Overwhelming Joy

This week has been good for two reasons in particular…

One was Tuesday evening. We met after work as leadership for a time of prayer and reflection related to the hospital and the needs here. This is something I have been thinking about and feeling prompted to do for a few weeks and it finally worked out. Don had asked me to lead out so over the past week or so I had been thinking about how best to do this. We invited about 20 people but only four of us ended up meeting. [For those of you that know me well you know I’ve been involved in lots of different prayer experiences and learned and studied about prayer. But every time an opportunity comes like this I still feel a little bit nervous about how best to lead because each group of people and situation is so different.]

As I was thinking and planning during the past couple of weeks, I felt it was important to go step by step and incorporate scripture into prayers and listening. We first considered being in the presence of God (Revelation 4), then moved to confession of sins (Psalm 15 & 51), then making requests (Luke 11), and finally thanksgiving. It was just nice to pray together and it seemed like God’s spirit was present. Everyone participated and I think gained a blessing. I’m not sure if it will be a regular thing but it was a blessing to me to have friends to pray with. Some of the things we prayed about was the financial situation (asking for a miracle), guidance & wisdom, for the staff, for our sister institutions – Blantyre Adventist Hospital, and the clinic in Lilongwe.

The second thing that made this week good happened on Wednesday. This one is harder to explain but I’ll do my best. Ali had gotten several donations of children’s clothes and stuffed toys and decided that Wednesday was the day to give them away to the kids in the NRU (this is the ward for the malnourished children where food and care is provided free). The NRU is full right now with 21 kids because this is the “hungry time” where food is scarce and they are even more susceptible to being undernourished.

So we divided everything that she brought into 21 piles to be able to give them all out evenly. There were brand new socks, clothes, knitted sweaters, and small stuffed animals. Ali, the 4-5 employees and I passed out the piles to each mom and child. If I could put into words the smiles on the faces of some of the children I would – but it seems impossible. Before long every child had something new on – socks pulled up to their knees, a shirt 4 sizes too big or a pair overalls that didn’t even come together (size wasn’t really an issue apparently). Usually the kids who are here are not well and really unresponsive or scared of white people. But there was one little girl named Alice who had the brightest smile I’ve seen. As soon as she had her new shirt on her little face lit up! Ali and I were standing talking to her and making her laugh and it was so sweet.

In the bed next to hers was another little girl who had gotten a small stuffed teddy bear. She was hugging and rocking the bear like a baby with a huge smile on her face! How sweet! I can’t explain to you how unusual this is because the kids here are not used to having toys and usually when they get them they don’t know what to do. This little girl’s mom was playing with the bear and giving it back to the baby like any mom would do.

Ali and I just spent some time there after handing things out greeting the ladies and chatting with them in broken Chichewa. They were saying “zikomo” and “takhosa” which are “thank you” and “we are thankful”. By this time more people had come to the door to see what the commotion was and watch (even though they didn’t get anything). Pretty soon the ladies broke into song and they were clapping and some were dancing. I was clapping and laughing and just celebrating along with them – I have no idea what the song meant but that didn’t matter. It was clear this was an expression of overwhelming gratitude.

The amazing thing to me was just the thankfulness and joy that just spilled out of them. The music and movement came from their hearts and although we didn’t communicate through language it was clear to me how thankful they were. The “realness” of their appreciation was just overwhelming to me! Even if I had pictures I don’t think they could capture the feeling that is in my heart and the memory I will keep of that morning.

From that experience I caught a glimpse of the spirit that is flowing through the staff and patients of this hospital. The staff members at the NRU were just as excited as Ali and I at being able to share some nice things with the ladies and children staying there. I hope that this kind of energy and experience happens more often here. Through these times I am reminded that THIS is the purpose of our work here and THIS is what Jesus would have us do – to bring smiles to hungry children’s faces and to celebrate in the small gifts that come along.