Today has been a hard day—the kind where you just want to lie on your bed and think about anything but what you have just done. A day when you want to hide from the world and its cruelty.

Today I told a woman she has AIDS. She required special treatment. Not only does she support two young daughters through prostitution, but she is also deaf and mute. The news was horrible, made all the more difficult through an inability to communicate.

We tried everything. We even yelled at her, just in case she could hear. We used sign language, writing, drawing, and even charades, all to no avail. We became frustrated at our inability to give her some life-changing news, and she became frustrated at "hearing" something she would rather ignore. Eventually we decided she could lip read and spoke the news to her, but getting her to focus on us was another challenge. How easy it was for her to look away, to shut out the message with all the long-term effects it would have on her life.

Please pray for our SIM workers around the world who serve those with HIV/AIDS. Please pray especially for strength and wisdom as they break the news of this difficult diagnosis to new patients.