I guess you could say I'm an adventure junkie. I absolutely love the thought of going out and doing something new! I love doing the things that turn out being great stories after it's all said and done! That is definitely one of the main reasons, besides knowing The Lord has called me to it, that I decided to do The Race. And let me tell you The Race has not disappointed 🙂
The Race has taught me so much! I can't even begin to describe the ways my life has been changed because of this experience but for me, the greatest lessons and adventures have been learned and experienced through the painful times.
BE YE WARNED: THE REST OF THIS BLOG IS PROBABLY NOT FOR THOSE WITH WEAK STOMACHS
This whole adventure started in the beautiful country of Nepal. I awoke one night with a bloody nose because of the high altitude. I dismissed it and went on as usual but as days passed the cut in my nose became severely infected. I am not one by nature to seek out help, so it took me a few days until I finally decided it wasn't getting any better so I finally reached out to my teammates.
LESSON #1: Let people help you. It's pride that says you can do it alone. If you give into pride than you will suffer alone indeed and become ineffective. Community is God given!
My teammates stood by my side as I stuck a needle up my nose and drained the infected cut. Although it almost made them puke and it was very unpleasant they were there for me through the whole thing (shout out to Sierra, Katelyn, Jamie, and Jessica)!
That was merely the beginning!
At the very end of Nepal I noticed a spider bite on my leg. I cleaned it daily but as the days went by, it became worse and worse. On the way to Thailand, I had a nurse look at it and was told to keep cleaning it and if it got worse to go to the doctors. The wound began to swell immensely and turn a beautiful array of colors such as: blue, green, purple, red, and white. It kept getting bigger and bigger and more painful until finally I knew it was time to go to the hospital.
When we went the first time the doctor looked at it, poked it, and then took a picture of it with his phone and gave me some medicine. So are the ways of the Thai doctors. This was just the first of many visits to the Thai hospitals each trip turning out to be as ineffective as the first.
The next day I met a nursing student who was staying at our ministry site from Australia. I had her take a look at my leg. Her face immediately became serious and she said, "We need to clean that out…NOW!" So we pieced together a medical kit from a few first aid kits we found and some tweezers and sat on the concrete bathroom floor. The next three hours where the most enduring and painful hours I have ever experienced. She dug around removing puss and infection and when she was finished there was a hole about a centimeter or two deep down into my leg.
(Right After Bec (My Austrailian Nursing Student Friend) Cleaned Out The Wound)
Thailand was one of my favorite month on the race because of the amazing ministry we were able to be a part of but Thailand was also hands down the hardest month of my life! Through the sleepless nights, as I lay in my bamboo hut, I used those times of silence to think. I began to count my blessings of being able to experience all of this adventure in ministry! I counted my blessings to be able to do it with some amazing people of whom I know some will be lifelong friends! I counted my blessings of now being fully funded and knowing I have so many people supporting me back at home!
It's easy to count your blessings and thank The Lord for them…..that is until the pain sets in. As the meds begin to wear off in the middle of the night the dull throbbing turned into a sharp shooting pain up and down my leg and my mind began to cloud over. My leg would shake uncontrollably at times because exposed nerves in my leg. I tried to muffle my moans because on The Race you are always sleeping in a room (or a bamboo hut) with at least one other person. At this moment, I had a choice, I could either give into the pain and be miserable or…pray. I chose to pray!
(My Bamboo Hut In Thailand And My Hut Mate/Teammate Sierra)
I prayed for my family and friends back home. I prayed for my teammates. I prayed for my squad mates. I prayed for the ministry and the women we were helping. I prayed until I either fell asleep or the sun came up and it was time for a new day. I know this sounds crazy, but in all honesty, those dark and painful nights were amazing! I talked to God and heard His voice so clearly in those times more than any other time in my life. I gained so much insight from being able to just be still and listen.
Every morning as I painfully undressed my wound I thanked God for the revelation he had given me the night before. Then I would clean out the hole in my leg and pack it with gauze so that it would heal properly. After that, I would take my medicine and go about my day doing ministry.
LESSON #2: PRAY!!!! Turn to prayer in your darkest hour. If you depend fully on Him, He won't let you down.
After my leg healed up I was praising God because I thought I was in the clear. It was a new year, I had a new amazing team, and I was working in an incredible ministry.
(The Wound After It Healed Up At The End Of Thailand)
Here in Cambodia I have had the privilege of working at Bykoda House with special needs kids and teaching guitar in the afternoons to the rest of the kids. Everything was going great….and then….I got a mosquito bite under my armpit on my left side. And yep you guessed it…as days passed it began to take a turn for the worse.
One day after working I grabbed my pocket knife, a bottle of disinfectant, and tweezers and walked into the bathroom. I sat down on the floor and lifted my arm. I said a quick prayer and pressed my knife to my arm and slid it painfully across my skin, opening the swollen sore. The pain overcame me and everything went black.
I came to suddenly….I had blacked out on the bathroom floor. I looked at my side and pressed my hand to my wound to stop the bleeding and puss flowed out of the incision and oozed through my fingers for the next couple of minutes.
(The Wound On My Arm Now In Cambodia)
I don't write this to disgust you. I'm just being brutally honest. Sometimes the mission field isn't pretty and glamorous. Sometimes it's painful and disgusting. But in that moment the lesson I learned about prayer in Thailand came back to my mind and as i tearfully began to clean out my wound I began once again to pray.
I must tell you I am, by no means, complaining at all or trying to gain sympathy for what I am going through in this blog. I am enjoying my time on the race and it has not all been painful or hard. It has merely been one adventure and lesson learned after another!
I was once asked by someone if I have ever questioned whether I was supposed to do The Race or finish The Race. My response was, "Every day!!!" Especially in these last three months I wake up every morning and ask God, "Am I supposed to be here?"
And He replies with this, "You can either say this is hard and my health is the worst it's ever been. I give up. Or you can remember that none of this has taken Me by surprise. You can trust Me and the calling I placed on your life. What do you choose today?"
And every day I choose to trust Him! Honestly, I have every "right" in this world to go home and give up. I can tell myself it's for my own good or that it's the "smart" thing to do, but that is a cop out. You see I gave up my "rights" when I gave my life to God! I am His and fully His. I've been called. God has provided for me to be here so therefore I will run this Race to the very end.
I am currently receiving medical treatment to defeat the staph infection that has infected my body. I am not past the painful part of this infection yet but my health is improving every single day and I am continuing in the ministry of loving the Cambodian people that God has called me to alongside an amazing team of people! I want to thank you for your prayers and support! God is so good and is teaching me so much!
LESSON #3: Adventure is not safe or all that you might think it should be, but it's worth it. God has called us out of our comfort zones, and when He does we need to be willing to sacrifice everything; spiritually emotionally, mentally, and yes even physically!
My challenge and reason for writing this blog is not to scare you from going on the mission field or to say, "Hey look at me I'm suffering for Jesus." Haha I just want to, first of all, be honest and update those of you who have graciously supported me in this ministry and to challenge you with this:
Do you trust God? I mean really trust Him? Whether you are a believer or not, hard times are going to come along with the good times. But the thing that we have to get us through as believers is…HOPE! Hope and confidence knowing that our God is trustworthy and knows what He is doing. So no matter what you are going through I challenge you to trust Him! Don't give up! And run the Race He has called you to until the very end! He is there in the pain. He is there in the darkness. And He is faithful! So don't give up and don't give in! Run your Race!
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As you have just read I have received all the funds I have needed to pay for this trip! I am blown away by Gods provision and your generosity! I had no intentions of asking for anymore financial help but due to these health issues I have had to use all of my own personal funds to pay for medical treatment. I am not out of the clear medically yet so if you feel led to give to me personally you can get a hold of my parents back in the states and they can direct you how to do so. Any amount helps!
Jim Olson: [email protected]
Or
LaFawn Olson: [email protected]
Thank you so much for your support and keeping up with me 🙂 I am getting ready to blog about the ministry we did in Thailand soon!
