While at World Race Training Camp, one of our leaders asked us to go out into a local community of Georgia and seek out a ministry opportunity. I immediately thought in my head, "Uhh, I don't know what we are going to do, or if I can be impactful in someone's life in this manner." However, since this has been a year of stepping outside my comfort zone, I just had to say, "OK, Lord, where should we go?" Visiting a local hospital sounded good after looking at the list of possibilities (I've worked at a hospital for the last 2 1/2 years as a nurse). Additionally, my team of six other ladies had no qualms about the choice, but I could tell some were a bit apprehensive. Upon arriving, we got permission from the nursing staff to go around a unit and find patients who didn't have visitors or who were lonely and were open to some company.
The seven of us split up, and Katie W. and I started knocking on doors until we finally found an elderly man by himself. The man was sitting on the side of his bed eating dinner. When Katie and I entered the room and explained who we were and why we were at the hospital, his first response was, "I don't have any money. I can't support you in that thing." Katie and I were both taken aback since our intentions were not to fundraise whatsoever.
After clearing up that confusion, we began a leisurely conversation with the elderly man about his life experiences and past occupations. He responded to our questions with simple answers and amiable. A bit later, his nurse walked in to see how he was doing and administer a medication. Katie and I began to converse with her as well. We learned about her previous nursing experiences, her children, and her future goals (e.g., potentially teaching at a college of nursing). I identified with her desire to earn a graduate degree to teach nursing and realized that we have more in common than I originally thought. It was so cool to be able to build rapport in such a short time with the nurse and see how receptive she was to our purpose for being at the hospital.
Katie and I wrapped up our visit with the elderly man and the female nurse by praying over them and thanking them for their time. We left feeling empowered and thankful for being put in a situation that we had not had before (i.e., ministering and building rapport with total strangers at a hospital). It is interesting how fear can pervade even the simplest of ventures.
