4.24.11
I know I haven’t written too many blogs this month, but it’s not for lack of things to say (surprising, huh?).
Ministry has been amazing here and I don’t know if you could tell from my last blog, but my heart was shattered for Cambodia. I have been thinking a LOT about life and the complexities of life this month. I have been struggling with tough questions. I have been struggling with trying to figure out who I am, what I believe, and how what I believe plays out in how I am living and going to live my life.
The night of the 16th I went to bed with body aches. I woke up the next morning I had a fever and felt bad the whole day. By the evening I ended up going to the clinic. My ears didn’t hurt but the doctor said they were “no good” and gave me antibiotics and ear drops. He also told me my throat was “no good” though that didn’t hurt either. I was told to take Tylenol for a fever and then come back later if I didn’t feel good.
I ended up having a fever for five days. At one point I quit taking the Tylenol in hopes that my fever would “break” on it’s own…not sure if it works like that. I ended up taking my temp and finding out I was at 103 at which point I gave in and took the meds.
After the fifth day of the fever, my friend Vichet at the night shelter offered to take me to the clinic to get my blood drawn to see if I have an infection. We (Vichet, Tracy and I) took a tuk tuk all over the city to find a clinic but the ones that were open didn’t draw blood, so I ended up going back to the same doctor. Vichet told him my ears didn’t hurt, in Khmer, but the doctor didn’t mind and prescribed the same antibiotics.
The doctor even had Vichet come look at my throat and I was laughing so hard at the idea of him showing everyone in the room that I couldn’t keep my mouth open and the doctor was pleading “please, please open your mouth.” The doctor said that the food in Cambodia is not good, unhealthy or not prepared well; plus my toothbrush is unable to reach the back of my throat, so the unhealthy food stays in the back of my throat giving me an infection and making me sick. I’m not sure if that’s correct or if I agree, but I was given more antibiotics and Tylenol and told to come back in two days if I didn’t feel better, but specifically told not to come back if I did feel better – not sure if that was a translation thing or if he was just tired of seeing me.
Praise the Lord, the next morning (Saturday) my fever was gone and has not returned. We woke up early Easter morning and had to take a bus to Siem Reap to meet up with the entire squad. We spent the night at a hostel that was just down the road from the one where we stayed at the beginning of the month to visit Angkor Wat. There was a slight mix up and I ended up getting my own room at no additional cost, it was a little gift from the Lord and I savored every minute that I was alone.
Team changes occurred in Siem Reap. Our team is staying essentially the same, but we have a new team leader, Christina Palmer, and I am excited about the energy and depth she is going to bring to the team. We were starting to hit a wall so I am looking forward to this new addition and the changes that will result. So, for the most part Easter was uneventful, but it was a blessing to be able to partake in the Lord’s Supper with our entire squad. And I was so so thankful to see my close friends on the squad and get to be myself around them, and feel understood without having to try.
Monday morning we took a couple hour bus ride to the Thailand border. Then we got off and all sixty one of us piled into six vans with all of our stuff and rode for several hours to the Bangkok airport. It was so strange to be back in Thailand and back in that airport. We waited for several hours and then flew from Bangkok to Nairobi. We are going to spend two nights in Nairobi with our whole squad and then will be off to our own ministry sites.
This was just supposed to be a brief update on what has been going on in my life. I will likely include several blogs about all that I have been thinking and processing through in the near future. Miss and love you all and I’m excited to see what this new continent and now this new team brings!
