A Story from Laura and a Midweek Meltdown

Laura speaking here:
"I would like to share the incredible experience that I have had so far in L'Arche Hamilton.  I spend each evening in one specific home called the Ladies' Bungalow where we eat dinner and have daily reflection/prayer.  The very first time I stepped across the threshold of their home, they had a large homemade sign saying "Welcome Laura".  On top of that, they made me a card saying how happy they were that I could spend the time in their home, and they gave me two bags of "red" candy because red is my favorite color.

Obviously that was extremely heart-touching, but tonight actually brought me to tears.  After the one dear lady happily cooked my dinner and served me raw fish (I ate every bite), we had our evening prayer.  The first woman started her prayer by saying how thankful she was that Laura was there and that Laura could eat supper with them.  Then she prayed for me.  The second lady began praying, "God, thank you for Laura. And thank you that she is graduating in December because that is a celebration.  Thank you for letting us celebrate Laura."

When it was my turn to say my prayer, the tears flowed down my face and I could hardly speak.  The only thing I could say was how thankful I was for my time in the Ladies' Bungalow.  My prayer tonight is not a prayer of request, but it is a prayer of thanksgiving.  I came to serve these amazingly special people, and in return my heart has been showered with a new dimension of love that I never knew existed."

We have reached the middle of our week and the tears started flowing today.  Serving in a L'Arche home is an intensely emotional experience anyway, and add that we are already half way through has caused our emotional responses to intensify.  Much of our evening reflection was spent in tears of thankfulness that we are experiencing such an intense form of love.

Another source of tears has been the finality of goodbyes.  Each day we spend our time in different community settings--Stratford, Hamilton, Welcome Inn--and we know that we will not be back again.  However, the people we serve ask us multiple times when we will be back to visit again. And as we desperately search for the appropriate words, we find it heart-wrenching to tell these people we will more than likely never see them again.

Yet as we turn toward the downward slope of the week, our hearts are overflowing with happiness and love....and excitement that we have four more days of this incredible L'Arche experience.