God's Angels

Welcome back to our readers.  Students and many of the faculty and staff have been away on the 10-day break which is why there have been few posts the past few days.  But, the students literally scattered to the winds, going to Turkey, Morocco, the Holy Land and all over the European continent.


Student Chelsea Graham, discusses some of her travels in the post below:

Hello again! I just got back from my 10 day break, and I fell in love with Europe all over again. I love America, but there is something about Europe that just draws me in everywhere I go. I went to Paris, Lourdes, Venice and Capri for my 10 day. I traveled with three others, and we had a great time. In the words of one of the girls I traveled with, Lourdes is “Disneyland for Catholics.” It was just such a blessing to go there and go in the baths, be a part of the candlelight procession, and just explore an amazing town. And while Lourdes is such a spiritually uplifting and inspiring place, Capri too was remarkable in beauty and in grandeur. Indeed, God’s creation is incredible. Capri is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to. I could go into detail of what I did in each of those places, but instead I want to tell you about a different part of my trip.

Coming over to Europe, I was told that everyone hates Americans, the French people are rude, and good luck traveling because nobody likes tourists. Well, I’d have to disagree with all of that! Over my trip, I encountered several of “God’s Angels” (what my group and I decided to call them after we realized how big of a role they played in our trip). “God’s Angels” are the people who came out of nowhere in our times of need and helped us tremendously. Not only did we encounter several of “God’s Angels” but I also cannot remember one person that was rude to us.

I’d like to share some of “God’s Angels” experiences with you, but first I have to tell you that my group, overall, did not have a lot of travel experience. For myself and one other this is our first time in Europe, and for the other two it had been awhile since they were here, so when it came to train systems, getting from one place to another, etc. we weren’t too good at it.  It was a good dose of humble pie.

Our first night was in Paris, but our hostel wasn’t exactly in Paris (that’s what happens when you look for the cheapest places instead of researching the location as well!  By the time we got to the town where our hostel was, it was close to midnight, almost nobody was around, and we had no idea how to get from where we were to our hostel. We started walking around, hoping to just stumble upon our hostel, but then we saw a girl about our age and with my very little French skills, I asked her if she knew where our hostel was. She didn’t know, but without even wasting a second, she pulled out her cell phone, called a friend and got directions for us, and we got to our hostel within the next 5 minutes. She could have just told us she didn’t know where the hostel was and went on her own way, but instead, went out of her way to call and get us directions, without which we would have been lost for hours!

Again, while looking for our hostel (this time in Lourdes) we met a man who seemed to be in his late twenties who appeared to be traveling with his mom, get off a bus, asked us where we needed to go (his first language is French, but he also spoke decent English). Then he spoke to the bus driver and arranged to have us dropped off closer to our hostel. Once we got to the bus stop, he and his mom got off with us to make sure we made it all the way to our hostel safely. We didn’t even ask for help! He just got off his bus and offered…and he was French! That’s two French people that not only didn’t hate us, but were incredibly helpful! And I’m only telling you of a few! We encountered about five others just as helpful as those two, just in France alone!

And Capri! I wasn’t kidding when I said everyone was nice! We stayed in a small hotel in and getting there wasn’t easy (I know, I know we should have found hostels that weren’t hidden!) Whenever we stopped and asked for help, everyone was incredibly friendly and happy to give us directions. When we got to the hostel, the receptionist was really kind and extremely helpful. She told us all kinds of things to do on the island, when we told her we were going to watch the sunset, she told us a better place to go so we could see it better.  Furthermore, she made phone calls for us to see if/when things were open, etc. And I know that was her job to do all of that, but she went above and beyond what she needed to do for us.

As Christians, we are called to look for Christ in everyone we encounter.  On my recent 10-day break, that was not hard to do! The four of us would have been so lost without the help all of “God’s Angels”, and it just reminded us to trust God in every situation and each hour of the day.