Smile!

Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing. ~Mother Teresa

JanViere is our house girl in Musanze. I have never met anyone who loves Jesus as much as JanViere. Her love for the Lord and for others just explodes from her body and soul. JanViere always has a smile on her face and everyone who meets her immediately loves her.

JanViere is married to a wonderful man, Dameon. They have adopted two children who were both double orphans(they have lost both mother and father): Alice, age 19 and Olivier, age 7. JanViere once told me that "it is her duty and the duty of Rwandan's to take in those children with no parents." Alice is a relative of hers and she found Olivier sleeping outside the market. She woke him up and asked him if he had a family...he said no. JanViere invited him to be part of her family. She says that "Jesus took her right to where Olivier was sleeping."

Since my return in January, JanViere has been complaining that her tooth was "sick". It was her front two teeth that were bothering her. One of the teeth was discolored. She was not able to drink or eat many foods because the pain was too much to handle. A few weeks ago, she came to Kigali to see a dentist. He told her that she would need a root canal and cavities filled.

We got her back to Kigali this morning to have the root canal. With her rosary around her neck, she sat down in the chair saying, "Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming!" The root canal was very successful but she also ended up needing two acrylic crowns put on the front two teeth. She sat in that chair like a champ for over two hours! I felt like a mom as I sat in the corner, reading my book and checking on the brave patient.

When everything was finished she looked at her new smile in the mirror and jumped out of the chair yelling, "Thank you! Thank you!" She was the happiest girl in the world with the brightest smile in all of Rwanda!

Thanks to Kat for snapping these photos.