A simple greeting can go a long way. This past month I’ve been living in a relatively small area on a hill top village in in the city of Bacolod, Negros Occidental located in the Visayan Islands of the Philippines. This country holds a special place in my heart because this is the home of my ethnic heritage and where a lot of my extended family still reside. So even though I am “proud to be an American”, I am also proud to be a filipina by blood. This is the first time I’ve been here without my parents and have never felt so welcomed and somewhat comfortable being here! We were told that we are the first Americans to set foot in this village so I’m sure you can imagine that we stick out like a sore thumb (and I do as well as soon as I open my mouth to speak). Up to the day we left, everyone was so eager to greet the foreigners.
One afternoon our host asked me to go buy some drinks for lunch at one of the surrounding general stores near their property. Her two kids came along with me to buy the drinks/translate for me =). In the Philippines, these general stores are usually attached to the front of a family’s home.
I asked the lady how she was doing today and she immediately pored out her feelings to me. She told me about how her daughter is working overseas in the middle east that she was very worried about her safety. She understands that she is away to try to make a better living for herself and to send money back home to her family. However she expressed in her broken English that misses her and is sad that she’s gone. So even though I haven’t previously been able to build a relationship with her, I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to ask to pray for her.
I’m honestly not a big fan of door to door evangelism, I would rather build a relationship with someone first before bluntly sharing my faith with someone. However, this time was different and honestly I felt really comfortable in asking to intercede in prayer for her. After all that’s one of the main reasons why I’m on the race, to make Jesus known! So I prayed for this older woman and her daughter, boldly asking our Father to relieve her from their burdens, for peace and to ultimately get to genuinely know the Lord. I don’t know if I’ll ever meet this lady again, but I do know that that moment was not by chance. And that it’s moments like these where we may not remember what was said, but remember what was felt. On my end I definitely felt the Holy Spirit speaking through me in comforting this woman. I don’t know how she felt or what she thought on her end, other than she was receptive and thankful.
So as you can see, a simple how are you can go a long way. It only takes a few moments out of your day. I know we tend to be a little bit busier on the western side of the world, but I challenge you to take a moment to really ask someone how they are doing and listen to what they have to say.
