Inspiring People

Today my kids and I met up with a friend to go and visit a sweet old lady that currently lives in an elderly care facility. I see her every once in a while at church, but she hasn't been coming for a while because she had to have surgery and is still recovering.

We found her in a meeting and learned that she is a president of a committee there and they were discussing some of the complaints of the other elderly people. Afterward we helped her as a cashier for the snack cabinet, and then we walked her to her room to visit with her a little more. I thought it was so neat that she keeps herself so involved and busy at 80 years old! She told us she started learning to paint and draw a year ago and showed us some of her work and they were amazing! You really are never too old to learn something new!

She told us how she found the church and gained a testimony. She was living in Salt Lake City, UT with two boys when her first husband left her. They were barely surviving from paycheck to paycheck and all they were eating were noodles and creamed corn. A neighbor friend and member of the church recognized their poverty, got her Bishop involved and they offered her food. They met with the sister missionaries frequently after that, but her family was opposed to her joining the church. Her 10 year old son was the most adamant about joining the church and eventually all three of them did. She shared with us her testimony of how the Lord has blessed her in her life and how blessed she has been and how grateful for she is for all she has. She is one of the most humble and sweetest people I've ever met. It was such a neat experience to visit with her and get to know her better. "Older" people have so much wisdom to share from all that they've experienced in life. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to talk with her and learn from her.

My sweet kids weren't too excited about going to visit her today, but after the visit they gave her hugs and as we left Kade said, "That was fun!" He was even thankful in his prayers tonight that we were able to visit my friend. I'm glad that they enjoyed the visit as well!