Agnese

Wow. I am so excited beyond words tonight! About an hour or maybe an hour and a half ago, I got a call from a strange number I didn't know. I answered it to hear a foreign voice to say, "is this Sarah?"; She said "this is Aggie!"

Agnese Tilinde is my friend from Latvia, a small baltic country between Europe and Russia. She has been my long distance friend for over 7 years now. Our friendship started when I was around 12, and sent a Operation Christmas Child box to her, (not knowing to where it would go) fr the first time in 5 years, I received a response from the child who received my box. Only she was two years older than me! And to my surprise, following the speculations formed about foreign countries, she spoke English! And so began the correspndence- she, 14 years old, I-12 years old. Now at ages 18 and 20, we are still friends today and finally to meet face to face!

She informed me in a letter a week ago that she has been in North Carolina for the past 4 months or so, and will be vacationing in Myrtle Beach. To my surprise, she is making a special trip to Charleston to see me!

I just cannot contain my excitement as I think how God can bring two girls from two sides of the world, to be so different yet so similiar! The more we spoke the more I realized that despite her accent, (and the fact that I have been pronouncing her name wrong all this time) that we have a lot in common.

She is Catholic, but understands the heart of God, and I believe, genuinely loves Him as I do.

The past few weeks for me have been rough. I am going through the stage of life in which I must realize my importance in society and prioritize my time and capabilities to find where it is God would have me. Applying to college, starting a new job, and finding a car have brought blessings and strife to my mental state as of late, and produced less thinking, but the desire to do more writing than ever before.

So this is my first composition in too long, to say that through the stress, God has brought me an encouagement.

To hear a girl my age, from a different country, but in the same situation in life, to say that when she distresses, she thinks of God and the plans He has for her, and how thankful she is, has humbled me to the point of sorrow.

Sorrow for neglecting God in my decisions of late and instead of thanking Him for what I do have, blaming Him for what I don't. I cannot change overnight, and my feelings will waver, but I now think of how Agnese, with less churches in her country than we have in this state, blesses God for her life, that I, in church 8 hours a week, have so much to learn.

Thank the Lord that He has made everyone different, and as she said, though each our countries and people have their faults and bad, we will look at the good and similiarities, and see the beauty of God through each.