Flora’s Church

We were instructed to pray in the morning, but I didn’t want to pray blindly; I wanted to pray for specifics. My team decided to go on a prayer walk! I walked with one of my team leaders, Jessica.

We walked first to the medical clinic and prayed for the people that work there. I felt like a crazy missionary, wearing a long skirt and carrying a bible around the bush of Africa. Haha, I’m sure I was quite a sight. After the clinic, we went into the village area, which was a bunch of wonderful little stone huts strewn across the red dirt. Wild umbrella trees were scattered along the valley of the mountains. It’s so breathtaking! I felt the Lord drawing me down a specific path, so away we went. As we walked, I saw a woman washing clothes, her son playing in the yard. I was excited and practically started running to where she was.

We came into the yard and greeted each other in SiSwati. An old woman named Flora came wobbling out of the house to say hello. She seemed just as excited to meet me as I was to meet her. The woman, who was Flora’s daughter, brought out a chair for Flora and a mat for Jessica and I. I was so excited that this woman wanted to talk with us. God has equipped me with the ability to understand body language super well. Because Flora didn’t speak English and my SiSwati is limited to about ten words, it was difficult to communicate. But for some crazy reason, I understood quite a bit of what Flora was saying. Flora told me that she’s a Christian and wants to go to church but can’t because it hurts her to walk that long. She has quite a bit of knee pain and also has asthma. This troubled me, so I asked Flora if I could pray for her. She eagerly agreed. I prayed that God would take away Flora’s pain. After we prayed, I took out my bible and read some verses to her. Flora also had a bible and I was able to look up the same verses for her in SiSwati! Flora could read the same verses as me. This made her very happy and she even saved the pages I showed her.

This visit brought me so much fulfillment. I was literally being the hands and feet of Christ and it was so good. The visit left me feeling like I was making a difference and doing what God has called me to do.

I went again the next week to visit Flora. She is always so delighted to see me. This time when I came I brought my good friend Senele, who happens to be Flora’s grandson. So for the first time, I was really able to communicate with her. We had a grand time talking. Her toothless smile fills me up with so much joy. While we were talking, I had a wonderful idea! Flora couldn’t go to church, but I couldn’t I bring church to her?! So I told Flora of my idea and she was very pleased. It was settled, Wednesday morning I would come with my bible and guitar to have church.

That Wednesday we had such a great time. I brought Flora a fat cake (super yummy donut type things) because I saw them and I thought she would like one. She did very much so. We began with a devotion that my friend Jessica gave. Then we talked about what it meant. I was eager to sing to her so I started playing my guitar. I sang maybe five songs , most of them in English. Flora loved my singing so much. She said she hoped that in Heaven there will be songs like the ones I sang to her. This made me ever so happy. After Flora’s, we went to Flora’s mother’s house. We visited her on Monday and she was so pleased and excited that we decided to come back. I also bought her another fat cake. My goodness, her face almost made me cry. It was a face of utter joy. She was just so happy that we came to see her and that we made her a priority. I decided to sing “How He Loves” a-capella. She leaned over, put her face in her hands and just let herself be moved by the foreign words coming from my lips. It seemed as if she understood and, you know what, I think she did. I could feel God wrapping his arms around this old woman of 100 years. I could see Him in this place of devastation. He touched Tarisa’s heart and the most amazing part about that is he used me to do it. We prayed for her because she was in pain and was having nightmares. I’m so glad God gave me the desire to go a little further down the path, to push a little more. If I hadn’t, this wonderful woman wouldn’t have been able to have church come to her.