Nomads

Chapter 5

Naomi hadn't seen Luca in 5 days.

Not that she'd been counting or anything. It was just, you know, easy to remember. July 1st was the date that she verbally vomited all over him and said that incredibly cheesy line about adventures before darting into the cafe. And now it was July 5th. Easy math.

Who was she kidding. She couldn't stop thinking about their conversation.

Sitting in the kitchen of the apartment for the short term missionaries (where she was supposed to be doing her morning quiet time), she found herself picking apart the long spiel she gave the poor boy. She shouldn't have come on so strong. She should've talked about atonement more. She should have cited some bible verses. She should have-

"Χαρά."

Her head snapped up to Helena, one of the Greek youth workers who lived in Athens working full time in missions.

"Oh! Hey. What's, uh, what's the news?" She asked, trying to be nonchalant and failing miserably.

"What's wrong with you? You've been so distracted this past week."

Oh. She was jumping right in then. Well, that was to be expected. She was born and raised as Greek as can be.

"What um, how do you mean..?" Naomi asked, trying to play it off.

"Χαρά, you know I see right through you. You've been bent out of shape since that boy stopped by."

Naomi sighed. "I just.. I don't know. We were talking about nothing and all of a sudden the topic of God came up and you know how I am, I just can't shut up about the guy. And after all my word vomit, I told him I wanted to see him again and talk to him more and I said something really cheesy and I think I scared him off."

"Breathe, little one," Helena said, coming to sit at the table across from the fretting girl. "Maybe something happened and he couldn't come. When I watched him while you were talking through the window-"

"Wait you were watching??"

The older girl rolled her eyes. "Me and Iosif both. Your 'uncle' is taking his title rather seriously. He made me watch you two to make sure that boy didn't 'trouble' you." 

Naomi blushed. "Gosh. I can't believe you guys did that."

"Well it happened. Can't take it back."  Helena leaned forward, leaning her chin against the heel of her palm. "So what's wrong then? You said some good stuff. Sure you said a lot, but he seemed to be listening intently and taking it all in."

The poor girl across from her blushed again. "Well, I-" she huffed. "I don't know. I'm just worried I said something that rubbed him the wrong way and that's why he hasn't come back. I don't want to have made a comment that made him think poorly of God and the gospel."

Helena chuckled. "Well let me ask you this. Did you feel the Holy Spirit compelling you to say those words?"

"Yeah... But-"

"And did you say anything that wasn't true about the gospel? Or God?"

"No..? Of course not."

"Ok. Then afterward, did you pray when you started feeling anxious about the conversation, or did you let the worry fester?"

"... I let it fester..."

Helena smiled knowingly. "Naomi. There is nothing wrong with being passionate. There is nothing wrong with following the Holy Spirit's lead and saying what you feel God is calling you to say. Every time you have a conversation with someone about God, there's going to be something that you think you might have missed. Or a point you made that you think you didn't do justice. But guess what? The boy asked you a question, and told him what you believed. You preached God's word. And what does God say about His word?"