Sunday was our final day of ministry assignments in Machakos. I was able to go back to the hospital. Mark (not Amach, as I called him last time!) and Gideon accompanied a few of us once again and also a student named Miriam. Like last time, The morning started out at the hospital chapel with some singing and teaching from God’s Word. It was a blessing to see Pastor Shadrach again. He was a veterinarian in his prime, and he has been a chaplain at the hospital now for 10 years. He was born in 1919, so he is 89 or 90 depending on when his birthday is! It is such an encouragement seeing people like him still serving the Lord. So many people make excuses for not serving God on a regular basis (or at all). At 90 years old, I’m sure the excuses would be many, but he is still going strong and I consider myself blessed to have met him!

The students from the other Bible college had been released for the summer, so there were just a handful of us. We split up into four groups of two people each, with my group the only one with three people. I went with Mark again and Cynthia, another missionary from ABO. The three of us took turns encouraging and praying for the patients. We went to Wards 3 and 4. Both wards were for patients who had been in an accident and/or were recovering from surgery. Each of the wards had a mix of men, women, and children of all ages. There were see-through partitions to separate the genders and age groups. The first ward we went to had several beds full of children. Most of them were all smiles when they saw us. As soon as I opened my mouth to speak, they burst out in laughter—which is often the case. I’m sure I sound funny to them, even though my Southern accent is often toned way down so they can understand me better. The next ward had more children, a couple very small children who were being treated for terrible burns on their arms and bodies. I assume it was their mothers who were sitting in bed with them.

Out of everyone I met, there was one lady who made the biggest impression on me. After praying with and saying goodbye to the little children I just mentioned, we walked around the partition to the next set of beds. There was a young woman with a blue jacket on and her hood up around her head. While many patients often smiled back or waved as we greeted them, she barely acknowledged us. I let Mark greet her first as I could tell this was not one of her best days. I didn’t want to be a bother to her. She wasn’t really making eye contact, but it looked as if her eyes were already wet with tears. As Mark and Cynthia began praying with her, I noticed the tears began to stream down her face. After the prayer, Mark motioned for me to share some words of encouragement. Honestly, I had no idea what to say. I had been thumbing through my Bible to find the perfect words to share with her. Not finding them, I just started talking with her. Her name was Sarah. She was tired and she was sad. Her mother Elizabeth is a single parent struggling to get by. Sarah has brothers but no sisters (in Africa, the women do most of the labor, so not having many daughters can put a load on a single daughter). Sarah has two children, Elizabeth and Vincent. She did not mention a husband and I didn’t ask. Tears continued to fall as she spoke of the hardship her family is facing because of a lack of finances. The doctor would come to visit Sarah the next day to see if she can be discharged, but Sarah fears they will not have enough money to pay the bill. A regular stay at the hospital is 150 shillings per day in addition to whatever testing is required. That is only about $2 US dollars, but in a country where the per capita income is $786, every extra expense can put a huge strain on a family already scraping to get by. Even before I introduced myself to Sarah, I was already fighting back the tears. It is hard for me not to cry when I see other people hurting. My words were squeaking out, and my prayer was much the same.

I continued to talk to her for some time and before I left, I asked if I could hug her. She said yes and we hugged. I didn’t rush it and could still feel her crying in my arms. My heart was completely broken for this woman. When I asked her, she said that she was a Christian, but it was obvious that it is hard for her to stay strong in the Lord when life is so difficult for her and her family. We visited a few more patients and then it was time to leave. I could not stop thinking about Sarah and wishing I could do more for her. I hadn’t brought much money with me, so I didn’t feel it would be very useful to give her the 100 or so shillings I had. I know I cannot financially help everyone I meet who has a need, but maybe God was telling me to help this one. I talked to several of my friends about Sarah and my heart for her and Jill wisely said, “God is not going to call you to help everyone you meet.” I certainly wish I could help everyone I meet, but I appreciated what she said. While I can’t give money to all people who have need, there will be moments when God may ask me to give time and money to encourage someone. Over the next 24 hours, Sarah continued to be on my heart. I made plans with Jill to go back to town and visit her once again in the hospital. I wanted to give her some money to help with her hospital bill. I decided to by a Bible at the store to put the money in. Jill and I underlined some verses we hoped would encourage her.

We walked into her ward, not positive she would even still be there. Thankfully, she was. I saw her sitting on the bed and she gave a big smile when she saw me. What a beautiful smile! I told her how much it warmed my heart to see her smiling!! I let her know that she had been on my mind and I just wanted to come for one more visit. I gave her the Bible and told her I’d like to pray with her again. I asked if there was anything new I could pray with her about and she mentioned that her mom should have already been to the hospital by now. She wanted to pray that she’d arrive safely. Jill remarked that it could have quite been a God thing that her mother was late, otherwise Sarah would have already been discharged and gone. We visited a while longer, she asked for my number (which I don’t have), I gave her my email, and we hugged her and left. It was clear in my heart that I did exactly what I was supposed to do. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have met Sarah and hopefully encourage her during a difficult time. God is so good and I hope I continue to listen when He calls me to go above and beyond to serve Him by loving others.