The world we live in isn’t always filled with good food, great friends, and gorgeous waterfalls. I’m sure most of you already knew that…I’m sure I did too, but it took a horrible bacterial infection to remind me of this. I have been living in El Salvador for a little over a month now. Some days are good and some days I miss home more than anything but that was to be expected. What I didn’t expect or expect to happen this early on in my journey was to become very sick.
While my team and I were walking around a nearby university on Tuesday I started to feel very weak and became extremely warm. My team decided that it would be smart to head back home so I could rest. I wasn’t very worried. I thought I was dehydrated and needed to lay down, so I drank some water, took some medicine, and went to sleep. When I woke up with a very high fever, the chills, had trouble breathing, and felt tingling in my hands and feet I knew I wasn’t just dehydrated.
Theres just something about being sick in a differnent country that makes being away from home much harder but I wasn’t going to give up and go home, and I also wasn’t going to get through this without God by my side. So I called my parents and asked them to pray for me. Sortly after I was taken to the hospital and put on an IV for fluids. They sent me home to my wonderful team and told me they would have a better understand of what was wrong with me in the morning when my test results got back. The next day I woke up and felt horrible but thank goodness I was blessed with a great team leader named Emma and a great squad leader named Dan. They not only took good care of me but also kept me very entertained. Unfortunately, my symptoms got worse and I was taken back to the ER and had to stay over night. By 6pm the next day I was feeling better, released from the hospital, and had a lot of time to reflect on my time away from home.
It didnt take long for life to test me once again. Just a few days ago I received the terrible news that a close friend of mine passed away. Austin was an amazing friend, and I’m thankful for the memories we created over the years. It’s tough dealing with this news being so far away from home. I really wish I could be with our friends during this difficult time, and it’s hard knowing that it’s not possible. Like most tough and painful moments throughout our lives we have the choice to give up and become defeated or keep our heads up, fight, and overcome the challenges that are thrown our way. I know this is going to be tough and take some time, but I’m choosing to stay postive and trust in the plan God has for me. The lord doesn’t promise that we won’t go through tough times but I’m so thankful that he promises to be with us in our times of pain.
