Love without Words - May 13, 2008

Leprosy is something I've tried to visualize for many years as I've read about the miracles. Today was finally the day I'd been looking forward to for years. As we hiked a couple miles through the rain to reach the leper colony, I tried to prepare myself for what I was going to see. I didn't want to arrive in such shock that all I could do was stare at the deformities of their hands and feet. I didn't want to just sit in awkward silence with them. I wanted them to know I cared. a lot! The first few people I talked to proved to be difficult conversations. I don't speak Nepali and they didn't speak English. Any comment required a lot of hand motions and most of the time what we said in English and them in Nepali, had nothing to do with eachother. Language barriers are really difficult for me to accept. There had to be a different way to appoach this. I wanted to touch them. For them to know that I didn't judge or fear them. After all, each of these lepers had been sent to this camp away from their families because everyone believed God was juding them for their sin and they didn't want to catch it.

Paige and I decided to go back and sit with one of the ladies. If the silence wanted to be awkward, so be it. But it turned out to be an experience I'll never forget. I reached out for her hand and gave her a hand massage with lotion. I did this for probably fifteen minutes. The childish joy in her eyes made the hike completely worth it. When I finished she just kept rubbing her hands together, one against the other. I wondered how long it had been since her hands had been that soft. I still couldn't communicate with her in words, but that doesn't mean we didn't communicate. we shared pictures with her and just held her close. Everyday I think, "this was the happiest day of my life" but I think today really was. I learned that sometimes words get in the way. When we couldn't talk, we had to love. I probably won't forget the knobby hand I held, but even more, I'll remember her joy.