A Special Gathering member would call me every night at 8PM to say, “Hello.”  Our conversations went something like this.

Peter:   UHH!

Me:  Peter, how are you?

Peter:  Good.

Me:  How was your day?

Peter:  Good.

Me:  That’s wonderful.  Well, Peter, thanks for calling and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

Peter:  Uhh!

He called every day for about seven years.  His parents told me that his phone call to me was the highlight of his day.  After each phone call, he would rush from his room announcing with a shout, “I just talked to Linda Howard!  She wanted to talk to me!”

That was 22 years ago and Peter was one of my first introductions to a wonderful cloistered sub-culture that we call the mentally challenged community.  From these men and women who are developmentally disabled, I’ve learned many wonderfully simple truths from the scriptures and from their uncomplicated lives.

It’s been an amazing journey.  Hope you will join me learning about and living with some of the most uncomplicatedly, simple folks who live out Christ’s principles with humility and love.

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