Day 3
In the chapel, we asked the question,”why does God search for us?” God promises that we will be his people. However, we as his people sometimes only seek him when we are in a crisis. Jacob quoted Aristotle by saying, “we often use God as a friend of utility and not as a friend of virtue.” This is significant because we treat God as a tool to treat our problems and not as a friend to sit with us through the problems. Jacob emphasized the word “with”, to show that we are all one with Christ, which means that we are all with each other. By being in communion with each other, this brings us closer to God.
Today, we were in communion with the children in the preschool next door. They welcomed us with joyful songs and dances. They sang the Ittsy Bittsy Spider and The Wheels on the Bus. We, of course, reciprocated and sang it back to them in English. The children very eagerly lined up to receive the toys, such as stuffed animals, dolls, stickers, and sticky hands. Additionally, they received goodie bags of hygiene products including toothbrushes, toothpaste, and floss picks. The highlight of the experience was seeing the kids playing with the balloon animals that were made for them. They had cats, swords, and dogs. They had a blast attacking me with the balloon swords. They ran around and chased each other with the multi-colored balloon weapons.
Back in the hospital, the doctors and nurses were hard at work removing cysts and hernias. There was this one person who had a cyst on the top of their head. She first noticed it four years ago and it was about the size of a grain of rice. As it grew larger, it caused pain on the left side of her head and made it difficult to sleep on her left side.
Additionally, there would be times where her cyst would have a partial rupture and have a leakage. During the procedure, the surgical team worked closely together in tandem, enjoying each other’s company by teasing and cracking jokes. As for the woman, the surgery was able to restore her confidence and eased her pain. The Askenasy team finished the day strong, eagerly anticipating what tomorrow brings.
Seth Askensy Photographer and Blogger
