There are many awesome things that we have been able to do here in Swaziland over the past month and a half. Even the smallest acts of God’s love are significant and important, but amidst all of these “good things” I found myself longing to do and give more.
I am not exactly sure how you would define success when setting out on a mission trip. The mission is to bring God’s love and truth but there are no tangible measurements to either of these goals. These are some of the thoughts that have been running though my prayer life and I have been asking God for some answers to these questions.
This past week I believe that I have received an answer. Many of you heard me talk about my friend Lungile from the Hope House. Lungile was a 39 year old woman who me and Billy had the opportunity to visit on Mondays and Fridays. We simply loved her. Each time we pulled up to the Hope House Billy and I both knew exactly where we were going to head first and where we would spend our entire time. Lungile was the only patient that we visited and after each visit we looked forward to seeing her again the next time.
For each day between visits Billy and I would write her a note and leave it with her so that she never went a day without knowing that we were thinking of her. Lungile lost her mother when she was 14 and since then all of her siblings have passed away as well. The only real family that she had left were two young and clueless Americans that came to visit her twice a week.
During our visits we would sing to her, read her scriptures, tell her stories of our childhoods, pray with her, and listen to her talk. It was as if Billy and I were adopted into her family.
As time went on, we watched her illness slowly deteriorate more and more of her mind. She often was paranoid and suddenly struggled to keep focused on what she was doing but Billy and I never gave up. Many times she asked us, “Do I look better today? Will I get better?” And each time we would tell her that with God all things are possible and that we believed that she could.
Unfortunately, that was not the case and God took Lungile home on the 8th of March. God’s planning and timing was astounding. Although, Billy and I had both made plans other than the Hope House for that Monday, we somehow both found ourselves there with the rest of the group. We didn’t know it until we had arrived but Lungile had taken a turn for the worst and was literally in her last hours of life when we arrived, but because of God’s planning we were both able to be there with her that day.
Billy and I were able to sit with her and take turns holding her hand as worship songs were being sung in the room. Lungile was unable to talk and we knew that she had something to say but we couldn’t make out the mumbles with the exception of three things, one of which was said to me. As I held her hand she looked me in the eyes and as clear as can be she said, “I love you,” and again she said, “I love you.” Lungile passed away shortly after.
Those were the last words that Lungile ever spoke to me and I am certain that they will never be forgotten. What God allowed Billy and I to give to Lungile was a love that she never knew that she had. All her life she had been abandoned by people and the family around her but Billy and I had the honor of showing her the smallest glimpse of what God’s love is right before she got to see Him for eternity.
I didn’t come to Swaziland looking for some great success story or trying to meet any expectations of that sort but God had different plans when He brought Billy and I into Lungile’s life and her into ours. If what God used us for didn’t meet a definition of success then success is foolishness and a stumbling block to those who strive to attain it.
