As I wrote in a previous blog, we have turned CHOICE Soup Kitchen into part of our ministry for the month. We’ve been helping out 3 times a week & I’ve been loving it. Another group of people who recieve the lunches are the patients at the AIDs hospital down the road. So on the days that we are working there a few of us head to the AIDs hospital to give them a meal, love on them, pray, sing songs & with the help of Vuthy we sit there to listen. This is not a Christian hospital but they allow us to come.
Friday morning came & we headed to the Soup Kitchen. After scooping rice into boxes & soup into bags it was my turn to go to the AIDs hospital. This AIDs hospital is for patients who only have a few hours/days/weeks left of life. Nervous. Excited. In prayer. Nervous to see how much pain the paitents were in. Nervous to see what a hospital looks like here & how the conditions were for these patients who only have a short time remaining on this earth. Excited to share the Gospel. Excited to love on them & give them hope. Excited to pray. In prayer that God would give me the words that these people needed to hear. In prayer that these people would have open ears & hearts to hear us speak.
We headed to the first room to see a man laying there freezing yet it was probably about 85 degrees in the rooms. We were all standing there sweating and this man was shaking, with his wife rubbing his legs, trying to get warm. We all gathered around him to pray, placing our hands on him. We were told that he had started to go insane but when we told him we wanted to pray for him he put his hands together & closed his eyes. He seemed to know what we were doing. We spent about 10 minutes with him before heading to the next room.
We then headed to the next room where 2 female patients were. I have never seen anyone so frail. The first woman was 40. Her body consisted of skin & bones, she layed there lifeless. I knelt down next to her, held her hand & made eye contact with her. Her eyes felt so empty. Holding her hand we prayed for her. We were told doctors expected her to only live a few more days. In the same room was a 37 year old with an amazing smile. That room felt so dark & depressing but her smile lit it up. Her mother was there taking care of her. Jaime had gone to visit her before & she was on IV’s but this day she wasnt & her mom kept telling us how much better her daughter was feeling that day. We were overjoyed. We layed hands on her & prayed. She smiled the entire time. Prayed for renewed strength, that her body would be healed, and that she would feel Gods presense.
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As we continue to visit the AIDs hospital we could tell that the 40 year old was on deaths doorsteps. Her cheeks were completely sunken in on Wednesday & her skin had a blue hue. I knelt down next to her trying to again make eye contact but failed. She looked straight ahead, at waist level & didn’t move. Today we found out that she had passed away on Thursday.
