A Jon Post
It really was always just a matter of time.
Lucia and her father went home almost two months ago when the hospital here decided there was nothing further to be done for her. She wanted to go home and be with her family.
She died on Friday.
Lucia and her smile
It was always just a matter of time.
Lucia smiled a lot. Maybe she learned it from her father who did the same. When she had toxin dripping into her veins to fight the cancer in her body she seemed to teeter on the verge of eternity but always, after her treatment ended she would bounce back and smile again.
It was always just a matter of time.
While we don’t and can’t forget her, we honestly didn’t know her THAT well. We knew her in her time at the hospital but her life with her family, with her friends, in school, the games she played… we didn’t know.
So we’ve started a project, if only a personal one.
This week I spent many hours sitting with little Tomé whom I’ve written about before. With his eager help, I’ve started writing down the story of his life, as much as I can. Where he grew up, how his mother makes food in the home, how far he and his family have to walk to get water to cook and clean, his favorite class in school (it’s math by the way) what his house is shaped like, what kind of food grows in his father’s farm, and much much more.
We want to know people’s lives beyond the short part of it we see when they come here (too often to die). We want to know and hear the life part of it.
So starting this last week I’ve started taking a notebook with me and taking small notes. We want to remember the voices that we hear, even long after they’ve gone on to wait for us to join them with Christ.
There are many voices of the world.
We’re just writing down a few of them.
But please don’t forget Lucia’s.
Goodbye sweet friend
I love that you are finding out about peoples lives… it give me an idea. What if you compiled all of these amazing stories of life and joy even in the midst of struggle etc… put them in a book that could be published and sold as a way to help support your continued ministry. Not to mention it would honor those that have been lost. Just and idea ;)
Love the notebook and story idea. With facts our intellects are challenged. With stories, our hearts are grabbed.
I like it. I love that you two are still learning, growing and listening to God and how he would have you minister to these people.
If nothing else, these stories remind me that there’s pain in the world and that we are to bring his ministry, his healing gospel to souls all over the earth. Thanks for blazing the trail, brother and sister, I hope to join you two one day.
Yes, it will be a good thing to have more flesh layered onto my mental pictures of our Mozambican friends. I eagerly look forward to your book — haha! good idea, Jessica. But even with the scant knowledge you have shared with us so far, it is so easy to love them from someplace deep inside my heart. I will always love Emelia, Joachim, Joanna, Lucia, Alexandre, and the other dear ones you have brought into my life. Little Tome’ tugs at my heart’s strings and I want to be there and hug him, read to him, see his smile light up the room.
I have loved dear Lucia, and today I carry a little of the sense of loss that her family must feel. The Lord was so gracious to her, to allow her that precious two months with her family. After the suffering she endured, I can’t even imagine the way her legendary smile must be lighting up heaven. Amazing grace!!!
I love it! Love the book idea too. What an awesome idea and way to connect for not just ya’ll but us too. We can feel like such a part of it all. I love you guys so much!