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By Suzanne Haugh, Special To The Bulletin

MARIETTA-A quick glance at the old woman's flip-flops might not have revealed what Sheila Strider, a parishioner from Transfiguration Church, had noticed-the back half of each was missing. In Haiti along with others from the Marietta parish, Strider looked through a stash of shoes donated by parishioners to find a pair of Mary Janes that fit the grandmother perfectly. "I had never seen such a glow on anyone's face," Strider recalled. And when she pulled the woman aside to give her $20 in Haitian money before returning to the United States, the woman's words were ones Strider will not soon forget. "Praise God, I can feed my grandchildren." "(The woman) strutted down the street, kicking up her feet, and she would stop, clap her hands together and look up at the sky as if to say, 'Thank you, Jesus,'" Strider said. In a place where the gift of a Jolly Rancher lollipop can make a person's day, Strider remembered this lesson as well as the occasion when a little boy offered her small group of missionaries his five eggs. "I learned the meaning of joyful giving. I learned the meaning of joyful receiving. I knew he would have no eggs for a week or two, yet he wanted to give them to us . . . I felt so privileged." Strider, chairperson of the education component for the parish's ministry to a Haitian church, has blossomed in recent years after finding her Catholic faith again in Transfiguration's adoration chapel. "From adoration I began to develop a relationship with Jesus. I have that relationship, a closeness that's unbelievable. But I thought, 'How can I be a witness for God to someone else?'" That's when Strider became involved in Pax Christi and then eventually in the Haiti ministry. Participating in the Haiti Parish Twining program out of Nashville, Transfiguration has sent teams of parishioners to their sister parish on medical missions and building projects. While seeking to help Haitians combat malnutrition and diseases caused by poor sanitation, various teams have assessed the area's infrastructure and aided in developing an economic plan to promote a better life for those living there. Part of Transfiguration's ministry has been constructing a school financed with $90,000 parishioners have raised. The school, which was dedicated in 2001, houses seven classrooms, a library and an auditorium. Because Father Stanley Rousseau, former pastor of the sister parish, was so taken with the adoration chapel and its effects on the Transfiguration community, an adoration chapel was also added to the design. "There were 45 students a year and a half ago. Now there are 200 who come every day. I'm really excited. It's truly a witness to Christ." Strider met those running the school and the students attending classes during her spring trip. Two weeks after her visit to Haiti, 23 parishioners went as part of a medical mission. The medical team saw 2,000 people in five days. "I thought I would do something for God; give something back to him. I was totally mistaken," she said, laughing. "God sent me there so that he could do something for me . . . Certainly God doesn't need us for anything but on our walk with him he's always there doing something for us." Serving others, she has realized, has been somewhat self-serving. "The more you do, the more you really grow from it in your relationship with God and you understand how God works through other people. It enhances your soul. You can't give more than you get, it doesn't ever happen. I feel like I'm not giving up anything; I almost feel greedy because where's the sacrifice come from?" She and fellow parishioners have found direction for this and other ministries by meeting Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament. They have received strength for the journey through their participation at Mass. "The highest form of prayer is the Mass," she said. "Once you're hooked into adoration, Mass becomes a privilege, the pinnacle of the week." A cradle Catholic, Strider, 46, fell away from her faith as a young adult. She and her husband, who is not Catholic, visited different churches when they moved to Atlanta 12 years ago. One day a friend mentioned the adoration chapel at Transfiguration. "Although I was not an active Catholic, I never left the Catholic traditions," Strider said. "I still had a reverence for the Eucharist, I prayed the rosary and other kinds of things that never left me. To hear that people were praying 24-7 was just awesome." Shortly thereafter Strider found herself sitting in the chapel when she had a few extra minutes. She eventually signed up for a weekly time slot, which happened to fall during a daily Mass. Because she began to attend Mass as part of her adoration hour she sought another hour of adoration that would not conflict with family commitments. As events played out, a 3 to 4 a.m. time slot fell into her lap. "God really has a sense of humor," she said. She continues to rediscover her faith. "I know God is everywhere, but there's something holy, sacred about a place where people pray. It's infused with all that prayer there (in the adoration chapel) and as part of the Mass." Besides returning to Mass, she enrolled her daughter, now 10, in the OCIC program. "It's been an evolution. I have quiet time with my Lord. In the Eucharist, in perpetual adoration, God waits for us. We have to come to him, come be with him. It's hard to have a relationship when you don't spend time with him. If you want a close relationship with Jesus, you've got to come." For this native New Yorker from Queens, venting her emotions comes naturally even in the relationship she is forging with Jesus. "One day I was not happy with the Lord and I said, 'I'm not coming to visit you tomorrow.' At 2:30 a.m., I literally fell out of bed as if he was saying, 'You come see me.'" Strider has never slept through her hour, even on the nights when she has accidentally set her clock for 2:30 in the afternoon. "Adoration is powerful; it's a powerful transformation that really gives you a relationship with God that I can't explain. It's real-I can almost touch it. And because of adoration I want to do more. After you do adoration, you love it so much you think, what more can I do?"