Cape Girardeau

This weekend in Cape Girardeau our group has been serving at the Missouri Veteran's Commission. We have been lucky enough to be hosted by Missouri House Representative, Donna Lichtenegger, an incredible Mizzou Alumna. We're lucky her house is just down the street from our service. This morning at the Veteran's Commission we jumped right in! Although we could tell you all about the things we did, we found the most rewarding part of our day was getting to know the people. Below we wrote a list of the individuals we worked with, whether we knew their names or not, that touched our hearts today:

- The 100 year old World War II Vet who walks around unassisted and moved into the home just to be with his brother
- The talkative "Ted," the bingo-lover who inherited the Commission garden when he moved in a few years ago
- The Vet from St. Louis who spent his life building homes but said his fondest memories were of traveling the country in a motor home with 10 members of his family
- The quite man who won four games of bingo and had just moved into the home three weeks ago
- The many wives who came just to feed their husbands at every meal
- The man who invited us into his room just to proudly show off the pictures he had of his wife, children and grandchildren.
- The couple who had been married for 42 years and met in El Salvador. The wife had moved from El Salvador to the U.S. with her husband and again in the veteran's home to be with him.
- "Romeo" The Vet with many roses and even more compliments to give
- The nurses who were patient with us and attentive to each vet
- The quiet guy who would rather people watch than play bingo
- Sassy "Pete" who rolled his eyes at the people sitting in his spot
- The songbird who kept singing
- The 103 year old who couldn't help but poke fun at the other residents
- "Boy" The 87 year old who told us, "In here, you're not a man until you hit 90"
- All the others who opened up to us and those who didn't but kindly welcomed us into their home

We were not just grateful to the people we worked with but the abundantly generous Mizzou Alumni who hosted us for a bonfire tonight. We ate chili and drank home-made cider under twinkling lights in their family barn. They all expressed how grateful they were for the opportunity to serve us. They said that in serving us they were helping to better serve the veterans.

Days like this are good for the soul and we can't wait to see our new friends one last time tomorrow!

MAB Love!!!