Malta: A Time of Rest

Halfway through the trip. We weren’t in Asia. We didn’t have school work. We didn’t have service projects. 

Rather, we had an island. We had the Mediterranean Sea. We had time to rest. 

Malta came at the perfect time—after India and halfway through the trip. Tummies still hurt for some, everyone’s eyes were droopy, and bodies ached. 

God gives rest in different ways. He says “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28) and “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46). 

We tend to be constantly going, but God has also given us ample opportunities to rest on this trip with times like sleep on bus rides and family church. He renews our tired bodies and souls each day so we can get through and thrive in the next. Still though, endless travel takes a toll, nights can be sleepless, and minds start to struggle. 

This is why Around-the-World builds in a fall break country, and I was pretty thankful to have a week in the Mediterranean. God blessed me over that week in many restful ways, even if I didn’t really take much time to physically rest. 

It’s hard to rest when there is just so much to see and explore and do, but I did get more sleep each night than I had in most countries and had the comfiest bed I’d been in for a month. We stayed at a wonderful little place in Xlendi Bay that had a courtyard and pool where I spent a few afternoons actually hanging around and relaxing rather than running about. 

The sea, nice weather, and no homework always make for a restful time, but the most restful part of the week was getting to see my parents. I truly do have the best parents in the world, like they are why it is possible for me to be on this trip and to be doing everything I do (also they are the editors of everything you read and see on this blog, so a huge shout out for that because editing is the worst, especially when on the road). 

I was happy to have a couple home-cooked meals and time to talk face-to-face about everything that has been happening. There was a great level of comfort in the familiarity that came at a wonderful time to keep me from becoming too homesick. I’m hoping that it can help to carry me through the rest of the trip as well.

Obviously, I was selfishly happy to have my parents, but I was probably even more excited for them to have a chance to travel out of the country for the first time and for them to meet all my friends. I was a bit jealous that they got to go to Rome before me, but it’s more than fair–if not unfair for them that they only hit two countries. 

Along with my excitement for their travels, I was incredibly eager for them to meet all my friends and vice versa. My parents were always incredibly involved in high school, and I liked it when they knew everyone I was talking about. They’d met a few of my friends throughout the last year and knew one quite well as we had attended two years of high school together, but the rest were only stories until Malta. 

Blue Lagoon

I faced the fish fear yet again. This time I could see every fish because the water was so clear and blue. I don’t know if that helps or if that made it worse. Swimming over the reefs was one of the more stressful moments of my life. When we made it to the other side, Natalie turned to me and said, “You know what I was thinking, I’m swimming in the Mediterranean with my best friend” and I looked at her and said “That’s so sweet. I kept thinking, avoid the fish.”

Besides the fish, the Blue Lagoon was quite amazing. We had taken a speed boat to the even smaller island of Comino (the location of the blue lagoon), and some of the others on the team joined my group of friends there a bit later. We went cliff jumping and swam more than I thought my body could handle.

Other Activities

Malta is a rocky island and the island of Gozo where we spent most of our time is no exception. There is really only one good beach on the opposite side we were staying so some of us took a bus there for a day. Other days we just played in the water near us or went down to the salt pools on the bluff that looked like a planet out of Star Wars. Much of the team went into Victoria for a day to listen to a talk from C.S. Lewis’s step-son and walk around the cute city. We found fun, new ways to fill each day.

Restful Peace

So Malta was a great time for physical rest, fun, and comfort in family, but it was while here that I also was able to find a bit more mental and emotional rest than I had been feeling in a while. A couple posts back, while in India, I wrote about my calling and the inner questioning that I felt. I wanted to find answers for my life in this trip and was struggling over major choices.

Well, while in Malta, we had to submit class schedules, so I had a decision to make. I have decided to stick with my business major and have found great peace in the choice. I still have a lot of uncertainty as to what I actually want to do in life, but I have time to figure that out, and now, I feel like I can enjoy the rest of the trip without expecting it to give me answers. It’s lifted a weight off of my mind and given me a restful peace.

Thank you Malta for the respite and peace to continue through the second half of my journey.

(Also…you can go check out more pictures in the pictures tab of my site)