Every month ends the same way, with broken hearts, tears, the struggle of finding faith and trust in God that he will continue what you started, and a new assignment for the next month. All of these came true except one. We had no assignment for the next month. Yep, you heard right…..VACATION MONTH in Panama!!!! No, but really, we had no host, no city, no plan, no agenda. Perfect for me since I am the king of chaos. All we were told is that it is going to be an ATL month for us. For those of you that don’t know, it means Ask The Lord. You pray, you listen, and you move. So we prayed, we listened, and man did God move.
We started the month searching for places to stay. Eventually, I had to make a decision and decided we would go to a town called Casco Viejo and ask the Lord where he wanted us for the month from there. Funny thing is, we were exactly where God wanted us already. And the confirmation came early. One of the first days, we went to a local park where many homeless people stayed. Our first step was to pray. Ask the Lord where he wanted us to go. As we prayed and walked toward the park, we saw a group of people worshipping and dancing to praise songs. Without a second thought, we jumped right in. Dancing, singing, and showing God the praise he deserves in a public venue. What an awesome feeling it is to worship our God without fear of persecution or judgment of others. So the singing and dancing ends and we use our jumbled Spanish to tell them who we are and what we are doing here. Long story short, they direct us to a church which then directs us to a nursing home. We prayed, we worshipped, and we were listening for Gods voice.
The next day we decided to go to the nursing home to check it out. On the walk we were stopped between 10 and 20 times by people letting us know that this was not a part of town we should be in because it was too dangerous. This came from police officers, taxi drivers, and even the locals who lived there. We prayed and continued on. God wanted us to go to the nursing home and we knew if he wanted us there that he would protect us. When we walked in the doors of the nursing home, the first thing I saw was an old man in a wheel chair. His body was half way down his wheel chair, head back, and mouth wide open. He looked like he was already dead. My initial thought was, “God, I don’t know if I can do this.”
As we entered the room it was quiet and awkward. The people starred at us with the look like who are these white people and what are they doing here. As I made my way toward one of the ladies, her name was Margarita, a smile came over here face. Immediately I knew this was where God wanted us for the month and the rest of the team got that same feeling of confirmation in their hearts that day as well.
Each day we would come in the morning, sit and listen to them, talk with them, love them, share scripture with them, and pray for them. I made it my goal to talk to at least one new person each day and pray for them.
There was Roy. This man loved to play games. He had the spirit of a child and each day he would wait for us in the cafeteria with a deck of cards and a huge smile on his face. I can see him now, hand raised and yelling, HI ZACH!!!” across the cafeteria. He couldn’t move his limbs like they should and had trouble walking, but that smile never left his face. I will never forget Roy’s spirit.
Then there was Paulina. Paulina, Paulina, Paulina. She couldn’t walk at all, was stuck in a wheel chair all hours of the day, and could only get out mumbled phrases that were nearly impossible to understand. Each day I would go up to her and give her a kiss and then she would grab my hand and say, “have you eaten today.” This lady couldn’t walk, could barely talk, but still had a big enough heart to make sure I was being fed properly. Christ calls us to love each other and care for each other more then ourselves. That’s why he went through what he did on this earth. To die for our sins. Not because he needed saving, but because we did. My most fond memory of Paulina was getting to celebrate her birthday with her. I took her hands and danced with her while she was in her wheel chair. She got a taste of heaven in that moment. Never will I forget Paulina’s heart.
Ms. Morgan. What an awesome lady this was and not just because we have the same last name. This lady was a joy to talk to. She spoke English and loved to tell stories. Her stories were awesome, but I heard the same stories everyday. Ms. Morgan had Alzheimer’s disease. I know how terrible of a disease this is because my grandpa, Mr. Morgan, died of Alzheimer’s. It broke my heart, but everyday I would listen to the same stories with a look of excitement and wonder of what was next. She loved telling her stories and I loved to listen to them. We would get talking and joking and laughing for hours. Oh Ms. Morgan, I will never forget her laugh.
Then there was Victoria. Victoria was a bitter old woman who was angry at the world, angry at her family for abandoning her, and angry at the Lord. She was stuck in a wheel chair and stuck in a place she didn’t want to be. She hardly ever smiled, except when she talked about her poems. She loved her poems. Every day I would come in and find Victoria. I wanted to make sure she knew that God didn’t abandon her and that I was there to see her every day because God loves her and because I love her. Each day I would come up to her and kiss her, not once, not twice, not ten times. I would kiss her until she smiled. And it worked :). Now she couldn’t stop smiling. I called her mi novia (my girlfriend), and she would say no I’m too old for you and then smile. By the end of the month all the workers at the nursing home were calling me her boyfriend. I will never forget mi novia.
Next was Cecelia. She had this serious look about her. From afar you would look at her and she would appear angry, but when you got close to her, her expression changed dramatically. Her face lit up like nothing I had ever seen before. She looked like an angel. She would grab my hand kiss it, then grab my face and give me the biggest, wettest kiss on the check I had ever felt before. I enjoyed spending time with Cecilia. It was so enjoyable to watch her from afar with her serious face and then see it change to excitement and joy when she would see me. I quickly found out that Cecilia wasn’t angry at all. She was sad. She would try to explain, but every time it ended in tears and heartache. I found out that she was sad because the world was sad. She was sad because she wanted everyone to be happy and it hurt her heart to see people sad and hurting. I got to share with her what heaven would be like, that there would be no sad people, no broken hearts, no pain. Only joy, worship, and perfection. I can’t wait to see her smile in heaven one day. Here is a picture of her with that great smile. I will never forget Cecilia and her smile.
Then there was my best friend Dulce. It didn’t take long for us to bond. Once I found her upstairs away from everyone else, we became best friends fast. We would talk sports for hours. She lived in Latin America, but cared more about the NBA Finals then the World Cup. My kind of girl. Best of all, she was a Lakers fan just like me. Every day I would find her upstairs and we would talk sports and life, share jokes, laugh, but my favorite part was hearing her testimony’s of God’s faithfulness. She shared with me how she had trusted the Lord in all things, good and bad, and when she was diagnosed with cancer she trusted the Lord to heal her even when the doctors said it wasn’t likely, and sure enough she was healed. This woman was a true example of living a life of faith. She was a strong woman with a powerful testimony and I will never forget her and our mutual bond with our love for the two L’s. The Lord and the Lakers. The last day was tough for both of us as we tried to hold back tears, but they were uncontrollable. We are best friends forever and I will never forget her. And now she will never forget me because I got to leave her with two gifts, a Laker’s shirt and my heart.
Remember that guy in the wheel chair early. The guy slouched over with his head back and mouth wide open. His name is Bonnie. Bonnie only spoke Spanish, but he spoke so quiet that you could barely hear him. He couldn’t move without being helped. He couldn’t eat without someone feeding him and he couldn’t sit straight up unless someone continually picked him up and placed him higher in the wheel chair. His mouth was always open and his left eye was always closed. My heart hurt for Bonnie. It reminded me of seeing my grandpa on his death bed. Every day tears would fill my eyes when talking to Bonnie. When I would walk up to him and wake him up he would look at me with one eye half open and I would say, “tu eres mi hermano en Cristo.” And he would respond, “Si, tu hermano en Cristo.” I would hold his hand for what seemed like forever without exchanging words, but just to show him how much he meant to me. I would feed him at lunch every day and enjoyed every second of it. Each day before I left I would pray for him and even attempted a few prayers in Spanish! After the prayer I would whisper in his ear, “Dios te ama, Bonnie. Dios te ama mucho!” Bonnie has a special place in my heart, but more importantly he has a special place in heaven where Jesus is waiting to great him with open arms. I told Bonnie one day we would be in heaven together and we would be running around, laughing, smiling, and playing games together. Bonnie touched my heart more than I could have ever touched his. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of mi hermano en Cristo, Bonnie. I will never forget him. I will never forget everything about him.
From starting the month with no host, to ending the month with a feeling of God can do anything with anyone as long as you pray and listen. After that the fun happens. All you have to do is show up and watch God move. Last month we worked at a day care feeding kids. This month we worked at a nursing home feeding the old people. The circle of life.
