Getting caught up

Well I am afraid it has been awhile since my last post. I find myself pretty busy these days. My new schedule is Wed, Fri, & Sat I am out on the Cafe truck, Thursdays the Fellowship Bible study and working with a youth to prepare for the sacraments, Sunday I visit some homeless shelters and do a couple communion calls to the homebound, Monday we have a meeting, and Tuesday I am off.

I am finding the ministry very difficult. When I worked in payroll it was pretty cut and dry. I could learn and succeed at something. This is not about succeeding in a measurable manor. I will probably never know with 99.95% of the cases of any effect I had, if any, until I get to heaven. So I rely heavily on my directors for their guidance in helping me become the best missionary I can be.

There are two stories I wanted to share with you. First there is a lady I met on the Cafe, we will call her Sue. Sue and her friend we walking up to the truck and I greeting them. "You seem awfully happy today!" They replied to me the reason is she just found out Sue was pregnant. I congratulated her. She proceeded to tell me she had to tell her boyfriend. I was kind of concerned for her, because you never know how the man is going to react. I told her to come back and see me the next week and I would have some information for her. To my surprise she came back and I remembered her face and name. I gave her the information as promised for the local crisis pregnancy center (some of the other missionaries work there). I talked with her for a while and she told me how it had gone so well with her boyfriend and how excited she was. I again assured her of the support of LAMP during this time. Asked her to come back the next week. This was Saturday. This time she brought her parents. She was still glowing. It was so refreshing to see someone excited about being pregnant (which is not typical of what we normally see). I am excited to see her next week. Please continue to pray for Sue, her baby, her boyfriend, and her family.

The 2nd is also a story from the Cafe'. At the other site we serve at there is this other lady, we'll call her Jane, who comes over so full of joy every week. She is so devoted to her faith, it puts most people (especially myself) to shame. She is a gem and such a breath of fresh air for me. Her mother is going through radiation treatments in Guatemala and she is really upset she cannot be there for her. We got a nice hat set in and for some reason I really felt the need to give it to Jane. The next week I saw Jane with the same hat, and I was curious what happened to the one we gave her. Without me asking Jane told me she sent it to a friend that needed it more then her. Later that day she mentioned this person needed a scarf. I noticed she also didn't have one on. Thankfully we had a bunch of scarfs that we needed to get rid of. One of the other missionaries suggested I get them for her. I gave her a couple, and I saw a purple one "Oh look at this pretty purple one, this will look great on you" As if not hearing a word I said she looked lovingly at the purple scarf and said, oh this will be perfect for..." Her love and true charity is such a challenge to me to live like her. She live in the projects on this earth, but I believe she will have a place at the front of the table in heaven.

Well I know a couple of people have asked me about daily life in the prayer house. I will write another post about that soon. I have been typing for an awfully long time now. :)

I miss you all so much and you all remain in my prayers.

Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always,
Esther