Escuchado - April 23, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been a good week. The grapefruits are ripening and the sun is setting earlier and it really is starting to feel like some sort of autumn. I love living in new places and seeing what marks the months and the seasons here on the opposite side of the world.

This week we have had some very good lessons. People I found just a few weeks ago with Hermana Pack are progressing. One man, a single middle-aged lawyer, has been an unlikely investigator. From the moment we knocked on his front door he has been very kind and open and interested in what we have to say. He has been very willing to meet with us and has been learning to pray with us and at the end of our last lesson with him we asked him how he was feeling about everything and he paused to think and then said: "escuchado" which means "heard."

He explained that several years ago he was going through a huge trial in his life. Basically, he had watched as his best friend was murdered right next to him. I guess the whole story got a lot of press and he had turned into "that guy from the newspaper" and although everyone knew of his troubles and his trauma and it was all very open and public, he felt extremely alone. He said he didn´t know what to do or who to talk to, and after many years of never going to church, in desperation, he decided to go in and talk to a Catholic priest. He said that this day he just so happened to be paired with an old priest from Italy. This priest´s Spanish was not the best and as he poured out his soul to him, he said the priest listened quietly and tried, to the best of his ability, to respond, but he left the experience feeling a little empty. He didn´t feel "heard." He didn´t fault the priest. He said he was a good and an honorable man who did his best to fulfill his calling. But, on that day, he just hadn´t found what he was looking for. I felt incredibly touched when we ended our lesson with him and he told us that story and then said, simply, he had felt "heard."

I count that experience as sacred. We are going to continue working with him and pray that as he listens to our message with a sincere heart and real intent he will feel of its truthfulness.

That´s it for this week. Next week Monday we are going to spend the afternoon with one of our members here and I am not sure if we´ll make it to a cyber to write emails. So if you don´t hear from me next week that is why.

I thank you all for your love, support, letters and prayers. I feel them.

Love,

Hermana Parker