Cherrie Schmura

Are you familiar with SMT? I certainly wasn’t. It's short for Strategic Ministry Time. It’s the acronym they give for relational ministry. Those were some pretty scary words to me - talking about Jesus and ministering to people I don’t even know. I really didn’t know if I could do it. After spending the last few days actually doing this - I have grown to love it. We have been met with open arms in the homes of people we don’t even know. They have shared stories of their lives that have brought us to tears. We have said long prayers with them, talked of the love of Jesus, and shared heartfelt hugs as we said farewell. During two visits we had yesterday, we learned of one family with a teenage daughter who experienced a life ending tumor, was given three months to live, and today is alive and well. Her doctors have called it a miracle! In the next home, we learned of a grandmother who lost her 11-year-old granddaughter, and continues to grieve her, still keeping some of her clothes to remember her. (This brought our translator to tears before she could share it with us.) I was struck by the amount of loss and grief experienced by these families. It made me wonder if there is this much loss and grief in the people that I live near, with the people in my church, with the people who I see every day in my comings and goings. During this time in the Dominican, I have spent time thinking about how these experiences will change the person I am. Family and friends told me I would come home as a changed person. I wondered who that person would be. After the last few days, I think I know. She will be someone who will take more time to connect with people. Instead of racing by with a quick "how are you?", she will pause more and listen more closely. She will work harder to be in relationship with the people around her. This is the way that Jesus intended us to live – in close relationship with him and with each other. He has made that message clear to me here in the Dominican.