Stretched

Speaking with Edmond

Today we visited five elders up in Titanyen. I was extremely stretched and pulled out of my comfort zone throughout these visits. I chose to help out by taking notes about each elder we visited. That meant that I would initiate all the questions using Wilson and Jonas, our interpreters. If you could just picture this with me: Our first visit was to Edmond. When we arrived he was on the floor all alone hunched over, sitting cross legged in his home which was the size of my entryway at home. Wilson, our interpreter helped him up to the bed to sit so we could visit. I knelt down to get to Edmond's level and then prayed God would guide my conversation and that He would give me the right words to say. I quickly learned that Edmond is blind and hard of hearing, so we had to speak very loud for him to understand what we were saying. I handed him a peanut butter sandwich that he ate along with a banana and a bottle of water. He ate everything we brought him. When he was finished I asked him if  he had any prayer requests and he said, "Praise to God." Here is a man who literally has nothing and when asked if  there was something we could pray for him he says that all he wants is for us to Praise God. Can you believe that? I am still getting emotional thinking about that. I took a deep breath and began to pray for Edmond. I cried my way all the way through it, but it was an amazing experience and I felt God's presence with me the entire time, guiding me through my prayer. There is no way I could have done that in my own strength. After we prayed for him we were able to rub lotion on his arms, legs and back. He kept saying thank you Jesus as the team put lotion on him. As we left Edmond said, "Thank you family for the visit." Wow.

Hugging Angeline after putting lotion on her body

We also visited Angeline, Dieufort, Maricia and Pierre. Some highlights from the other visits were when Dieufort was asked if he has any family he said, "No family, I'm living here with God." He is living every day in communion with God, and that is it. Maricia told us, "Keep remembering me." She depends on our visits.


It was a great time visiting the elderly, and I can take a lot away from them. All we truly need is Gd, He provides our every need and I pray he blesses the elders we came across today.