prequel to a pizza party

one day in the dreamcenter i visited a group of young ladies sharing a room. they were all between 23-28 years old and seemed as healthy as one could be staying in a hospice. i met them and tried to start conversation with a lady named stinbille.

i made the embarrassing and typical mistake a western, white, healthy, shallow kid makes and asked the question,

"how are you?"

as it exited my mouth i mentally reached for the words with open fingers to grab them before they did any damage. i couldn't get them back. she shot her eyes at me coldly and said,

"im laying her in an aids hospice. how do you think im feeling?"

her words hit home. "im so sorry" i stammered, but she turned away and looked at the wall. my buddy and translator came to the rescue...

"do you want to get out of here?" he asked.

i looked at him like he was crazy. this question may have been worse than mine, but he knew what he was doing. she fired back angrily, "what do you think?! of course i want out of this terribly place. are you going to get me out?" he asked again, "do you pray to be out of here? do you wish and dream and hope to be out of here?" and when she quietly said yes he smiled the biggest smile ive ever seen, plopped down on her little bed and asked, "and what would be the first thing you would do?"

"i would hug my baby girl."

when we saw the picture of her little daughter in braids and beads we both laughed and told her she was beautiful. the picture being passed between us even helped her forget my stupid asinine question. i asked what she would do next thinking she might kiss her mother or jump up and down or watch her favorite movie. but her answer was better. her answer connected us forever.

"i would eat a pizza."

i nearly jumped up and yelled back, "me too!! thats EXACTLY what i would do!!" she grinned and asked me how much i liked pizza and thus started the 15 minute discussion of pizza loves, joys, and intregues. it was great. i asked what kind of pizza she would order and her response was simple. "cheese pizza... so much cheese you can't tell its a pizza!" and so we began a friendship through pizza.

after 10 more minutes of food talk she asked me what i was doing visiting them. i explained that we just wanted to enjoy thier company and let them know they weren't alone. i told her we were also telling stories about our hope, the person Jesus. she asked me to tell her a story before i left and we talked about mary and martha. she was great. she exclaimed with a frustrated face, "why was she doing the dishes?! Jesus is in her house! you must sit and listen if Jesus is in your house!" i agreed, laughed, and tried to explain Jesus's presence in the dreamcenter. honestly, i didn't do a very good job explaining, but she asked if i could visit again and bring her a bible in zulu. when i told her yes and got up to leave she looked me right in the eyes, kindof into me if thats possible and said,

"do not forget to come again, and don't forget the bible. people say they will do things and they forget. do not forget."

so i haven't. and i can't.