LORI MANNERS

February 8, 2011 Tuesday

The first Sunday we were in Thornlie Ward we were introduced to a million people and promptly forgot their names. We were also given the names of 2 women who lived in a care center in the ward. The elders had told us about them and that we needed to visit them once a week. Today we were out chasing down inactives and referrals and came to the names of the 2 ladies on the list. We were close by the center so we went. We asked for them at the front desk. Maria Bykowski had gone out to lunch with her daughter, but the receptionist offered to take us to visit Lori. (Her name on the ward list is Lorraine.) She asked us if we’d visited Lori before and we told her we hadn’t. She said Lori is her favorite. Lori was lying down when we got to her room, but a nurse went in to wake her and then beckoned us in. As soon as we saw her we realized we had met her the first Sunday and that Lori had born her testimony last Sunday. And she is memorable!
Lori can’t talk. It appears she’s had her voice box removed because of cancer. She’s about 73 or so, skinny as a rail, walks with a walker, and as happy and animated as anyone you can imagine. She always has some gauze around her neck. I assume it’s to cover her tracheotomy. She jumped up out of bed and greeted us, moved a chair to the other side of the bed so we could sit by each other for the visit. She then disappeared into her bathroom for about 5 minutes and when she came out, she was fully dressed with jewelry on. She told us she hadn’t been asleep but was using mind control technique to lessen the constant pain she has. When we met her the first time, she had a stenographer’s notebook and a pen so she could write whatever she wanted to “say.” She had written down her testimony and had a member fellow in the ward go up with her to read it. She joined the church in 2004 and says that has made all the difference to her in the world. Her room is a mass of photos on the wall plus 3 beautiful oil portraits. We commented on one of them of a young dark girl with a tear on her cheek. Lori indicated we should take the picture down and turn it around. She had painted it while she was in Bali as a nurse years and years ago. Another picture was of her granddaughter at age 18. Lori was born in Queensland (northeast Australia) and moved around a lot with her family. Later she married and moved around some more. Her husband was a “playboy.” She stayed with him as long as her kids were around, but then she left him. She’s had cancer 7 times pretty much everywhere. She was very depressed and tried to commit suicide before she found the church. We weren’t able to find out how that came about, but we will next time. She likes to have her picture taken with the missionaries who visit her so she told us to bring our camera next time. She likes to read; she had a lot of books in her room. On her wall there were lots of pictures of her seven grandkids and then a bunch of pictures of a young family with 3 kids. It’s the family of the missionary who taught her the Gospel. He has stayed in touch with her and keeps her updated about him and his family. She told us he called her his “Aussie Mom” because his own mom had died just two weeks before he had left on his mission. She wants us to stay longer the next time we come. She even grabbed her walker and “walked” us out to our car. We figure time spent visiting her will be as much good as doing the crossword puzzles with the patients at the nursing home in Broome.
Today we also met Les Child. He’s 55-60 and married to a member. He has a testimony of the church, but smoking is holding him back. He flat out says he will be baptized when he quits smoking which he will do “when the time is right.” He says that when he’s baptized he will “take out an ad in the Ensign” so all the missionaries who’ve visited him over the years will know that he’s finally done it. It’s a 2nd marriage for both of them. He’s a good guy—born in England and came here 25 years ago. He raised his two kids on his own.
There just seems to be good people everywhere. We’re happy to be able to get acquainted with and learn from them.