And this weekend, we get to take a trip to Trent (5 hours away), where the Focolare Movement started. So it's getting harder and harder to find time to post. But nonetheless my experience here is a gift for me, and evermore I want to share it with you...
So as most of you probably know I'm really close to my grandma (my mom's mom). When I was in Toronto or Hamilton (where I go to school), I would visit her at least once a week. Also I try my best to call her everyday, but since I'm in Italy I call her every other day. My chinese is definitely improving, but it's still pretty crappy. So our conversations are just about the same thing everyday..."Grandma, did you go swimming this morning?" What are you doing now? What did you do today? What are you watching on TV?
The same thing each day...day in and day out.
But there's so much more of me that I want to share ...especially about my faith. She knows that I'm part of the Focolare, but that's about it.
It's really hard since she doesn't believe in God, so I've never tried sharing about my faith or anything to do with God.
However, last week the grandma of Michelle (from Philippines) passed away, and I was really touched by how at peace she was with the situation. That's probably because she understood it was God's will for her grandma and that her grandma has really lived to her fullest. So I thought that the part of my faith is so important to me, and it defines who I am. I really have tried my best to show her my faith through my actions and I can see the difference in my grandma throughout these years. She always tells me that she loves me and misses me to death, hugs me and kisses me. This is something she doesn't do, even to her kids. So I can really see the love she has for me because I really try my best to make her feel loved.
So in my heart I always have a great desire to show God's love to everyone through my life, but my grandma is someone whom I also wanted to do the same. So I called her as usual and I began as usual asking her the same questions I do every time I call her, but then I started to tell her...
"Grandma, I want to tell you how happy and joyful I am being in Italy. There's no other place I would want to be but to be here. But you know why I'm so happy, it is because everyone here, all 50 people I'm living with around the world know how to "LOVE." Everyone tries their best to always put others "first." Putting other's needs before their own. Something that is contrary to the "ME" society we live in. And Grandma you know how much I love you always, coming to visit you and calling you. This is because I believe that God loves you. I know you don't believe in God, but I always want to show you his love."
Before telling her I prayed to the Holy Spirit that He would give me the words to share with my grandma as my chinese is so bad. It was truly God's grace that I was able to share with my grandma...in a very very simple way, but anything we do if it's out of "LOVE" then it's all that matters.
This was our conversation in short, as I had to repeat and explain it a few times before she understood. But at the end I asked her if she understood what I had said and she responded with a simple yes. And a few days later I called her, and asked if she remembered what I had said, and she said, "You are happy there, everyone's happy around you." And I repeated, " because everyone knows how to love and put other's needs first.
Also I started to share with her small experiences of how I try to love the people around me....sharing with her that I gave 5 people haircuts, and even though I was tired one after the other, I told her I still continued to do it happily because I wanted to love them. And my mom told me that my grandma had also made a small act of love as she brought her friend groceries because her friend has pain in her foot. So in a small way now, my conversations with my grandma is not about the same thing everyday no more, it's more than that as now I can share with her just like I share here on my blog of how I put the Gospel into practice.
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