I didn't get to know Sra. María Luísa very long, but it didn't take very long to recognize a true mother in Israel. Jill and I had thought that maybe staying in the home would be a bit much since neither she nor don Leuto were so able anymore. However, each time we visited, they were insistent that we would come for an overnight stay, so toward the end of the year, we enjoyed a night in their comfortable bamboo home. I'm so glad we did! It meant everything to them and to us.
Sra. María Luísa was diagnosed with cancer in November, I believe it was. When Jeff and I had gone to visit her and don Leuto at the end of that month, she had just become bedfast. In spite of life's difficulties due to age and health problems, Sra. María Luísa retained her positive attitude and sweet spirit. The last time I was in their home previous to hear death was for a Sunday morning meeting. Before meeting began, I went into her room and asked if she had a hymn she would like us to sing that morning. She had one ready, and we sang it to begin the meeting. "Lord, in our need we come to Thee..." She didn't hear very well, but after the meeting when I asked her if she had heard us singing, she replied that she had and smiled.
When thinking about what I would share at her funeral if asked to speak, these verses came to mind. "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; To shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him." (Ps. 92:12-15) Because of where she was planted, Sra. María Luísa flourished, bringing forth fruit even in her old age. It was a beautiful, wonderful testimony to the faithfulness of God and His ability to continue and finish His work in a yielded life.
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