It's Life Jim, But Not As We Know It

Tuesday mornings are always busy visiting mornings for Paula in Macassar. Today was no exception and a good example of why we love our work so much. No two days are ever the same and quite often we do not know what we will find when we get to people's houses. Most cannot afford to run a cellphone, so quite often we will arrive and find no-one at home because something has come up and we can't be informed - frustrating but that's life!

This morning Paula spent some time with one of our struggling church members. She has been battling to cope with life and has rather stayed away from church, fearing the reaction of others. It was good to take some food on behalf of the church and spend a bit of time reassuring her that no matter what, we love her and are there for her and are actually missing her. She seemed chuffed to hear this and very grateful for the food. She then opened up a bit more about what is actually going on at home at the moment and Paula reassured her of our love and prayers and invited her again back to mid-week cell group.

Paula then moved on to the home of another member who is struggling with recent devastating news about her youngest child being diagnosed HIV+ It was amazing to see what a difference a few days make - literally! After being so worried for about her emotional and physical state last week, this week she is like a new woman. The visit with her son to the ARV clinic at the hospital has really worked wonders. She now feels informed, valued and a little bit surer about the future for both her and her family. She also has appointments for her and the children to see a psychologist to talk through her issues and generally feels 100% more positive. This was great to see and Paula was able to spend quite a bit of time talking things through, talking about the future and then, more practically, about managing day to day on her grants and the potential of getting some work. They are going to spend time once a week also doing a discipleship course which we know to be very helpful. Hopefully, our other friend (above) will also join in with this.

After this, just before running back to pick the boys up from school, Paula popped in on one of our leaders who just so happened to have phoned her at home to see if she could come over for a chat as she was concerned about something - guess who then knocked on her door! God is very good!! Had a great time with her and then went on home to resume life as a mum/wife. Tomorrow Paula is going to take a new young mum and baby out of the house for a coffee and chat! We love our lives!!