Pastoral de los Enfermos (by Todd)

This morning I went with the "Pastoral de los Enfermos" - ministry of the sick - of the Talanga church. The ministry is a group of ladies who visit the sick of Talanga. On Sundays, they take communion to the sick, who can't make it all the way to church. They also bring a little food - some beans, rice, and bananas. And then, during the week, they visit again.

I went along today with two nice ladies to visit 6 "enfermos." Two of them were "niños especiales" (children with mental disabilities). The rest were elderly who were either bedridden or unable to make it all the way to church.

At each house, we'd walk in and say hello, and set up a candle and the communion on a table or stool. We'd then have a little miniature 'service' - say some prayers, sing songs, give the communion, and exchange the sign of peace. After the little service, we'd usually stay and chat for a bit, and give the food we'd brought.

We stayed about 10 minutes in each house. Even more time was spent walking (we covered a lot of ground!), so it took over 2 hours in total.

My favorite visit was to one of the niños, a little girl who smiled and giggled at me the whole time through. Her mother held her in her lap through the entire service. She also had three brothers and sisters looking after her.

And I traveled far and wide - we were really on the outskirts of Talanga. Our last two stops were in a barrio on a hillside that looked much, much more rural than the rest of Talanga. Instead of dirt roads they had grass, the houses were spread out and much smaller. And every house had a penned in area with chickens and horses and pigs. You see those animals in the streets of Talanga where we are too, but here they were just all over the place.

It was a very interesting day. But I am a little pooped! Until next time...