"Soursop!" my new friend told me as she pointed at the white Mexican fruit ice at a colorful Mexican shop in Phoenix.
"Or what about the chocolate covered banana?" my sister suggested, trying to think what would be the icecream with the least sugar.
I chose the soursop, because it was made from a fruit named soursop, or graviola, whose leaf extract I had been taking a while back for my cancer! There was so much soursop fruit in that small bowl that I figured it would do me as much good as any little bit of sugar in it would do me harm.
Iva chose mango. And our new friend, who battles pain from disease similar to mine, chose soursop as well.
It had been her suggestion to come to this shop when Iva messaged her to ask if we could meet, this lady whom Iva had only known online for years through an online Bible study--a lady who, with her husband, had been ministering in Germany for some years after being in the army. A life-altering diagnosis sent her home to the USA with just one day to give away or throw away nearly everything she owned. They arrived in the USA with just their suitcases, began getting treatments here in Phoenix, and now live in a part of town where "riff-raff" live, she said.
(God must have had something up His sleeve as usual.)
We met here at this charming Mexican Ice shop, where it was colorfully decorated with Thanksgiving decor, of all things, just when most businesses are switching straight from Halloween to Christmas decor.
As we nibbled our freezing cold Mexican fruit ices, we learned more about each others' lives, watching Lillian wince in pain over and over. But her stories enriched our evening, and I trust ours enriched hers.
Her husband, having returned home from an evangelistic group meeting, met us out on the dark sidewalk when we brought Lillian back home. We visited longer there as he told us about the shootout nextdoor recently, and how detectives had come to their door twice this last week.
"Where are you staying in Phoenix?" he worried.
We assured him we were in a good section of town. At least we hope so.
Our neighbors are the pigeons and doves that greet the sunrise when we go outside in the morning here at the Air Bnb that Jonathan got for me for these nine days in AZ.
Well, we chatted more with Lillian and her husband, who prayed for us right there on the sidewalk,
me stopping to open my eyes and nervously peer behind our backs every time there was the scuttle of gravel with cars going by--
a little unnerved by the stories he had told us about what all happens right there on that sidewalk--drug exchanges, murder, and so on.
But I would not regret going out of our way to meet a precious new friend who has to spend most of her day lying in bed because every move causes her pain. I won't soon forget the delight of eating a little bowl of soursop ice with enough soursop seeds in the dessert to let me know it was real!
The fruit's texture and fiber reminded me of mango, and I thoroughly enjoyed both fruit and friend.
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