I wish I could speak French!!

Meeting with Jude for the final time for this course was not as sad as it has been for my peers in class. The friendship that I have made with Jude is not going to end because of the mandatory meeting time, but will definitely carry over to next semester and hopefully for the rest of my life. Jude has become someone that I can completely open up to and laugh with. I absolutely love his large smile when we talk about something fascinating and I admire his love for life in general. His kind heart is so prominent; he even brought ME a Christmas gift of an adorable bear. It is so encouraging to know how much he values our friendship because I do the exact same. He told me that he had talked about me to an old friend from Haiti and her reply was, “You aren’t replacing me are you Jude?!” This stood out to me because he had said she was one of his best friends from back home. I have the privilege of being one of his best friends from the states.

In this meeting it didn’t seem like we had too much to talk about. We started off by complaining about how incredibly exhausted we were. This past weekend was very tiring and I just could not wake up! I could not quite laying my head down and closing my eyes, but of course by the end of our meeting I was re-energized. Jude works just as hard as the other students at TCU, if not harder. His classes consist of translations into and out of a foreign language. I cannot imagine trying to translate a book every time I was assigned homework, or having to think in French as I write my essay in English. This struggle really stood out to me when we decided to try to talk about Proverbs together, something we were both ironically reading on our own. He pulled up his bible translated in French on his phone and tried to tell me what stood out to him. It was nearly impossible for him to get the thoughts across without me looking at the verse in my bible in English. This was definitely a failed attempt at a bible study! Not to mention that he also lives at home with his cousins, sisters, aunt and uncle. I know how difficult getting work done in front of my family is because I tried to take a “maymester” last summer! He said he had to do a book report that was due today and told me he would probably be up all night! I did not understand because he would be home by three and had plenty of time to finish it before midnight. He proved me wrong saying that he had to do things at home and is very side tracked by hanging out with his family. He cannot even start his homework until the house is quiet and everyone is in bed; I understood because I had to do the same thing all May! Though we did do a lot of complaining, we also encouraged each other to do our best as the semester finished up.

Jude was very excited to tell me that he is definitely going to missionary school next fall and has the opportunity to do this for free. His huge, beautiful smile spread across his face telling me this, so his excitement was definitely apparent. It is amazing to see how definite he is in his calling, especially after being given this wonderful opportunity. When his dad was brought up, I reminded him how proud his dad definitely is of him. The first anniversary of his dad’s death had just occurred this month. I had not realized that these occurrences only happened a year ago, and was absolutely amazed at how far he had come in such little time. I had to give him praise for this, reminding him how much he had accomplished all on his own! Yes, his dad did have an influence in his life, especially concerning his first tastes of Christianity, but his walk with God was completely on his own. He learned how to take care of himself and others completely by himself!

I am so excited to see what the future holds for such a wonderful human being. I am looking forward to see how his trip to Maine is and how much he adores missionary school. Jude inspires me every day to be the best version of myself. When going through my miniscule struggles, I am motivated by the great figure he is! I am so blessed that Jude and I’s paths have crossed and am eager to see where our relationship goes. Thank goodness for Lit and Civ II and conversation partners!!