International Young Adult Gathering: Connecting the Dots

I was outside sweeping fallen leaves in the courtyard of our Activity Center when the young adults began to arrive for their Friday evening gathering. I spoke with a young man from Nairobi, Kenya using my best Swahili from my time in his birth country in 1972. “Your Swahili is not too bad after all the years,” was his comment!

I then met Ali, a brilliant, sensitive, intelligent, 25-year-old young man from Central Asia. Ali and I spoke for over an hour and a half and it seemed like we had been best friends for a lifetime. In the middle of that extra-ordinary conversation, I suddenly realized: “Ali, you are the young man that pastor Cristi has been speaking to me about for more than 2 years.” At the end of our conversation, I asked Ali what was so special about the time for him. He replied, “It felt like God was connecting the dots!” And so began a rich and profound friendship over the next 2 weeks while I was there in Bucharest!

From the Romanian Review – November 2025 newsletter.