A-visiting

A few weeks ago, one of our pastors invited Rob to meet a few new Middle Eastern friends.  They had arranged to meet at the Culvers, down on the south side of the city where most of the refugees first live.  While Rob was en route, our pastor called and said, "Actually, no, meet me at the McDonalds on ___ St."  OK.  So, Rob redirected himself.  Once at the new location, our pastor called once again and said, "Actually, Rob, I need you to go to the Kurdish store on ____ Ave.  Tell them that you need sweets enough for ten people, that you're my friend and that I'll pay them tomorrow."  And good ol' Rob, he laughingly agreed.

So, Rob entered the store (where once my sister and I were forced to stay for a very uncomfortable dinner... but that's another story) and the corpulent owner and his friends just stared at him.  "Who here knows A.?" asked Rob.  To which the now laughing owner owned up.  Rob explained the situation, was given the sweets and sent on his way.  

Rob then called the pastor to find out to where to bring the tasty treats.  "Meet me at the apartment building on _____ and ____ Sts.," a place where my sister and I have had some unbelievable experiences.  And finally, it is there where Rob found our pastor and our new Middle Eastern friends.  They all headed into the building, shared sweets and small talk with some very newly arrived Somalis and then headed over to a different McDonalds to get to know each other.  All in all, a lovely evening.

So... when our pastor invited Rob to go visiting again this week, we had a pretty good idea of how it would go.  Rob was to meet our pastor and friends at the Language Center on the Southside.  En route, of course, he received the call that he should re-route to the Culvers up on the Northside.  U-turn!  Another apartment building, new Iraqi friends, sweet tea and small talk.  And another lovely evening.

When it was my turn to meet our pastor for a new-friend introduction, I outsmarted him, without trying.  Ha!  You see, I don't really multi-task, therefore I don't talk on my phone and drive our stick-shift at the same time.  We had planned to meet at the Center, so I showed up at the Center and waited.  Our pastor found me there and I followed him to a house, where I was quickly introduced to my new friend, pulled inside and left to fend for myself.  Ha!  It wasn't until after my visit that I checked my phone to see a missed call from Pastor A... from while I was en route to the Center in the first place.  I am just sure that he was going to change the plan on me, but he didn't have the chance.  And it made for a lovely afternoon.