There are people I have met traveling around the world that I will never forget. And while I could give you names and tell you all stories from every single country we have been in, I want to take the time to tell you about one special woman I was blessed to meet last month.
Her name was Susie, but before I even knew her name, I knew that she loved me.
She had the biggest, most infectious smile in the church. She smiled when she shook your hand, she smiled when she gave you a hug and she smiled any time any of us looked her way. She spoke no English, so a translator was necessary every time we wanted to talk to her. But most times, we could just sit with each other, my arm around her and hers around me and that was all we needed.
She invited me over to her house. So one afternoon Brook, our translator Pastor Charles and I walked over to Susie’s, simply to visit, hear her stories and share life with her.
For most of the afternoon, we sat and listened. She told us story after story of how God had worked through her. Pastor Charles told us she was a prayer warrior in the church and how many of the people were in the church because of her.
One story amazed both Brook and me. Not long before we arrived in Morogoro, God had told Susie to go and pray for a lady she didn’t know. Susie met Frida and her son who was sick. The little boy was two days away from death, so Susie prayed and took Frida and her son to the pastor. The boy slowly got better and Frida began attending church. She had been coming for a month when we met her and that night we even got to visit and pray with Frida and her son in their home. It was such a blessing to sit and visit with this woman of God.
Before we left, she insisted on painting our fingernails this orange color that she wore. Most of it chipped off the next day but remnants of it remained on my nails the whole month. It reminded me to pray for her. And before we left Tanzania, she gave me the orange nail polish. I’ll wear it the rest of the race, always remembering Susie and her smile, the way she would light up when she saw our team.
If you want to join me in prayer, go out and buy some orange nail polish and remember Susie with me.
