24 Hours.

A little less than 24 hours ago, I arrived back at Welcome Home. Hugs and kind sentiments abounded as I saw everyone again. Kind sentiments are expressed with words but mostly with food. My beloved housemates immediately began to invite me to sit down yesterday afternoon and eat a meal with them. Once again, today, our friend from Sudan facing a meal alone asked me to join him for lunch. Unlike Canadians, it is unbearable and most aversive to eat by oneself. I feel obliged to eat their food and absolutely rude when I turn down their offers. Quite honestly, most of the fare is delicious but there are times when I've no appetite or just ate or really just want to make my own food.

I've also spent a few of the last 24 hours at the hospital with our newest resident, Regina* She moved in the day after I flew out for Bolivia. Soon after meeting her yesterday, she showed me some blisters on her arms and scalp. She complained that she felt hot in the inside. Her caseworker had brought her to the doctor, but it was too busy, so she was sent back to Welcome Home with a bottle of Advil.

This morning, as I was about to leave for church, Regina asked me to come into her room. By this time, her face was covered in blisters and they were increasing all over her body. She looked like she was trying to crawl out of her skin with all her scratching and the crazed look on her face. Skipping church, we immediately headed to emergency. As soon as the triage nurse saw her symptoms, her eyes caught mine with urgency. She immediately jumped up and grabbed a mask for herself and Regina, squirted sanitizer over every surface and rushed us inside to a sealed-off room. Another doctor, motioned for me to put on scrubs, gloves, and mask too. She had the whole outfit on plus a splash guard that covered her entire face. Needless to say, Regina was distraught and thought for sure that she had contracted some horrible, lethal illness that was going to contaminate the entire human race. I kept trying to assure her with my touch, but she would yelp, "No touch me! I no want this disease coming to you!"

After more than an hour of hyper-hygienic activity and quarantine, another doctor came in and quickly determined what was ailing Regina: chicken pox. Not the next super-bubonic plague or cholera, but every child's worst nightmare clothed in calamine lotion and jeweled with beads of Benadryl.

Regina is drugged up and faces 7 - 10 days of intense itching, but she and the world are going to be fine. It took less than 24 hours to initiate me back into the fabric and flow of life at Welcome Home. My stomach is full and the world is safe. What more could one ask for?

*name changed

Beyond Borders and Belief.

Here's a story of people from many countries and how God crossed their paths for his kingdom and his glory.

Many years ago, in Bolivia, Marge met a man, Franco, and his wife, Lila. Franco worked as a soccer coach for a team of former street kids. As they faithfully served in South America, they had a baby boy and dreamed of going to unreached places where Coca-cola was more popular than Jesus. Franco and Lila* would invite Marge over for visits and the three became good friends.

Eventually, Marge returned to Canada while Franco and Lila made a big move to India, Lila's home and native land. Who moved first is not important, but the friends went their separate ways. Franco and Lila were faithful to follow the updates of Marge as she moved on to work with refugees and their settlement into Canada. Marge was not as diligent to keep tabs on the little family of three in India.

India has become a country of loose borders with little legislation to assist the constant stream of refugees that cross her frontier. Franco and Lila found themselves befriending those fleeing religious persecution in Iran. One woman, Puna*, immersed in Muslim culture, met Jesus through gospel truth transmitted to her by satellite. She fell in love with the music, the message, and the Man. After taking out a Bible from the library, she was attacked and threatened in the street. Muslims are prohibited from reading the Bible but they are available for those identified as Christians. She quickly fled her home and landed in India until her case was approved and she was sponsored to Canada.

In the meantime, her brother, who once chastised her for watching the Christian programming, became a Christ follower too. While residing in India, Puna's youngest sister, Farah*, came to visit. During her visit, she went to church and decided to embrace Jesus as well. Upon her return to Iran, she was summoned to police headquarters, detained for 28 days, threatened, and upon her release, lost her documents for ten months. Unbeknown to Farah, the Iranian officials in India were watching her every move. As soon as her passport and IDs were back in her possession, Farah took off for India. For awhile, she studied, but her VISA was running out and the expiry date on her passport was creeping closer and closer.

One day, at 4 AM, Marge's mom received a phone call from India. With laughter and little surprise, she asked Marge, "Now, who in the world do you know in India?" Franco, knowing that Marge was working with refugees, was trying to track her down to see if she could help Farah's situation. A couple phone calls later, Marge and Puna connected and met each other for the first time. Their friendship came easily and in short time, they had recruited a Group of Five to apply for private sponsorship of Farah to Canada, where her brother now lived as well. Through various meetings, Skype phone calls, and the priceless help of the Group, every detail came together and the application was submitted to Citizenship and Immigration Canada...with a florescent yellow cover and the word 'URGENT' emblazed in red on the page.

Meanwhile, in India, Farah struggled to keep her spirits up and her hopes high. During some difficult days, a Bolivian missionary serving in Afghanistan came up to India to rest and spent several days with Farah. Her presence refreshed Farah's soul and renewed her faith. Although her name escaped Marge, this single lady was sent by the Spanish Church that she attended in Santa Cruz and Marge had met her a couple times.

From Bolivia to India, from Iran to India, from India to Canada, and from Afghanistan to India, the paths of many have crossed in such a way that they could only be designed by God. And because of this, with great expectation and rejoicing, Farah's application for refugee status was approved and she should be in Canada within the year. To God be the glory!

*names have been changed.

A Lollipop Covered in Cheese.

My life is full of one amusing situation after another. Tears, questions, and melancholy visit sometimes but I think that laughter is the main feature of most of my days. For instance, since I arrived in Bolivia last week, I've been craving the pacamuto (shishkababs) at Los Lomitos. This past Sunday, Adreana, Timmy & Melinda, and I went for lunch there after church. Well, Adreana and I went to church, Timmy & Melinda skipped (heathens!). Of course Liberty, their daughter was with us. We were finished our meals and I was holding Liberty. As usual, the restaurant favoured us with these terrible, cola-flavoured lollipops. The waiter gave one to Liberty to play with. After sucking on it for a bit, she started to wave it up and down with much excitement and noise. As I watched her delight, I saw the sucker leave her little hand, spinning, stick over candy, candy over stick, right into the bowl of cheesy rice of the elderly couple behind us.

I can still hear the older lady say with indignation, "Who threw that?". I can still see the old man's beady eyes bulging with offense as he returned the lollipop, now covered in cheese. It was hysterical and the aging pair probably felt that my apology was less than heartfelt. The tears were tracking down my face from laughing...I'm laughing as I write this! It was better than dessert and the pacamuto was all that I was craving and then some. I love how God gives us these good and perfect gifts, don't you?