Previous entries: Day1, Day2
Day 3-Wednesday
It’s hard to ignore all the stray mongrel dogs walking around as you make your way to the person you are visiting. Elizabeth and I entered our sick friends room today to find that both women we’d been ministering to looked a little bit more chipper today.
Elizabeth sat down and started talking to the women who had the tumors removed (I will call her Isabel). I noticed that the women I had spent time holding hands with yesterday (when she was in pain) was awake and watching us (I will call her Elaine).
The first thing I noticed about Elaine was how beautiful she was. Her skin, a smooth coffee brown with curly brown ringlets of hair framing her face. I hadn’t noticed how pretty she was when her features were contorted in pain yesterday. Elizabeth even commented on it later in the day.
I walked over to Elaine and told her I’d been here yesterday praying over her when she was in pain. I figured she’d just smile and nod as that is what most of us do when we can’t understand what the other person is saying because we don’t understand the language. To my surprise she started talking in English. It was such an awesome surprise! She told me all about her stay at the hospital. That she had been there 5 years ago and the wound that was hurting her yesterday was caused 5 years ago and still bleeding. She also recently had a tumor removed. She has been in and out of the hospital for the last 3 years. She is 45 years old, is married with 4 children. We talked about God and her beliefs. She too is a believer in Jesus Christ.
How awesome is that?!
She talked about the recent hurricane and how afraid she was. Elaine’s sister wanted Elaine to come and live with her for awhile so that she could take care of her. Elaine doesn’t want to though because hurricanes frequent that area. When I told her my name she said that her grandmother’s name was Sarah. Recently a nail gun had gone off by accident hitting her grandmother in the foot. Subsequently her foot got infected and she died. I realize that was a random story but it shows how easily things can go wrong with out getting proper medical treatment. One tetanis shot probably could have saved her life.
Elaine brought up the dirtiness of the hospital. She said that the staff starts to clean when they see a foreigner visiting but otherwise it doesn’t get done. In order to get clean sheets, she must take hers off the bed and bring it to someone and ask for a new clean set. Her observations of the hospital kind of surprised me as I thought this was “normal” for her. I can’t imagine what it must be like to sleep there through the night.
She spoke very softly so it was hard to hear her most of the time but I was so grateful to carry on a conversation with her as my heart ached for the suffering she was going through the day before. It was a gift.
We prayed together and after a little while Elaine had some friends stop in for a visit. I moved away to pray and got to watch Elizabeth as she was ministering to Isabel. Elizabeth and Isabel were sharing Ipod speakers to listen to some worship music in Spanish. What a blessing we have to spend our time with these sweet women.
I am going to ask the American nurse staying with us if she can do something for my friend Elaine.
I can’t wait to see them again tomorrow.
