My sister Tessie
My sixteen-year-old sister Theresa has been accompanying me to the hospital to help spend time and teach the little ones who are suffering with cancer. I didn’t know how positive an effect it was having on her, till she wrote the following for our newsletter:
I have a great time every time I go to the hospital. It’s so nice to know you’re helping someone who can’t really help themselves. Even if I’m not doing anything “big” to help the hospital, I love to make those kids happy by drawing them pretty pictures.
They’re all so young! Too young…and soon their lives will be taken away from them before it’s even started. Spending time with them—even when I’m sick—is very refreshing. It makes me feel a lot better inside. Not only that; it also helps me take my mind off myself and on five or eight other people.
I really look forward to going every week. It’s one of my favorite routines. I feel at home when I go there and it’s nice to see them smile at me when I leave. Even if I won’t see them again, I know they will be in a better place.
The first time I went there was when we had a Christmas party for them. Even though they were all sick, they still had fun. So I asked if I could go there weekly. I make it a habit to get my butt out of bed early every Thursday (which is usually very hard for me to do, considering the fact that I am not an early bird!) and I won’t miss it, or I’ll regret it every week.
Theresa wrote this right after returning from the hospital one day, and the previous night she’d been sick, recovering from a flu. But she told me she’d committed to going there for the kids and she wasn’t going to let her own sickness stop her. I told her it was up to her, whatever her faith for the day was. She said she was reminded of the Bible vers, “As they went, they were healed.”
So she was up bright and early that morning to come with me. And her flu did subside. The Lord rewarded her with meeting a special new friend that day, and I’d never seen her happier!
I’m so proud of her!
