It happened to me.

So although I love evangelism, meeting students and sharing the Gospel with them, I also love the times when we can come together as European missionaries to learn, share, support, and encourage one another.  Another bonus, though, is that there is an ease that comes with knowing that these people share the same faith and values as you.  In a sense you don’t have to be on your guard to be on your best behavior.  Instead, you can trust that they will love you for who you are.

Well… I don’t know if that is always true, but, for me, I am going to choose to believe it. 

So this last weekend we had the third SWOT (student workers outreach training) weekend of the year here in Belgium.  Its crazy to realize, but I have been here long enough to have gotten to know people from around Europe, so it was fun to get to see many of them again.  And, as always, the training and time we have to pray together is always really powerful.  The story, though, that I know you are waiting for is the one that happened the day after SWOT. 

So I said that I am trusting that people will love me for who I am, not what happens to me. Here is my story.

The Gappers from Belgium and London

The gappers from London stayed for an extra day to spend a day together as gappers, so on the Monday after SWOT we all packed a picnic lunch and went to this little park in Leuven.  The park is really a beautiful little park with a cute- actually kind of nasty- pond (this will be important later).  After eating in the sun around the pond, we conceived a brilliant plan to try to capture one of the little ducklings that was swimming around the pond.  Practically this meant that we crafted a net from police tape and reeds and proceeded to chase the ducklings (whose mother deserted them not long into the ordeal) around the pond, corner them, and try to get them to swim into our bright yellow, homemade net.  Ultimately, despite the close calls, both on our part as we teetered on the edge of the pond and the part of the ducklings who almost became the official gapper office pet, Operation Duckling Capture was abandoned and can successfully claim no casualties. 

The wild goose chase having been called off, it would seem that the excitement would end.  This, though, is the irony of the situation.  After carelessly chasing these ducks around the pond, scrambling over slippery, muddy shores, jumping onto rocks to get in their way, and leaning out over the water to extend the duckling net, we were peacefully sitting on the shore, watching the tadpoles when, next thing you know, I am in the pond.  Literally, I was sitting there one minute and the next I was in the pond.  In case you didn’t understand- I (a responsible 18 year old young adult) FELL INTO THE POND.  You would think that this kind of thing only happens to five year-old boys, but apparently not.  How do I know this?  It happened to me.