Elizabeth is on mission in Brazil.

“You should pick the room we enter… I choose every single week.” “…but I’m nervous! I will next time, but can you pick just one more time?” “Nope! You can this time.” “Ahhh fine… let’s enter this one!”

I hastily knocked on the hospital room door closest to where we stood, in order to make the decision as painless as possible. When Cynthia, my sister of community, and I entered the room, we met G., a 29-year-old man who was in the hospital for a routine check-up. We learned that he regularly passes some time in the hospital due to being paralyzed from the waist down as a result of receiving two bullets seven years ago. His presence was very striking to me: a sadness at what was lost, especially his friends who abandoned him afterwards, but a quiet contentment at the same time and awareness that he is still full of life, even though life looks different now.

We asked him if he would like us to visit him after he leaves the hospital.  In the two months after meeting G., we’ve been able to visit him twice. He spends most of the day laying in bed in front of the TV with very minimal interaction with others apart from his mom. We pass the time talking about music, movies, his family… The fact that we are foreigners is always a good subject of conversation – “You left your countries, families, friends to sit here and visit me?!” Our visits are simple, but it is very obvious that we are meant to be there with him, to laugh, offer our friendship, and receive his friendship.

When I think about the conversation between Cynthia and I before we entered his hospital room, I am amazed. Our weekly visits to the hospital are an incredible opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us to who really needs our presence, not knowing who will be waiting for us behind that closed door; but it didn’t even cross my mind in that moment to ask for guidance or say a little prayer. In fact, it was very much a moment of cowardice and lack of trust on my part. Still, the Holy Spirit was present in that moment, using even my irrational cowardice to manifest God’s will and bring us to G. Imagine what God could do with my conscious participation!