Ah, man. Saying goodbye to 35 people you've spent time with every day for the past 8 months is no small feat. There are instant tears upon just seeing some people with a suitcase. I know I'll see some of them in just a couple of months, but there are still others who I don't know when I'll see again.
Until the day of graduation, I didn’t think I had any feelings because everyone else was crying and I wasn’t.
I wrote a note to every student. I didn’t cry. I reminisced on Facebook. I didn’t cry. I repeatedly thought about everyone leaving soon. I still didn’t cry.
But I found out something about myself when my roommate came to me teary-eyed after reading her note. If I see someone else crying, I cry. And I’ve cried and cried and cried these past 8 hours. Half of the Villa is gone. Half of my room is gone. And they just keep disappearing. And I have to wait around until tomorrow morning to come home to the States.
Part of me thinks "who on earth thought to make a program where you're forced to spend every waking moment together, then torture them by making them leave each other?”
But obviously I see why. I’ve never lived with people my age for more than a few weeks at camp. I never thought I would really feel what leaving a part of myself in another country was like. I've never instantly clicked with people in less than 24 hours. I've never had a family of believers where I see every step of their growing and changing. I've never felt like I could just go to more than one person with absolutely anything. And if you told me I would love 35 people with every personality out there, I wouldn’t have believed you.
Although leaving this all behind in Costa Rica, I know that I have an insane network of hermanos all over the U.S. They may all be 21 and under. They may not have much real life under their belt. They may come across as immature and inexperienced. But I’ll be the first to tell you that the 29 gringo students that I lived with are going to do incredible things; things that I can’t begin to imagine. I have no doubt that good will come because of their love for the Lord.
And even though the closest students are 4 hours away, and the second closest are 10, I know that we will not lose our friendships. We can’t lose what we have in common, which has been my driving force through everyone leaving Costa Rica.
We have the Holy Spirit connecting us as brothers and sisters, whether we’re on rocking chairs on the same porch or countries on different continents.
We have the Holy Spirit connecting us as brothers and sisters, whether we’re on rocking chairs on the same porch or countries on different continents.
