Laughing All The Way

I cannot help giggling and smiling to myself as I reflect back on my conversation with Jude early today. Our conversation was all over the place, but nonetheless it was a great one!! I do not think we will ever run out of things to say and jokes to make. He is an absolutely blessing in my life, for it is impossible to not be happy around him. His smiles is a contagious one that is so big that he has to squint his eyes- the same one that I make when I am completely overjoyed. I feel that we were both making this face for the full hour, making fun of each other, the language barrier, common mistakes or just life in general. Honestly, it would be impossible to discuss our entire conversation in a short blog, so only the most significant factors are highlighted below.

Ironically enough I had just professed my love of love to my blog yesterday, and today a discussion of relationships were the most prominent part of my conversation. We were talking about Jude’s future and what he planned to do after TCU. Going back to Haiti is a definitely option, with most of the reason being his desire to date and find a wife. Being fairly dependent on relationships myself, I completely understood. With Jude being someone who desires this companionship, being completely content in the states is nearly possible. He began to tell me that one great reason for wanting to travel back home was for his first love, Rebecca. He discussed his love for her and how much he adored that she truly appreciated “his value”- very different from other women. In Haiti, it protocol for a man to have money and physical strength to find a spouse. Although he did have this love for her, he felt the Lord hinting she was not the one. Personally, I could completely relate to this, as I struggled with the Lord’s plan for my relationship all last year. We went on with discussing how it was necessary for him to go home to find a spouse, with her being Rebecca or not. He does love all of the beautiful women her in Texas, but being able to woe her in his own language is a must. He understands the importance of conversation in a relationship, and feels that he cannot fully express himself by using a language he moderately understands. This was a crisis I had yet to think of! Obviously wanted this new friend of mine to stay in the safety of the United States, I tried to prompt him that maybe his future is here. Unfortunately, I now understand the odds of finding her here is very slim because of his desire to not have a language barrier. The thought of crossing languages made us both laugh hysterically. We could not stop making jokes about him trying to pursue his lady and her surprised looks when he said something completely irrational. This is a common problem in crossing languages because certain phrases have different meanings across cultures. Word translations do not necessarily mean a valid translation of ideas. For example, Jude also brought up the fact that my use of the word “girlfriend” completely caught him off guard last week. Deciding not to question me, he discussed his confusion with his cousin once he got home. Only then did he understand that some phrases must be taken more literally as “girl” that’s a “friend”.

Another part of our discussion that ironically occurred was definitely in the Lord’s hands. He began to talk about his common interactions with other international students from Saudi Arabia. He started to talk about their faith and how different it was, and this caused him to be intrigued and learn through outside research. I asked him how he spoke of his faith in these situations and told him of a situation that had just happened this past Sunday. I would definitely title myself as a strong Christian, but spreading the word is easier said than done. Spending time with my sorority sisters last Sunday, my friend was complaining about not filling completely filled, but instead feeling that she is in a slump. My heart and faith desired me to invite her to church and share my confidence that the only way to filled is spiritual, but my human desires did not want to take the chance of rejection. Shortly after, she began talking about her Jewish religious activities of the weekend. This took me off guard and I definitely had nothing to say at that point. Jude and I discussed this, both being fearful of the rejection of our close friends. It was nice to hear him agree that it is hard to share Christ under some circumstances. He told me that very soon he will be doing a speech presentation on Jesus as a spiritual leader and this is going to be his doorway to let his peers know more about his religion!

I truly could go on and on about Jude and I’s conversation. I am amazed by how prominent the Lord is in each of our lives, especially by putting us together! We also discussed how unbelievable all of our similarities are, although our upbringings are so different. Our views of relationship, religion, morals and even sense of humor is almost identical. How can this be with our cultures, language, past and families being so different? This question is still not answered, but I do know that I cannot wait for the crazy conversations we will have next week!!