She is an 8 year old bundle of joy; she is in the second grade, loves to play futbol and loves to eat fruit. I was able to meet Claudia with Carin when we were doing hospital ministry. She was the girl I felt most compelled to talk to, even though there were several other children that looked much sicker.
I asked her parents if it was okay that we hung out with her for awhile and they graciously said, “Claro.” Name, age, school, the basics covered-then we started telling Claudia why we were there. She giggled through my broken Spanish, but seemed to have a good understanding.
From what I understood from her mother, she has lung problems which led to irregular heart problems. Her lungs are not working properly and she’d be in the hospital for observation for the next five days or so.
I ran out of things to say to her or ask, so I begin to tell her a story. She said she really enjoyed reading stories but did not have any books.
In very simple Spanish, I began to tell her a wild story about a beautiful girl named, none other than Claudia-with long dark pretty hair and beautiful brown eyes and how she grew up to be. I’m pretty sure the store made zero sense but it made her laugh and that’s all that mattered to Carin and me.
play the game until it’s time to leave and we ask to pray. They accept and we have sweet time in prayer for her.
Usually with this type of ministry, you just leave with no understanding of how they are doing, and you do not get to see them again.
However, I was able to visit Claudia for the next two days while Jess was taking care of some paperwork for a baby girl named 
Blanca. Sweet story-she has not blogged yet but she will: (www.jessicasims.theworldrace.org) God was def working in this hospital. It’s hard to do children’s hospital ministry-they’re just so helpless and innocent. This hospital had hundreds and hundreds of children sick in beds-it was so overwhelming to see the suffering-and to spend so much time with one girl and her fellow bed mates when there are so many suffering.
It was amazing to see God through Claudia and her amazing laugh and smile- when I told her she had the joy of the Lord in her heart she excitedly nodded her head yes. I pray she never loses that zeal.
Through coloring books, bracelets, and balls- we had a lot of fun hanging out with each other, even though little words were shared. She always looked so surprised to see me- I would never tell her for sure if I was coming in case something came up- but I just had to see her!
