The last ward service

Today I attended my last ward service aboard the Africa Mercy. Dressed in my African 'suit', I soaked up in the atmosphere and studied the patient's faces, as Andrew pounded away on the drums. There is one new fellow who needs cataract surgery in both eyes. He stared off into the distance, but during the sermon he nodded his head. As we sang songs, he sang along, a smile spread across his lips. At the end of the service, Lucy called on me to pray out loud and I did so on the brink of tears.

After the service, Lucy and Zoe pulled me aside. They told me they just wanted to express their gratitude to me on behalf of the ward counselors. For coming down to the hospital, for being available to them, for being generous. If there is one thing that is humbling, it is when people praise me. I know what goes on inside of my heart, and more than once, I have had to pull myself - no, drag myself - down to the ward, sit down and be available. And then other times, I just hide in my cabin, eat junk food and watch cheesy movies, trying to shrug off just another half hour of doing what I came to do. So when someone calls me available, giving, and responsive, it very humbling.

Sitting in the middle of the empty recovery room, we exchanged stories from the past half year, laughing and crying a little bit too. They presented me with a card as well as many gifts. A dress for me, a small woven wallet, a pair of slippers and the best of all -- a shirt for my 'husband-to-be' (as noted on the card)! Zoe squealed in delight, hiding her face, when I said that Chris would like it so much. I love gifts and it is a love language of mine. But to me it was also a huge act of service. I know how much these things cost, and I know how much their salary is on the ship. It easily cost a week's paycheck.

I was so speechless and am so thankful. I will never understand how I have come to mean so much to them and them to me. And while there were those moments of me hiding in my cabin, I remember that there were also moments that I was happily present, available and without any other place in the world I'd rather be, than knitting with those women and the patients.