What faith!

Last week, a new sister was confirmed in our ward. As soon as we were seated to await the beginning of Sacramant meeting, Hermana Ward and I noticed this sister. She was either very ill or distraught. She clung to her tall, handsome husband, and coughed and coughed. She was stick-thin. As the meeting was about to begin, he led/carried her out of the chapel coughing. Shortly they returned. The confirmation occurred in due course. The Spirit attended both husband and wife, who wiped tears from their eyes at the conclusion.

At the beginning of Relief Society, the president approached Hermana Ward and I and said there was a sister in the ward who was very sick and needed help. We instantly knew who she was talking about. She said she lived in a hotel and her husband worked at night, and she needed someone to stay with her from 4:00-8:00 every evening. Hermana Ward and I volunteered for the coming Friday night.

To protect her privacy, I will call this sister Jerry.

Friday came and Hermana Ward had other responsibilites to attend to, so Hermana Ordonez and I went to visit Jerry. The Relief Society President had told me earlier in the day that she was much better, and we would only be needed for an hour. Despite that good news, I was not prepared for the Jerry who bounded into the lobby of the hotel and began to visit with us. Soon she invited us to her room so we could read the scriptures together in private.

We walked through an open courtyard, up a flight of stairs, and then up another flight of stairs that probably rose 10-15 feet in a space of 4 feet--they were very steep. On the left, at the top of those treacherous stairs was the room Jerry and her husband stay in. I estimate the dimensions of the room to be about 8' wide by 10' long. In it was a twin-size bed, clothing hanging on nails and hangers hung on a line strung across a corner, a very small table, shoes, a few books, medicine, and not much else. No bathroom. No kitchen. No sink. No water. No ventilation. There was a window with a white curtain across it. I don't remember if there was a plug or a light in the ceiling. They pay $120 a month for their accomodations.

Jerry told us she has cancer. Her husband manages a few restaurants for a friend. They have only been married for three and a half years. She has daughters by a previous marriage. I can't repeat the life story she told Hermana Ordonez and I because frankly, I didn't understand much of what they were saying. But as we read together some of the Isaiah passages from 2 Nephi, I can tell you that the Spirit was with us in that tiny room. Hermana Ordonez is a master teacher, and she comforted and strengthened Jerry and reminded her how much Heavenly Father loves her and how much the Savior understands what she's going through.

After some very tender moments together, we prepared to leave. Jerry needed some medicine that she couldn't afford, so we walked together to a local pharmacy to purchase it. Once the medicine was purchased, she asked for the receipt; I thought she was going to turn into an insurance company, or attempt to reimburse. I later asked Hermana Ordonez why Jerry wanted the invoice. She said that she had been instructed by her husband to collect receipts from any donations or assistance they might receive because they would pay tithing on those gifts.

For those of you who are not LDS who read this blog, members are asked to give 10% of their increase as tithing. I would imagine that the percentage of those who include gifts, assistance and donations in that definition would be somewhere in the 1/100th of a percent range.

Sometimes it's difficult as a senior missionary in an office mission to find the spiritual nourishment you become accustomed to in Salt Lake City. That is, until you accept an assignment from one of the Lord's servants. I marvel at how much I have yet to learn, and am grateful for Jerry's gift. She gave me an opportunity to consider once again the power of simple faith.