with my life? What impact will I have? How do I honor God with my talents, time, and tendencies? I wish I had a clear vision like some people seem to have since the age of 7. When I was 7, I wanted to be the first one on Mars. Maybe I’m a dreamer but I’m trying to see my path and don’t have a bright enough light. March has increased the light and increased the questions.

The fullest month so far, March brought my first French concert, a missionary’s influence, an orientation race, a place in the Belgium senate and the Belgian Palais de Justice, a football match (Not the Super Bowl. Think World Cup.), and more. After Dan Luiten helped re-awaken my soul with his live music, I met a Brazilian missionary to Bosnia, seeking support in Belgium. Wanting to know him better (and nudged by God), I opted to work a weekend with him and his team. Over the course of two days, I learned about his deep faith, huge heart, and strong service. Despite the language difference, relationships formed between myself and the four Bosnian teens that came with Walter. In forty-eight hours, they were closer than most friends I have at school. The activity and community energized me.

Since January, we have trained every Thursday. We represent the athletics of Collège Saint-Michel. Twelve checkpoints mark our course. We are the college’s Rheto Trophée team. A competitive cartography course, the Rheto Trophée invites all the schools in Wallonia to participate. The qualification began with the jump-rope, with six people: four jumping and two twirling the cord. We surpassed the maximum number of jumps in two minutes, earning a 10 minutes bonus for the race to follow. After a half-hour had passed, we took off from the starting line, racing into the woods with nothing but a map, a compass, and our desire to in the top thirty, in order to qualify for the final. Forty-eight minutes later, we exuberantly panted on the other side of the finish line. The next day, we smiled even bigger when we found that our non-sportive school had placed first among 121 teams. Next stop: the finals on April 28^th.

Not long after, the chance to play part in a foreign government was mine. I traveled to Brussels for two days to debate current topics such as women’s rights, measures against cyberbullying, green energy, and others with over 100 other Belgian students. What a thrill it was to sit in a senator’s chair and join the debate! The conference stressed sharing one’s opinion with respect, something that is scary to do, especially with the hate-speech police and the potential of saying something false. However, the principal of democracy is a sea of people, respecting others and debating respectfully, pointing to what is hopefully best for the community. The debate is the gearbox of a society and respect, the oil.

My adventures didn’t slow down. The next school day, I threw myself into an internship at a lawyer’s office. For two days, I observed the life of the courtroom. The Belgian system is much different than the American principally in the fact that there is rarely a jury; the judge decides the case. Thankfully, my hopes of becoming a lawyer were dashed and illuminated. I seek to create and express original and interesting ideas, a trait that I did not find that in the lawyer’s office. The adventure taught me something I don’t like.

What it might look like to argue a case

 “I’ve never done…” could be my theme for the year. I’d never been to a football game or chanted with the fan club or had a pre-game beer before this Tuesday. Culturally, Belgian soccer is huge and now I understand why the country loves it. However, my favorite part was not the cheering, the athletes, or the hype, though they contributed greatly to the night. My favorite part was being with Anthony. How refreshing and reinvigorating it is to pass time with people that encourage us and call us to a higher standard. Another “I’ve never…”, I’ve never had a big brother, but spending the evening with him gave me a glimpse of what it’s like.

A stranger wanted in on my selfie

In conclusion, April conducts me into the last quarter of my exchange year. Questions such as those I posed in the introduction have taken a secondary seat to the people I live with. How dangerous it is to open up to people. They will hurt you. Either by letting you down or when you have to leave. For me, it will be the latter. My host family has truly become family. They will never replace my birth family, which has one of the deepest places in my heart, but hearts can grow. The next three months will careen by. I’m passionately wait to accept their gifts.

I’ve been learning the language.

I’ve been partaking of the culture.

I’ve have been seeking hospitality,

Instead I found love.

The door I walked in seven months ago has become a home