2008 August 07 – The Heart of the Matter

Jim received a call on Monday from Promise, a Nigerian medical student studying in southern Ukraine. Promise was going to be in Kyiv on Tuesday and hoped to get some time with Jim before taking an 11:00 train out of Kyiv that evening. Jim asked him to call when he was actually in Kyiv and they would try to arrange a convenient place and time.

Meanwhile, Jim asked me if we could invite Promise to have dinner at our flat. Of course he could, but that was also the night that the praise team rehearses at our flat. It shouldn’t be a problem.

Well, Promise arrived in Kyiv and attended several meetings. He arranged with Jim to meet at our metro at 5:00. Jim asked if other students were with him. Yes. He looked at me with “that” look and I assured him that two more people for dinner would not be a problem. It would be fun! Jim and I brainstormed about the meal and then he went to buy the ingredients needed to feed the crew. We also learned that Jamie would be available to eat with us as well. The party was growing!

Close to 4:00 Promise called again to say that he would not be at the metro at 5. He wasn’t exactly sure what time, but he’d call as soon as his meeting ended. (He is planning a conference in his neck of the woods…) And, oh, by the way, could he invite two more students to have dinner?

It was actually laughable by this point. I looked at Jim and reminded him that he was fully aware of how much food was cooking. I could easily increase the amount of rice. As long as they weren’t huge eaters (did I mention that they were students??!!) I was sure that I had cooked enough. I absolutely hate not having enough food — in fact I usually cook way more than is necessary. (Right, Lynne?) But for some reason I wasn’t stressing at all. Had to be a God thing.

Jamie had to grab a bite to eat before the students arrived so that he would be ready to roll when the musicians arrived on the scene. They went into another room to begin their rehearsal. The students arrived, and were happy to eat, but they weren’t exactly starving — they had been fed a bit at their previous meeting! God is good, eh? Everyone had plenty of food AND we had leftovers for the next day. Always a good thing in my book.

As the musicians were leaving, Promise asked if he could take a picture with everyone. Sure. He set his camera on the TV to take the whole group, but I quickly shot a picture before I jumped into his shot. What a crew!

My only regret is that the two groups really didn’t get time to interact. Between trains to catch and other meetings to attend, everyone scattered quickly after the photo. Maybe next time…