To Be Like a Child

By Rebecca D., on mission in Peru

How do I begin to give thanks to the Lord for all He has given me and blessed me with during my time in Peru? How do I begin to explain to you the miracles I have witnessed in my own life and the life of others? (…) I can only say that during this time of my mission, I really felt the Lord’s graces just showering upon me. Every moment was a gift.

Like the moments spent with our friend R. R. has the heart and mind of a child. On my first day on mission, I recall being confused when a loud and obnoxious woman entered our house and demanded hot tea, some bread and that we do French braids in her greasy and lice-filled hair. I remember my community sister Maca giving me the sweetest smile while handing me a comb, inviting me to braid R.’s hair. I was so hesitant at first, I remember thinking, “Should I put gloves on? Should I wear a hair net?”

I was suddenly faced with the reality of half of the people in the world: people who do not choose to be dirty but simply do not have the conditions to be clean. In R.’s case, she suffers from a mental disability and spends most of her time on the streets, going from shop to shop.

R. would stop by almost daily. Sometimes she would go into our chapel to pray. Every time I went into the chapel with her, R. would give me a lesson in prayer. She would kneel down, do the sign of the cross and begin to converse with God. Out loud she would pray for her family and friends in need, ask for God’s help to “change her horrible character” (because she would say she could not change it alone), and then give thanks to the Lord for all he had blessed her with. I was always left dumbfounded by R. in these situations. In her childlike manner, R. somehow understood the Lord’s message of mercy better than the smartest people I know.