Butterflies

Our hotel in Kemerovo was designed so there is a key lady on each floor. Each time we came into the hotel, we would trade a card in for our key, and when we left, the exchange was reversed. As you can imagine, we saw quite a lot of these women during our stay.

The key ladies on two floors got quite the introduction to us upon our arrival. We took over the cozily decorated lobbies where their desks sit to accomplish the sorting and packing of gifts for the children we would see on the mission. People and things are spread every where with only a narrow path left for other guests to navigate. It's not surprising that we meet with varying responses from the key ladies!

We recognized the key lady on the 5th floor from our previous trips. She was the one that gave strict orders that we must not touch her plants! Oh my... We were in for it again, or so we thought.

To our great surprise, the "plant lady" had experienced a transformation. When we began to assemble around her desk, she announced that we could touch her plants! This was the first indication that something was different in this woman's life.

The "plant lady's" lobby was chosen as our gathering place for devotions and prayer first-thing every morning. How surprised I was when I opened my eyes after prayer time that first morning and found that everyone who had been standing was now seated on chairs! Our friend had collected chairs from other rooms! This became a daily ritual. Chairs would appear miraculously while we prayed!

One day the "plant lady" made her way down the hall knocking on doors. To each of us she brought a plate with vibrantly colored, fresh produce from her garden. Crunchy cucumbers and sweet strawberries were arranged beautifully.

On our final night in Kemerovo, there were only six of us left in the hotel, for the rest returned to Moscow ahead of us. It was somewhat quiet and lonely after the activity and comradery of the previous days, but then our once hostile key lady came. Again she was bearing gifts-- this time bowls brimming with strawberries! Through our interpreter, she explained that she wasn't working this shift, but she wanted to see "her girls" one last time. Then she pointed to six magnetic butterflies perched on the rims of the bowls. "Your symbol," she explained. This woman had been paying attention and had grasped the meaning of the little butterfly on the gospel bracelets. She knew what we were all about-- changed lives. There was no one better to remind us of that than one who had been changed herself.