While we gathered a few times for lunches and craft time at her home, we talked on Facebook almost every day, and over the phone when life allowed. She always told me I could do anything, and sometimes I believed her.. Sometimes we would string beads while our husbands spent time together. Other days the four of us would gather and she would harass her husband Sonny while he cooked for us.
One day while sitting at her table she started to cry a little, and she asked me if she ever told me the story about when we very first time first met, I told her she had not. I had gone to Bay City for a conformation of a small child I had baptized that summer. He was afraid to be upfront, so I sat with him and held his hand, so he wasn't alone. (She and I were introduced, but never had the chance to actually get to know each other until a retreat a few weeks later at Blue Water.). I knew I loved her fire and the way that she smiled... I sat at listened that day as she had told me about an experience that she had with the Holy Spirit, that she knew I was a person of great faith, and that I needed to go into the world with out fear. She was miffed as to why we never got to visit that first day, but she knew that one day we would be good friends.... When she finished her testimony, there were two weeping women at the table.
I enjoy praying, it is a way to become empty from the bad stuff, and overflowing with the good stuff. Whenever Dora and I talked over the phone, she would let me pray in my very bad, sometimes Google translated Spanish. She always told me that she loved to hear me pray, and that she felt better after prayers.. every time.. When I went to Brazil this July I suddenly had the feeling that I needed to call her one day..She had confessed that she was not feeling well again and that it was serious. I knew deep in my heart I wasn't coming home to her, and that when I prayed she needed to know just how much I lover her, and how she already had been my angel. I cried even harder when the news came that she was indeed gone. Truth is I am crying now, because I can still hear her talking to me sometimes when I am down.. telling me I can do anything.. and of course, te quierissimo mucho.". "I love you, so much"..... and my favorite
"THANK YOU, I DO BELIEVE IN THE BIG BLESS! TQM"
Lately life has been hard. I miss my family in so many places that God has blessed me with. My husband and I are trying to buy a house, and I am struggling with school. The mission of the church in Brazil is a very deep and profound part of my daily life.. My heart aches for the people there whom God has sent me to serve, and yet they fill me so much more. I know that God is blessing us, and holding me so tight.. but in that same breath I feel so lost and even helpless.. I have a million beads and can't think of anything to string. I have papers to write, but no real words come. Then God does what he did tonight and life is okay for at least this evening...... Sephora called.... She is my dear sister from the Detroit area born originally in South America... She tells me about her desire to learn Portuguese, and that she has found someone from Brazil that she wants me to meet in Michigan.
I found after a few minutes that while I was listening to her speak, there was a deeper feeling of calm than what I have felt in months. Suddenly I was thinking "TQM". I told Sephora that she was bringing me deep ministry and why.. I could hear Dora speaking to me through her in a very special speech rhythm that only Dora used with me..it was a a special moment, and one that I give God many thanks for. While I cannot hug my Tia and hold hands while we pray, I can always remember "TQM... you can do anything..." Amen linda tia... one day soon.
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