A rooster begins to crow well before the sun rises. I think about my electronic "rooster" and I am reminded how there are many low tech solutions to life.
We take so many things for granted. The place where we are staying is part of a seminary. We have only cold water for showers. I think about how much I take for granted in the comfort of my daily life. The fact is that I enjoyed the cold shower. Don't get me wrong, I am not likely to switch, but still it was good to even have a shower.
We prepare care packages for our hospital visits today. We have a commissioning mass to begin our mission. Our host families have adopted us in every way. They prepare and serve our food with great love, and we sense their love by the way they attend to our every need. Our interpreter Angel (read the prior years to understand) brings us gifts that will help us to make our mission a lasting memory. We are grateful for our Angel and all of the volunteers who make our mission so wonderful.
We group into teams and go to the Children's Hospital. Our team volunteers to go to the children's oncology floor believing that God is with us and will help us raise the spirits of the children and their parents. What we witness is both heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time. Our first visit is with a four year old who has cancer. She is a happy toddler and we are able to make her smile. We pray over the baby and mother with heartfelt prayers for the child's healing. Our Angel interprets our words and we know that hearts are touched. We know the mother is encouraged as we leave her with a care package of food, drink, and a coloring book, along and promises to continue praying for them both.
Later we visit with a young boy of about 6 and we have a funny face contest with him to make him smile. We discover that the bottoms of his feet are ticklish and he laughs. Then he says to tickle his feet again as he laughs. Then we all laugh together. Then we pray with the boy and his mom. It was so precious to see the boy close his eyes and pray with us. We tell him how much God hears his prayers because the prayers of a child are so special because they are pure.
As we move from one room to the next, we notice in the shared rooms that after we pray with one family that the other families also actively seek our prayers with them. We are so happy to grant their request. We join our love with God's love and ask that it be showered down upon them. I'm still praying now for these precious children who have pulled at my heartstrings are so in need of prayers. And later we learn why in this case my ignorance of their prognosis is best. If I knew just how bad it was, perhaps we would not be able to encourage them quite as well.
We are summoned to come meet a young lady who has a brain tumor and who would like to talk to us. After visiting with her we ask her if she would like for me to sing. We sing her "Tale as Old as Time" from Beauty and the Beast. We get a big smile from her, and that is all we need.
On another floor, a three day old baby has a weak heart and scared parents. We huddle and pray with them and encourage them as tears fall while we pray. We tell them of the special way that Jesus always answered the prayer of a parent. We huddle and pray with three mothers who all have very sick children.
How is it possible that we can experience all of this, as difficult as it is, and yet still smile, encourage and pray? There is no other explanation than supernatural help from God. We know we have made a difference today, and all we had to do was love. Just love.
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