Or as we would call it, Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
 |
| The four IW missionaries and four IW sisters - Sr. Katty, Sr. Juanita, Kelli, Me, Emily, Kyle, Sr. Lionela, Sr. Sofie |
It was difficult spending my first Thanksgiving away from home. I was definitely missing my mom’s sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce, seeing my dad parade around the house in his OU hat and t-shirt while watching college football, and eating cherry pie with my grandpa.
On the other hand, Thanksgiving here in Peru really helped me to realize how much I have to be thankful for. I still had to work on Thanksgiving day since it isn’t something that exists here, go figure. I started out the day doing really well!! Not missing home and feeling very optimistic about my first T-giving away. I joyfully walked into Hospice and greeted everyone with a kiss on the cheek. “How was your Thanksgiving morning??” they all asked me (since I had been talking about it for about 2 weeks previous), “Great!!” I said, and then decided to add something thoughtful in order to share the Thanksgiving spirit, “And while y’all don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, I still would like to say on this day how thankful I am for all of you. Everything you do here in Hospice for the patients and their families is such a beautiful act of service. And thank you for being a part of my life here!! My life in Peru is so great because I have my Hospice family.”
So after saying this, I started to get choked up a little bit really thinking about how hard it would be if I DIDN’T have my Hospice co-workers. Then of course they had to make it MORE emotional by saying, “Lets sing a song about gratitude”. Everyone joined hands around me and around our morning meeting table, and started to sing a song about being gracious to God for all we have. I started to cry and tried hiding my tears out of embaressment and how ridiculous it was that I was being so dramatically emotional about this holiday they don’t even know about. Once the song was over, we prayed. Once the prayer was over, I had to look up eventually. When they saw I was crying, everyone started to hug me and tell me how grateful they were for the two years of my life back home with friends and family that I sacrificed to be in solidarity with them. And I continued to tell them how grateful I am for how welcoming and wonderful they all are.
After this, we went out to our patients’ homes per usual. We had a new patient on this day named Maximo, a man in his 70s with severe diabetes and history of a hemorrhagic stroke. We were drawn a map and told what public transportation to take to get to his house. After 3 different cars and 45 minutes into remote sand dunes, we found Maximo’s house made of metal scraps, cement, leaves and cardboard. We entered the home and were greeted by his sister (also in her 70s) and their little tiny white dog, Beethoven. Beethoven and the sister (is it a bad sign that I remember the dog’s name better than the person’s name??) led us to Maximo’s room. There was Maximo, laying in bed. He has both of his legs amputated, is completely blind, and had sores all over his bald little head. I was a little surprised at first, not expecting to walk in and see a patient in this condition. I walked up to Maximo’s bedside and said, “Hello Maximo!! I am Katie, your nurse today. Very nice to meet you!!”. Maximo reached out his hand to shake mine and said, “Hello, nice to meet you too. I hope Beethoven didn’t intimidate you too much” and laughed. I was surprised by what a good mood he was in with all that was going on in his life. I took his blood pressure, gave him some arm/hand reflexology massages, and then sat next to the sister against the wall while Justina, our pastoral care worker, performed a prayer and gave Maximo communion. He sang along to all of the songs with a huge smile on his face and said all of the prayers with his whole strength (I may or may not be tearing up while typing this). When we left, he made some more jokes and shook our hands again, smiling, and said “See you next week!! Be safe”.
I couldn’t BELIEVE how happy he was!! How content and faithful and grateful he was. A man with no legs, laying in a bed, blind, in a house made of cardboard and metal, in the middle of nowhere on a sand dune in one of the most poverty stricken parts of Peru. Watching as Maximo sung the “Allelujah” I felt like he was living his life, like I could learn so much from him about how to REALLY live and not just be alive. I felt the presence of God SO STRONGLY with Maximo and his sister. And there was nothing divine happening there, just a sick man in a bed with his sister taking care of him and their little dog sleeping on a pillow. It is something to truly be grateful for when you think about how God presents himself in other people and in the most unlikely places. I am so, SO thankful for Maximo and his sister. I know that while I type this he is sleeping in his bed in his little house an hour away from me, and I can’t help but pray for him and pray in thanksgiving to God for the opportunity to know him.
And now, FOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanksgiving meal was so gooooooood. We (the four Incarnate Word missionaries), the four Incarnate Word sisters, and some Dominican priests all went to the home of some Dominican Sisters who are also North American and have been living in Chimbote for about 30 years. We had all of the average Thanksgiving foods: Sweet potatoes, green beans, mashed potatoes, corn (well, choclo which is kind of the same thing), salad, bread, apple pie, and pumpkin pie (well, zapallo pie which is kind of the same thing). We ate outside in the garden because it was such a sunny beautiful day and then went home and napped until about 7pm. A perfect ending to such a great Thanksgiving day.
No comments:
Post a Comment