As a recent grad, I was having a particularly hard time adjusting to work right after graduation. Work was such a time drain that I wasn’t used to and it was hard to allocate enough time to get my errands done and get enough sleep while I’m at it. During the my first week at my new job, my roommate Sister C decided that she would cook lunch for me so that at least I wouldn’t have to worry about packing lunch. When I sat down for a late lunch that day, feeling famished, I peeked into my lunch bag and to my surprise took out one Tupperware after the other. I was shocked to see how carefully she had packed everything away: the main dish looked delicious, the fruit was neatly cut up, and there were a few snacks on the side as well. I felt so relieved and thankful that I didn’t have to worry about what I was going to eat, because I knew that she was a good cook! But what I was blessed by most of all was what was taped on one of the Tupperware containers: there was a piece of cute stationary with beautifully written verses on it. At that moment I felt a gush of God’s love being poured out onto me through my roommate C. Not only did she make sure to take care of my physical needs, but she also considered my spiritual need as well.

But it didn’t end there. After I came home and thanked her for the awesome lunch, she asked me about what I preferred so that she could get my lunch ready for tomorrow. And after that first week of eating carefully prepared food and reading verses during lunch, she asked me if I could take her to the market so that she could buy groceries for the following week’s lunches. I could only sputter out my thanks because of the utter shock that I was in that she was planning to do this, that she would give so much of her time and energy, sometimes staying up late just to prepare another meal. As I got to know my new coworkers, they would say things like, “Wow, did you cook that?”, “Did your roommate make that for you? Again??”, and “You have the best roommate in the world!” I’ll have to agree with that last one.

It turns out that because bible study that week had been moved to Thursday, it gave them a free Friday night, and these two brothers, along with Ted, another GH brother, spent their Friday night cooking for me. This was a really moving picture for me–what powerful force came over these 20-something single guys with a free Friday night that they would spend it this way? One thing that Travis shared was that they had brought the food for me in take-out soup containers that they had amassed through various staff dropping off food for brothers there when they were sick.

I was so encouraged by these brothers and thankful to God to be part of this community, where servanthood begets servanthood, and where the love and care we receive from one another, encourages us to become more loving and caring people ourselves.

When we first arrived at their home, the children were afraid that their parents would leave them alone with us, but as we tried our best to sing, dance, and play with them, they were so delighted. During the first week, Benjamin had stomach flu and did not eat much, and then the next week, Cesarito had whooping cough. After that, Isabella started becoming sick. We never really took care of sick children before, but during the time there, we learned from Monica how much care and love children need, especially during their times of illness. I was so joyful to see the kids eating and playing with us even though they were sick and felt so blessed to hear from Monica how the kids had usually not been eating that well or were that excited. Maybe there is some kind of multiples connection I especially felt privileged to be able to fellowship with Monica as we multi-tasked: entertaining the kids, cooking, cleaning, and chatting since she does not regularly get to spend time with other sisters.
The times spent with Monica, Cesar and their children reminded me of how much God loves each and every person and wants for us to do the same:

Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest.”
~Luke 9:48

I was amazed to see just how loving and easy to receive these children are. I could feel my heart growing larger for the family and as I cared for them and forgot about my tiredness and troubles of the day. There is so much joy in serving out of a pure heart and with these kids, all I want to do is smile and pour out my love to them.