My Brazilian Friend

Allow me to introduce you to my Brazilian friend Chica. Unfortunately, all the pictures I have of us are actually back home, but let me tell you the wild and crazy story of how we became friends; a story that takes us across the ocean and back. Pop some popcorn, and relax. (Mom, grab a fresh cup of coffee!)

Back when I was in 6th grade, a family in our church hosted a foreign exchange student from Brazil named Maria. Maria came for a year, and while she was here became very involved in our church and was instantly loved by all of the youth(which one was my sister) and by the adults who worked with the youth(which included my parents) so naturally, I came to know her, and just absolutely loved her. Back then, AIM was very popular, and so it was the cool thing to do( at least as a sixth grader) to have all of your sister's friends screen names. So I would talk to Maria, and somehow in some weird way, I recieved her sister Chica's screen name and began talking to her.(FYI--her sister was in Brazil at this point) So Chica and I began to talk more and more, and began a friendship that stretched across the ocean, hoping that one day(before heaven) that we would get to meet. So Maria's time here in America came to a close, but everyone from church continued to keep in touch with her, and I continued to keep in touch with her and her sister. That summer after Maria went back, my sister and some other youth traveled to Brazil for a mission trip with World Changers, and Maria and Chica were lucky enough to be their teams translators. After that trip, Chica began talking about applying to become a foreign exchange student and coming to live with the Baugh's, another family in our church. So we both began praying for God's will to be done. Fast forward two years to my 9th grade year.
After my youth pastor left, plans for a international mission trip began, to none other than Brazil. Not only would I be going, but Chica was going to be one of the translators. At this time, we were still praying that she would be approved to come live in the US for a year and that everything would fall into place. Little did we know that God was getting ready to change our worlds by allowing us to meet each other. So we go to Brazil, and I am stoked to meet Chica. We already at this point know all about each other. We've talked about everything, prayed for each other during their struggles, we had just never met! So when we finally arrive in Brazil, we were finally able to meet, and we were friends instantly. For the two weeks I was in Brazil, we were always hanging out. And we realized, that we were definitly ment to be best friends! While on that trip, we finally recieved confirmation that Chica was in fact approved for the foreign exchange program and that she would be returning to the US at the end of that summer.
We were so stoked! So once she finally came to America for her year, we were honestly insperitable. We did everything together for the most part. We went to different schools, but if we weren't in school or at sport practice, we were hanging out together. As her year went on, we continued to grow closer as friends, and dreaded the end of her stay coming. As it came to a close, we promised each other that we would visit somehow, but that we would absolutely stay in touch. At this point though, there were no upcoming events that would require one of us to go to each other's country.
So fast forward another two years, when Maria is getting married. As much as I wanted to go, it just couldn't happen, so then we thought, I could go down to Brazil when I graduated, sort of as a graduation trip. Didn't happen. So in my mind I thought, I am never going to get to actually see my best friend again. But once again, the Lord had bigger plans, only He was getting ready to carry them out through Betsy, one of my other best friends sister, who just happened to be Maria's best friend from here (the Brittany-Chica story is very very similar to the Betsy-Maria story, I mean seriously close).
Anyway, Betsy went down to Brazil for Maria's wedding in August of this year, and when doing so, had been dating a guy for about 6 or 7 months. At this time, to us it was starting to get serious. While in Brazil, Maria, Betsy, Chica, and the rest of the family made plans that when Betsy's wedding rolled around, that they would indeed make the trip up to Albemarle. This is where I love God's planning. About 2 or 3 weeks after Betsy returned from Brazil, her boyfriend proposed. So we all thought, it will be a year, maybe when they get married, so we didn't get our hopes up of seeing our brazilian friends, and to be honest, I was even confident they were coming. But one surprise after another kept coming my way. First, Betsy decided to get married in March, then almost about two weeks after we find out when the wedding is, I get an e-mail from Chica saying that they are in fact coming up for the wedding. I am crying at this point I am so excited.
It still amazes me to this day how God orchastrated all of this, just through Maria coming to live in America for a year. I am amazed at how God brought one of my very best friends into my life. Needless to say, I am absolutely stoked about picking up Chica and the florist at the airport on Saturday. Though she will only be here for about 10 days, it will be a great visit for all of us, and plus Betsy's getting married!!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story of how me and my internation friend actually became friends! I will post pictures of all the events soon! Now, if you are reading this at work, GET BACK TO WORK!

Blessings!
B