A semester abroad was supposed to be a time of no worries and little stress, but after two incidents in the fall of 2010 at Harding University in Florence, junior Whitney Chambers realized these things were not always guaranteed and learned to count her blessings instead. Chambers and the rest of the group were away on free travel when she received news that a fire had severely damaged the villa in Florence where students stayed during the semester. Chambers vividly remembered their return to the vi IIa the next day and the nerve-wracking walk up the hill to its gates. "When we walked in, the first floor had a light layer of black ash on everything," Chambers said. "As I walked through the rest of the upstairs thicker black ash covered everything from people's beds and clothes down to their personal belongings like their computers and jewelry." After the initial shock, Chambers said reality sunk in, and while she was fortunate not to have lost anything in the f1re, many others were not so fortunate. With one room blocked by caution tape, it was obvious that the girls would not be living in the villa for a wh1le. However, Chambers and the rest of her group found ways to make the best of the situation given them. Senior Hannah Beall, another student on the HUF trip, talked about the unexpected ways in which God worked through their losses. "Every single person in our group had a spiritual blessing that really helped everyone who was affected," Beall said. "We had people who were comforters, encouragers, leaders, optimists and an entire group of prayer warriors." Chambers and Beall, along with all15 other girls, were taken over to the nearby Bible School, where they stayed until their trip to Rome. Jordon Wore Emily Wood Corter Wright Ellis Zeigler Hannah Shelton Samantha Simpson Courtney Stone Nicole Thoman Austo Walton "The positives of the Bible School were that we could have reliable Internet after midnight, and whenever we were craving an American snack all we had to do was pay a euro and get whatever we wanted," Chambers said. "The negative side was that we were separated from our HUF group and missing out on villa life." Just when she was finally feeling like things were looking on the bright side again, yet another incident occurred. A week after the villa f1re, the group went on a trip to Naples. Upon their return, Robbie Shackleford, director of HUF, informed the group that someone had broken into the villa while they were gone. This time Chambers walked upstairs to find closet doors open, clothing thrown on the floor and drawers searched through. Many computers were stolen, including Chambers'. While the robbery and fire could have destroyed the semester abroad, Chambers said, instead it brought the students closer to each other. "Any walls that our group had before were torn down," Chambers said. "I didn't have t~ distractions of Facebook and Skype; I really started to get to know·tb_e people that I had already spent two and half months with." · Beall agreed that the £]rOup was brought together in ways that would have been impos~ore had the fire and burglary not happened. "After everything tha1'happened, it was hard to be positive," Beall said. "But what we all came to see is that no matter what happens, God is going to be there.The reason it was such a rewarding experience is because not only were we blessed with the opportunity to study abroad, but we also experienced unexpected hardship and learned so much about God that we never really knew before." Gino Cielo fall overseas 135
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