Friends to the End

God moment, back in the States

I came back to the States on a Wednesday night (after my first five months in CR), and my delayed plane got in at 9:00pm. There, waiting for me at the airport, was my wonderful girlfriend Amanda. We then hop in the car and start driving to my friend Kai’s apartment, where I expect him and two of my other friends to be, waiting to say hi to me before they go to bed for the evening (working folk have to actually wake up early on the weekdays).

So Amanda and I pull up to the apartment around 10:00pm, get out of the car, and head to Kai’s door. I knock quickly, open the door, and there’s Kai . . . looking sheepish as if I just caught him in the act of doing something, but also looking incredibly happy to see me. I give him and a huge hug and look behind him.

And there, standing in Kai’s apartment, are 14 of my best friends from U.Va. They had all come to Kai’s apartment on a Wednesday night and waited around for my delayed plane, losing sleep on a weekday for the sole purpose of greeting me on my return to the States. They even stayed around and chatted it up with me, eating the pizza that they had ordered so I could eat dinner, until 11:00pm. On a work night.

Those friends, thanks to Kai and Amanda, were there to love me and support me in a way that was so meaningful I could never be thankful enough. The Lord truly did bless my time at U.Va., and my friends are the proof. It’s such a joy and a blessing to back.