Planning for Christmas

ж

With 

Christmas

sneaking up on us 

my mom suggested I invite 

Maksym to spend Christmas with us. 

 I was thrilled when she suggested it; I was already 

planning on asking my parents if they would be okay with the idea. 

 I felt lucky that my parents were so willing to invite Maksym over for Christmas, 

especially considering the fact that I has so recently invited Ali over to spend the night

without their permission.  You see, my parents were less than thrilled when I told them I 

picked up a stranger

from the airport 

and invited him

 into their home

 without telling them.

  I knew I was 

pushing luck but 

I couldn't help 

but ask them if 

I could invited 

Ali to spend 

Christmas Eve 

and Day with us

 as well. 

In my conversations with Ali he had shared how much Christmas meant to the people of Nigeria and how he was sad that he would be spending Christmas alone.  I couldn't help but feel pity for him.  When I asked my mom if he could come she simply said she wasn't comfortable to have someone we knew so little about spend the night in their home.  I was sad but I understood her reasoning.  She suggested that I invite him over for Christmas dinner which I thought was a great idea.  When I called Ali to invite him he was more than thrilled and I knew that this was the true spirit of Christmas.  

A Night on the Couch

Out of the terminal he came.  The guy I was waiting to see: Maksym.  He was my trainer on my mission and it had been years since the last time I has seen him.  I was excited that he taught me his native tongue and now he was in the United States to learn mine.  After an hour delay I was grateful to finally see him.  I introduced him to my new friend Ali, we gathered Maksym's baggage, and off we went to my car.  In the car Ali was so excited to see snow and when we arrived to my house he couldn't help but start his first snowball fight.  We went inside and I showed Maksym and Ali their rooms and then we all ate a little before going to bed.  After Maksym and Ali had lied down I stayed up a little longer reading and eating.  As I went back down to the basement where all three of us were staying I heard noise in the living room.  I glanced around the corner and to my surprise Ali was in there.  I was unsure what to say so I didn't say anything at all.

After a good nights rest I woke up Ali (who had spent the night on the coach for reasons known only to himself) and Maksym.  Ali asked what time it was and when I told him that it was nearly 10am he was shocked.  He told me that he had never slept so late in his life.  I didn't have the nerve to ask him why he hadn't slept in the bed I offered him, so I simply gave him a towel so he could shower and told him he could come upstairs to breakfast when he was ready.  For breakfast he asked if I could warm up his milk for him.  Warm milk and Cheerios with no sugar. Yum.

After breakfast Maksym and Ali piled all of their belongings into the car and we went into the backyard to take a picture of Ali in the snow. We took a few shots and then got into the car and began the journey to Provo.  I exited the freeway and turned into a parking lot at UVU.   Ali and I said our goodbyes and I promised him that we would see each other again and that I was always willing to help him out if he needed anything. Shortly there after I dropped Maksym off at his apartment and went off to work.

By the end of all of my conversations with Ali I had learned several things about him: he had never seen snow, he loved to talk, Christmas is extremely important to him, he has a strong relationship with his family, but what stood out to me the most was when he told me he had been meeting with LDS missionaries in Nigeria.

A Flight from Africa

It was the week before Christmas and I was off the the airport for the third time in the last week and a half.   I was about to pick up my friend and trainer from my mission to Russia.  Maksym was supposed to arrive at 11:00pm but when I arrived at the airport I saw that his flight was delayed until 12.  Unsure what to do I just started pacing around and soon found a bench I could have to myself.  After a few minutes I noticed a vending machine and decided I would satisfy my hunger by buying a snack.  On my way back to my bench a young guy who appeared to have come from Africa stopped me and asked me what time it was.  I told him, but then my curiosity got the best of me and I struck up a conversation with him.  He told me his name was Ali and that he was from Nigeria.  He came here to study economics at UVU with the hope that a sound understanding of economics would enable him to change his country for the better.  It was the first time he had ever left home and he told me his mom was from worried.  I could see why she might be worried; he was under-dressed for the cold weather and told me the light jacket he had on was given to him by woman that he met not long before he met me.  I asked if he was waiting for his ride and he said that he needed to go to the international office at UVU; however, it closed at 5 and his flight didn't even arrive until 5:15.  His plan was to spend the night at the airport and take a shuttle to UVU in the morning.  I asked him how long he'd been traveling and he shared with me that it was his forth day.  I felt so bad for him.  It was his first time away from home, he was in a very foreign country, he hadn't been able to get decent sleep for four days,  and on top of all that he was freezing!

I sat there and thought about what my parents would say if I brought him home.  I wondered if I could call them.  It was nearly midnight at this point.  I knew my parents had a hard time sleeping at night and the last thing I wanted to do was to wake them.  What was the right thing to do?