I'm all about being honest & as transparent as possible with people, so I'm about to be right now. Sometimes living in community is amazing. There's people around to talk with & encourage, keep accountable, laugh with, cry with, go to meals with. And sometimes living in community is lame and stretches you.
When I first moved to Kona, I was in a room with 3 ladies, but 1 of them was never there because she was house-sitting somewhere else. So there were basically only 3 of us- me and two Koreans. Then a couple weeks in, we received another roommate, a girl from Germany. I like her very much. It was nice to have another westerner in the room who actually talked to me. The Koreans, bless their hearts, just mainly spoke Korean to each other, left water all over the bathroom counter & floor, and flopped their feet around loudly late at night and early in the morning. Then this past week, the long lost roommate who was housesitting moved back in. She's an American also. So now our number jumped to 5 in the room. The closets are full, and there's not enough drawer space for everyone, but we're making it work. We're all pretty busy and don't spend much time in our rooms, until after 9:00 at night and before 7:30 in the mornings. There might be moments where one of us would stop in the room for something, but otherwise, we don't really see each other that much, so it's not too bad.
A couple days ago, the American told me we were getting 2 new roommates soon. I asked, "how? We only have one open bed." She didn't know who it was going to be, when it was going to be, or how it was going to work. So yesterday, I stopped in my room at lunch time to drop off some things and I found my bed and all my things had been moved. What the?!? Someone in Housing had moved my bed and connected it to another to make a bunk bed, brought in another bunk bed, and now there are three new welcome baskets waiting on each of the open beds. (YWAM is really good about hospitality and always has a welcome basket for visitors & when you move in.)
If you know me, you know that I'm pretty particular about my belongings and everything has a place. You don't move my things without my permission or letting me know it's going to happen. I was so frustrated, but trying to keep a good attitude. Ok, let's just say it, I was pissed. We are now going to have 8 people in a room where there was already not really room for 5 people, and they had moved all my stuff. Grrr. This is one of those instances where community living sucks. I think I wouldn't have minded so much except that no one told me it was going to happen, or asked me to move my things. I felt a little invaded, and it was lame.
But I managed to get things situated, find a place for my luggage bags and other things, and I'm making it work. And last night at 10:30pm, we got three new roommates. They seem nice enough, so hoping this works. So now we are up to 5 Americans, 1 German & 2 Koreans. This morning was a little interesting trying to all share the bathroom, but again, we'll make it work. I'm sure we'll find a routine and work out some sort of schedule. And really, it's only getting ready for bed at night, and getting ready in the mornings that have to be dealt with.
Sometimes in serving Jesus, you have to give up your rights to things. Ok, all the time, but depending on the right, it's just sometimes. So right now, I'm learning to give up my right to personal space. Praying for grace.
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