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On the last day, we arrived and felt a true sense of accomplishment when we looked at the house. We noticed the old man standing outside and went to say good morning to him. He turned and greeted us with a smile and extended a shaky hand to our adult leader. He was so thankful for all we had done. We asked him to join us later to share a prayer before we had lunch. We all found things to finish up and the morning breezed by. Just before it was time to break for lunch, I was washing one of the front windows for the fifth time. The windows were so dirty and caked with mildew, sap and pollen that it had taken a lot of scrubbing with a brush before they were even ready for a squirt of Windex. As I sprayed the window and began to wipe it with a clean towel, I could see the image of an old woman with a colorful shawl wrapped around her shoulders looking back at me through the window. The more I wiped it, the clearer I could see her. The smile on her face and the glisten in her eyes meant more to me than if she had handed me a million dollars for the job I had done. I waved and smiled and she brought a shaky hand up to her lips and blew me a kiss just as my mother had done a thousand times when I was a little girl. I found myself reaching up to catch that very special kiss and pressing it to my heart. There it will stay forever, as will the memory of the old woman's face as it looked at me that day. .
A few minutes later, we stopped for lunch and the old man came out to join us. He sat on the last step and we gathered around him and took his hand as we all joined hands to pray. I closed my eyes and listened to our team member whose job was to say the daily prayers. She thanked the Lord for helping us do our best all week, for keeping us safe, for the good weather we had and for bringing us to this couple's house where we were able to show them kindness. As always, when she was finished she asked if anyone wanted to add anything to her prayer.
