On a recent trip to the nursing home we were unable to visit the residents because there was no electricity. Pani Hallea is a relatively young resident at the nursing home (60 years old) and sometimes she works at the desk in the entry, recording the guests that come and go from the nursing home. When we arrived she said we couldn’t go visit the residents because there was no electricity, so we sat with her in the entry for a while. Apparently they started cutting electricity in the region of the nursing home. There was no electricity from 5:00 to 7:30, which also means no dinner (normally at 6:00) because the stoves are electric. I couldn’t help but think that if something like that were to happen in America… who knows what the results would be. But these people, even the ones in wheelchairs who couldn’t get back up to their rooms, but sat and waited. Of course there were complaints, but overall it was a quiet and accepted wait.

As we sat and visited Pani Hallea, she told us that when she gets a visit from us girls it’s like sunshine, like light on a dark day or a dark night. “Like right now! We have no electricity and it’s dark outside, but you girls bring light!” She told us what she remembered of each of the volunteers that have visited her over the years (she remembers all of them and is very proud of it), their hair, their laughs, how Marichka was her husband’s “first love” and now Virginie is his “second love”, how they right away love the girls that come visit them… How is it that we can be such a light for them? Especially when we don’t make it to every room every time, or when we forget a birthday, or when we don’t have the language or words to comfort them? God certainly works through imperfections and limits. He’s the one who brings comfort, through poor, imperfect instruments.