She says she is my friend. She calls me her "sweetie". I can't tell you her name because she asked for her story to be confidential. Dr. Chris said to us, while we were standing with him - "You have a friend in her" - pointing to each of us. Then he told her,"Teresa is a prayer warrior. Tell her your difficulties. She will pray for you and share your story in the U.S. on her church's blog."
She had been trying to find me to talk to me all week. I kept seeing her but I didn't understand. "Teresa! Teresa! You are back! Do you remember me? I have your card that you gave me last summer and I have been looking for you." She is a counselor I met at Faith Alive last summer. We first started talking because she said she was new to Faith Alive. She had just been hired. I told her well, I'm new too! I had never visited Faith Alive before. We hugged when we saw each other this summer and she cane running to see me with the card in her hand. "I'm going to come visit you at counseling" I said. She said "Okay". I said "What time tomorrow?" She said "Okay God's time". This happens a lot there.
One time she was standing outside of social services, actually looking for me, as I was going in. "Teresa, there you are! Where are you going?" I said "I'm going to discipleship class". "Okay, come see me after". "Okay", I said. But this wasn't God's time. Some of my teammates, when they heard me saying 'I have to get with her,' said "Why don't you just make an appointment?" Over there, after a while, you realize this is very "American thinking". Of course, there are actual times set for certain meetings. But mostly, they are for patient/staff devotional meetings. Pastor Ben let everyone know one afternoon at the daily (3:45) patient/staff prayer meeting what he thought about staff who were missing - let's just say it better be an emergency. So much of FA daily activities has to do with kind of being ready for what might be around the corner. If you have too much planned you will miss out on a lot. That doesn't mean they don't work hard. They DO. It means that the personal relationship part (and I mean in person) of their day is always very present and important. Therefore, no cell phones are allowed to interrupt. However, if someone knocks at an office door, it is answered. Even if that staff person is talking in person with someone else at that time. I know this because it happened to me many times. It can seem annoying! The door kept being knocked on and the staff person would just say "yes, come in". When the person would enter and make a request or statement, the staff person would answer "Yes, of course, in just a minute". But it would not happen. And then another interruption - another "Yes, come in" - another request - another "Of course" . I can just hear all of you protesting as you read this about how disorganized this seems. I'm not saying we should adopt this entirely! But FA has taught me a lot about personal relationships. Anybody at anytime can come around the corner and a whole conversation can start that is really incredible! They want to tell you their life stories and how important Jesus Christ is in their life. They are practically giving testimony constantly. Only to them, it is not really giving testimony but its just how they live their life. They just don't talk about it either - they live it. Every day is about people - welcoming, befriending, kindness, helping and of course healing. At one of the special prayer meetings for patients and staff (called Support Group) which are held on Sunday afternoon, Pastor Esther told a new patient something great. The new patient had stood to tell everybody she had just been diagnosed as having HIV and how much FA had helped her. She said it was hard to tell people she was HIV +. That was when Pastor Esther said "Don't worry, we are all positive (+) here". "Everyone is positive." This drew applause.
So my friend who calls me "sweetie", I am praying for you. May you overcome your current hardship of illness as you are trying to be a faithful worker, a good wife and a great mom to 5 children. Please, all who read this, pray for my friend. She does so much for others. Her troubles have to do with the enormous poverty she and her family live in daily. She lives in a compound with four other families that share one bathroom facility, no refrigerator and little food and water. I will not forget how you finally ran to the FA guesthouse in the rain to finally talk to me. God's time had come. I still see you perfectly in your beautiful purple dress. You had your hair done that day by the social services salon and you were proudly wearing the bracelet I made for you. The first time I had met you, I was so touched by your soft ways. We recognized something in each other right away. Somehow we knew about our similar childhoods. The afraid little girl in us peeked out at each other from behind the curtain. We do not have to be born in the same country, or what even seems like the same world, to share the similar story of feeling like we don't belong. I never forgot you after the first trip and I will never forget you. It was so hard to answer your question "Will you come again next summer?" I don't know whether I will ever see you again. But I know it is true what Dr. Chris said to us "You have a friend in her".
Teresa Pompa
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