The Elders

Visiting the Elders today was not what I thought it was going to be. I don’t know what I expected it to be, maybe like volunteering in my nursing home back at home is what I can most compare my expectations too, but I certainly didn’t expect what I felt today.

I had lost my grandparents at younger age, and so what memories I have of them are truly special and such a blessing. The advice i give to those who I see get annoyed or find the elders in their lives a burden is “Don’t take the elders in your life for granted, cherish every moment you have with them because you truly never know when you have to say Goodbye.” I can not emphasize it enough, and today was just a reminder of all of the good I had with my grandparents.

Today had really hit home for me when we visited the Elders because of loosing mine at a younger age, and today I really saw the light of my grandparents in the sprits of the Elders today. The first elder, Ofan, he reminded me much of my my Abuelo, he was the first of the grandparents I had lost as a child, he had spirit, heart, hope and passion even though he had his leg amputated. To see the spirit he had when he was playful bantering with my mission brother, Paul, like they had been friends for years, to see the light in his eyes when he spoke of his goats, the hope that he was going to see his goats again and the heart of the lord, because no matter what he had been through, his heart was still full of the lord and he knew his lord was there watching over him and it gave him the hope that it was all going to be okay. 

The second elder we had visited was Marie, she reminded me so much of my grandmother, I saw the same light and spirit today in Marie’s eyes that I had seen in my grandmothers eyes even at the end of her life. Just like my grandmother, Marie knew and believed in the lord that he was going to watch over her and love her, the light and love in her eyes even though she was sleeping in a tin hut and had out lived most of her family, and the thanks and just joy that she had when I was washing her feet, hands and face. 

It’s just truly amazing that all we gave them was 15 minutes of our time, some love, song and prayer and they were just so thankful. It truly broke my heart to see that these people are here and that they have nothing but they still love and are thankful. I believe that today I found part of an answer to a question I had asked before I went on this trip and even now while i’m on this trip, Why am I here? Why did you send me here? and today was all about love, that was it. Even though these people had close to nothing and that the floor of there home was dirt, they still had so much love. 

Today all sorts of boundaries were broken, I saw two men who were literally polar opposites, came from two different sides of the human spectrum, converse like they were long time friends and had no cultural or language limitations. I saw a women who couldn’t come out of her tin hut because he had fallen and had to lounge on her dirt floor, show so much thankfulness and worship and love because we sat there and sang with her.

So on this day, from what I had witnessed, I end it with one message.. just love and cherish the time with the ones you love. 

Glwa pou Bondye, Glory to God. 

Thank you for reading, 

~Sarah