Dear World,
Tonight, I am more inspired to write than I have been in a very long time. I’m thanking God for the people He has created and how they make up this beautiful world. Yes! There is so much craziness going on right now but in the midst of it all I’ve been seeing so much light. If I counted all of the little blessings I have received in the past two weeks and wrote about them all I’m sure this would be a ten page post but I’m going to keep it short and talk about one instance that truly touched my heart and one act of kindness I’ll never forget.
Yesterday I was in the capital city of Albania and had to take a bus from there to the city where I live which is located about two hours south of the capital. Everything was normal. I fell asleep on the bus, I had my dog with me, and we arrived safely to our destination. I grabbed my belongings, paid the driver, got off the bus, and went home. In my mind nothing was out of the ordinary. But something was very wrong. I left my most important belongings on the bus. I left the pouch in which I carry my passport and wallet which contains my residency permit and ATM cards. I didn’t realize it at all until I received a message on Facebook tonight from a stranger. I usually don’t even read messages from people who I’m not friends with but for some reason, tonight I read that message and my heart was warmed.
The message read:
“Hello Jessica, my name is Boralb Mimani. You may not know me, but yesterday you were in my father’s van, traveling from Tirana to Kucove. Today while travelling back to Tirana a random passenger found the wallet and notified my dad about the lost wallet. When he came back to Kucova today, he told me to try and find a way to contact you in order to return you your belongings. I apologize in advance for opening your wallet, but I needed some contact info in order to contact you. Now if you could give me a place and time in order for me to return your wallet it will be great. Hope to hear soon from you.
It’s amazing how things can change in a matter of moments. Because I am such a forgetful person who would lose her head if it wasn’t attached I assumed I had my wallet here in the house with me the whole time. I thought it was sitting where it always was, but after I received the message, it hit me that it wasn’t. And so many thoughts started racing through my mind. Like what did I do to deserve such grace? It’s all so unbelievable. But it reminded me that I want my life to be a story of such grace. I want to always pay such actions forward. The actions of the young man that emailed me, the actions of the passenger that found the wallet and decided to return it, and the actions of the father who charged his son with the task of finding me. In this moment I really can’t be more grateful and I am truly reminded that it really is the little things of this life that we should learn to be grateful for. Some great miraculous event is not going to happen to us every day to remind us how loved we are and how dearly we are held in the sight of God. Sometimes it is going to be those little acts of kindness that keep us afloat. And the act of kindness that was bestowed upon me tonight was something that I had to share with the world because it is something easy to overlook in the midst of corruption, prejudice, hatred, and dissention.
The third goal of Peace Corps is to document and share our experience with those back home and I am reporting back that as bumpy as this year has been for me, my trust and hope in this country and its people has been restored quite a bit and I feel I would be foolish not to share my experience.
Sincerely,
Jess
The Sun's Flower 