It's been such a long day and I'm pretty tired but I want to share with you something that happened tonight that I'm sure I'll treasure for the rest of my life.
I went to have my English lesson with the Roma today. We usually meet on Saturdays but they have a wedding this weekend so we chose to meet today instead. They were supposed to take a test today but I walked in and saw how tired they were. They've been doing a lot of work to get ready for the winter -- chopping wood, building a chicken house, etc. So, I postponed the test for next week. I had prepared our next lesson and brought it with them, which came in handy. Part of our lesson was listening to a song and then talking about it (what they liked, what they thought it meant, etc.). The song was "Stand in the Rain" by Superchick. Great song! One said that she thinks the girl in the song "wants a new life and to forget the past." I asked them if they ever wish they had a new life and if so, what they wish that life looked like. In those several minutes of talking about what we dream a new life would look like, I felt so close to them as they opened up to me. For those few minutes they were able to dream. One sister, who's 23, said, "I too old to dream...my time over." I encouraged her to never stop dreaming. She's so young! I think maybe others are telling her that. The mom talked about how her new life would have a new home for her family. Her daughters talked about having their own rooms. Their family of six lives in a two bedroom house. One room is a storage room and the other is the living room, which is also all of their bedrooms. They all sleep in the same room, on the floor and on the two couches. The house is their uncle's, who is staying in Germany right now. Apparently he is coming back to Kosova and has plans to tear down the house in the next year. They have no idea where they will live after that. The entire family is unemployed and doesn't have very many options. Going to the university for one semester is 50 Euros. That may not sound like a lot to us but to the average Albanian it's a lot! One daughter in particular loves to learn and dreams of going to college one day but has little hope in actually going because of finances. I felt like I was able to see their hearts in a new way today.
After our lesson, I started to get my things together to get ready to leave when they asked me to stay for dinner. They had asked me before but I wasn't able to. I had a little time to stay so I said yes. I wasn't sure where we were going to eat since they don't have a kitchen. I went to go wash my hands and when I came back to the living room they had pulled out a little wooden table that came about 8 inches off the ground and placed the bowls of pasul around it with some speca and chopped cucumbers. Something about it warmed my heart and made me feel at home. It wasn't until just now that I realized that that was the first time in about four months that I had eaten with a family. We all sat on the floor around the wooden table and eat together. The pasul (bean soup) was wonderful! I cannot tell you how honored I felt. They had invited into their home, to have dinner with their family. I cannot put into words how precious that was to me. I haven't been with my family in five months. To have a family accept me as one of their own was an irreplaceable gift. It was by far the most beautiful, cultural experience I have had since I've been here. It was priceless. I looked around the table and saw a new beauty in that family. I was so honored. I almost started to cry. I prayed for each of them and begged God to help open their eyes to His love. There is something about them that is so real and authentic. They wear no masks. They are so grateful and appreciative. They have huge servants hearts and a genuine love for one another. It is going to be the biggest challenge to leave them.
Their beautiful, simple wooden dinner table. Love it.
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