The taxi peels away from my three roommates and I, as we stare down this alleyway that our friends supposedly live down. As we begin to trudge into the unknown, we hear whispers that translate to “Foreigner, foreigner!” We all know they are referring to us.
As we look around, confusion saturating our faces, we decide to give in and attempt to ask one of the many locals to point us in the direction we should go. We pulled out our phones with our friends’ address on it, approached a man and asked in the native language, “Where is this?” As he started to explain, he quickly realized by the looks on our faces that we didn’t understand a word he was saying. He chuckled as he pointed us in the “right direction.”
We walked, and walked, and walked some more until we stumbled upon an apartment complex. We walk into the complex, hopeful to see our friends. Two phone calls and two chatty security guards later, we realized we were in the wrong complex. Again.
We set out again to find our friends’ apartment, somewhat desperate. We were determined at any cost to find this place and to break this plague.
In case you were wondering how that very true, very fun, and very confusing story ended I’ll tell you. We made it! We eventually had to take another taxi to get us there but I can tell you that each one of us said a very thankful yarp to God for helping us manage that crazy situation. I feel like this moment is pretty much what Asia has felt like for me in so many ways. This (almost) week here has been crazy, so amazing, funny, challenging, God-relying, and just plain good. Every morning I wake up in disbelief that I’m here in Asia.
Guys, each one of you has played such an instrumental role in me being here, so thank you! Your words of encouragement and love and your yarps have blessed me so much. Here are some current prayer requests:
-That the Asian friends that my partner and I have meet would just feel the enormous love God has for them
-For health for me, I’ve been battling this darn cold and I am just ready for it to go away.