This is my birthday present for Curt.
2 months ago, I went on a mission trip to West Virginia. This was my 4th mission trip. At each one, my crew has been assigned to paint a house, as well as do a few other odd jobs. The tradition this year continued along that same path, and my crew and I were assigned to paint the ceilings and outside walls of our resident's house.
2 months ago, I went on a mission trip to West Virginia. This was my 4th mission trip. At each one, my crew has been assigned to paint a house, as well as do a few other odd jobs. The tradition this year continued along that same path, and my crew and I were assigned to paint the ceilings and outside walls of our resident's house.
Bea, as she told us to call her, was such a ray of sunshine in my week of workcamp. Widowed, living alone, and hardly English-speaking, Miss Bea was ecstatic to have the 6 of us to talk to for 5 days. We got to know her very well in that short time as she left her mark on our hearts.
Upon arriving at our worksite on Monday morning, my crew did what any good, rulebook-reading crew would do, and we knocked on the front (well more side/back) door to introduce ourselves to our resident. I knocked on the door, not knowing what to expect, and I hear a crazy sounding, "ahhhh!" from inside. The door opened and, casting a wary glance back at my crew, stepped inside the dark doorway.
Facing me was a 5 foot tall Thai woman, her thinning hair all tied up on top of her head, looking not very happy but definitely not upset to see us. She shook our hands, gave hugs to the youngest 3 on our crew, and repeated "Welcome, welcome honey, hi, hi" and other various greetings. She had a thick accent, which we later discovered came from Thailand, where Bea lived until the age of 18 when she traveled to America as a young bride. After greeting us, Bea proceeded to give us a tour of her small but charming house, which was full of pictures and posters and figurines.
We started painting, and didn't see much of Bea at all that day. She sat in her chair watching tv all morning until her nurse, Linda, came. In talking to Linda throughout the afternoon, my crew leader discovered that Bea wasn't feeling well. Before we left, we asked her if we could pray for her. She nodded and said "yes" in a small voice, so we all joined hands and prayed that Bea's sickness would leave. She thanked us for coming and we told her we'd be back the next morning.
Each day after that, Bea got more and more outgoing (crazy) and more excited that we were there. On Wednesday she ran/hobbled quickly out to see us when we drove up, giving us all hugs and holding our hands as we walked inside. She walked around us as we worked, commenting on how good everything was looking, as well as telling stories about her life. Her house is surrounded by flowers that her husband planted before he died- literally hundreds of plants- making it ideal for all sorts of wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets. We were told that once, Bea was looking for something under her "shed" out back (2 boards propped against the house) but what she found was a wasp nest. She said "they beat me that time!" and described that her whole head was swollen and she couldn't see anything for a few days. That experience however, seemed to have eliminated any fear of the critters. She would try to grap at wasps as they flew around her, and she told us repeatedly that they weren't going to hurt us.
Before we started painting the outside of Bea's house, she saw us trying to reach the walls without stepping on any of her beautiful flowers. She insisted that "it's okay, they come back next year!" and reiterated that point by stomping all over several lily plants, picking up the flowers and tearing them to shreds, smiling all the while. We couldn't help but laugh :)
Another day, around lunch, Bea was showing one of the redshirts her flowers. "So pretty! For you!" Bea kept saying, handing the redshirt flowers. Then, as we were walking back to her house, she randomly started pulling up entire plants and ripping them apart! We looked at each other, then asked Bea what she was doing. "It's okay, they come back next year!"
Bea cried on Friday, telling us to stay and that she loves us so much. She didn't want to say good-bye to us in the afternoon, saying that she would just cry more. We got to pray with her and give her a quilt before we left. She wrapped up in the quilt and told us with a smile that she would like a nap, which made us laugh again.
Knowing Bea made the whole workcamp worthwhile. Even if the rest of the trip was horrible (which it wasn't!) I would've thought it a good experience because of her. I laughed more that week than the rest of my summer combined, and I will always remember how happy we made Bea, and how happy she made us. :)
We started painting, and didn't see much of Bea at all that day. She sat in her chair watching tv all morning until her nurse, Linda, came. In talking to Linda throughout the afternoon, my crew leader discovered that Bea wasn't feeling well. Before we left, we asked her if we could pray for her. She nodded and said "yes" in a small voice, so we all joined hands and prayed that Bea's sickness would leave. She thanked us for coming and we told her we'd be back the next morning.
Each day after that, Bea got more and more outgoing (crazy) and more excited that we were there. On Wednesday she ran/hobbled quickly out to see us when we drove up, giving us all hugs and holding our hands as we walked inside. She walked around us as we worked, commenting on how good everything was looking, as well as telling stories about her life. Her house is surrounded by flowers that her husband planted before he died- literally hundreds of plants- making it ideal for all sorts of wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets. We were told that once, Bea was looking for something under her "shed" out back (2 boards propped against the house) but what she found was a wasp nest. She said "they beat me that time!" and described that her whole head was swollen and she couldn't see anything for a few days. That experience however, seemed to have eliminated any fear of the critters. She would try to grap at wasps as they flew around her, and she told us repeatedly that they weren't going to hurt us.
Before we started painting the outside of Bea's house, she saw us trying to reach the walls without stepping on any of her beautiful flowers. She insisted that "it's okay, they come back next year!" and reiterated that point by stomping all over several lily plants, picking up the flowers and tearing them to shreds, smiling all the while. We couldn't help but laugh :)
Another day, around lunch, Bea was showing one of the redshirts her flowers. "So pretty! For you!" Bea kept saying, handing the redshirt flowers. Then, as we were walking back to her house, she randomly started pulling up entire plants and ripping them apart! We looked at each other, then asked Bea what she was doing. "It's okay, they come back next year!"
Bea cried on Friday, telling us to stay and that she loves us so much. She didn't want to say good-bye to us in the afternoon, saying that she would just cry more. We got to pray with her and give her a quilt before we left. She wrapped up in the quilt and told us with a smile that she would like a nap, which made us laugh again.
Knowing Bea made the whole workcamp worthwhile. Even if the rest of the trip was horrible (which it wasn't!) I would've thought it a good experience because of her. I laughed more that week than the rest of my summer combined, and I will always remember how happy we made Bea, and how happy she made us. :)
