Conversation Partner: Hometown and Family

Yesterday was my third meeting with Rebecca and we met again at Union Grounds, a convenient and friendly atmosphere offering both coffee and sweet treats to share our time over. Rebecca and I both have very busy schedules so our get-togethers have been sporadic and irregular. Since our last meeting, I had gone back to my home state, California, for the weekend to visit family and attend my cousin's baptism and Rebecca had taken a test that would determine if she would be able to transfer to another school in the spring.

This meeting was unfortunately short but in the short time we spent together we were able to learn a lot about each other. During our first meeting, Rebecca shared with me her family and her hometown and yesterday I shared my family and hometown with her. I told her about my trip back to California, about surprising my brother and sister at our best friends' home, about visiting my friends, and about seeing my family in San Francisco for my cousin's baptism. Rebecca loved hearing about the ocean and the beaches that I lived close to, as she has never been to the beach before but hopes to go one day. I showed her pictures of my favorite beach and told her stories of me and my friends spending summer days in the ocean in and downtown Laguna Beach. Since my weekend at home was dedicated to family, I told her about my parents and what they do for a living and about my little brother and sister and how they are my best friends. She enjoyed hearing how I kept it a secret from them that I was coming back to California for the weekend so when I showed up at our friends' house they were so surprised.

Rebecca was really interested in hearing about the baptism process and I did my best to explain it but this proved difficult for me to do. I realized I have never had to explain what a baptism is or what it means to be baptized, much less to someone from a different country and culture, so I wasn't really sure how to express it in an easy way for her to understand. I think I was finally able to get the idea across, at least Rebecca reassured me that she understood, but it was a stumbling block that encouraged me to later go home and research the most straight-forward and easy way to explain a baptism.

Before we departed, Rebecca told me that she had received the results of her test from the weekend before and she had unfortunately not passed. She was not discouraged though and she already had another test scheduled for the next weekend. Her positivity was inspiring and I am confident that her determination and hard work will result in a passing grade the next time she takes the test.