Her name is Grace.
(Pronounced as Glass because apparently it’s French)
But anyways ,
Funny story , I called her Glass the entire month, legit thinking that Glass was her name.
A few days before we left Rwanda , my Rwandan brother told me it’s Grace.
But to me , she’ll always be Glass.
Grace (she pronounces as Glass) always smiles.
Glass greets me every morning with “Lorrreeeee I luvvvv youuuu,” giving me a long hug.
Glass is a hard worker.
Glass works for our Rwandan family.
She spends all day cooking for our team.
Glass makes the BEST green beans and chips.
Glass loves music and loves to dance.
Glass loves to say hakuna Matata to Maci because Maci wears a shirt with that on it.
Glass serves us well.
Glass loves us.
One day Glass randomly started washing Shondra’s feet and one by one washed all of our feet.
She insisted on it.
Glass is humble.
Glass is love.
Glass took me and Shondra to her home one day.
And by home I mean a room the size of a bathroom.
Glass’ husband left her when she was in the hospital sick because He thought she was going to die.
Glass has children but she hasn’t seen them since she was released from the hospital.
She misses them.
She is working for Mom and Dad Africa to get enough money to take a bus to visit her children.
You would’ve never known Glass was hurting because every day she choose to love our team and serve us well.
Glass has a relationship with the Lord.
Glass doesn’t speak any English other than , “I love you.”
What more do you need to know to say to someone you care about ?
Three of the most important words you could ever say to someone.
And we said it a lot.
Glass never asked me for money.
She only asked for a photo of us.
This is the photo.
On our last day , I gave her this photo and the rose she is holding in the next photo.
I also gave her a bible in her language and wrote inside of it a few words to her.
Glass is my friend.
I love Glass.
One day we were sitting outside the house on the steps and we were laughing about something , I don’t know what that was because for one we don’t speak the same language but it’s funny because we would both say something and laugh because we would look at each other like we both knew and laugh because we couldn’t express it to each other.
The plumber saw us and he said , “how do you understand each other yet you don’t speak the same language?”
I replied , “I just use love, we don’t have to speak the same language to understand each other.”
Our last night , Glass stayed inside with us almost 2 hours passed the time she normally leaves to go home.
She just sat there and we hugged each other , she was crying and kept saying “I love you,” over and over again as I said it back.
You probably think I’m crazy for thinking I built a beautiful friendship with someone who between the two of us could only say “I love you,” to each other.
Well think what you want because that’s exactly what happened.
Totally a God thing.
Maybe we shouldn’t get so focused on words alone but focus more on our actions towards the people we meet.
If I’ve learned anything serving abroad , it’s that love is a huge ministry.
People may forget the words you say to them , but they will never forget how you made them feel.
