At debrief each team had a meeting with the squad leaders and coaches. Earlier my team had been encouraged to be more vulnerable with the team and dive deeper with them. At the meeting I expressed how I was struggling with that because my month in Uganda at Child Voice went great. I was only homesick on the first day arriving to the compound and I never got sick. The food was delicious and all organic/locally grown on the compound we were living on.
God woke me up this month and gave me some struggles.Rwanda was a hard month physically, mentally, and emotionally.
This past month I had giardia (worms in the stomach), 2 hospital visitis with 9 iv drips, bed bugs that I was allergic to, a stomach fungus, and was told Catholics are Christians.
I tell this to you not to complain but to give you a little insight of what I experienced this month.
After arriving in Kigali I wasnt feeling well and had an upset stomach but just figured it was due to eating new foods and traveling for long periods of time. We arrived Tuesday and by Sunday I finally decided to go to the clinic to see what was wrong with me. I ended up have giradea (worms in the stomach) I got antibiotics and was happy that I was going to start feeling better. Monday came and I wasn’t feeling any better, I was now throwing up. I knew I was probably dehydrated but I couldn’t seem to keep anything down. I decided it was best for me to go to the hospital so pastor Innocent droped Lindsay and I off. I ended up going to the hospital twice getting a total of 9 IV drips. Once I was feeling better Taylor and I discovered bed bugs in our bed!
During my sickness was the first time I wanted to go home. I thought if only I was home with my mom comforting me it would be better. But the reality of the fact was that couldn’t happen, I was half way around the world. I couldn’t rely on my Mom and Dad to nurse me back to health, I had to rely on the Lord. Getting sick this month wasn’t my plan but it was in God’s plan. Proverbs 16:3 says “commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” I believe God wanted me to more dependent on Him this month and through sickness he taught me. I didn’t have the comforts of America so I had to find comfort in Him, knowing I would be better in time. Proverbs 4: 5-6 says “trust in the Lord with all your heart, and len not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight.” This is not how I envisioned this month going but for God to make me depend on Him in one of my weakest moments it was necessary. The Lord did not leave my side, in Isaiah 43:2 it reads “when you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. The fires with not set you ablaze.” After reading this I challenge y’all to find comfort in God and not through earthly things.
Today my team and I leave for Ethiopia working with Hope Ethiopia. Please pray the no bed bugs or sickness follow us to Ethiopia.
* I have finished my Rwanda Recap video, just waiting for it to upload to youtube*
