It all started at the crack of dawn Sunday morning with a not so pleasant trip to the squatty potty. Some of my teammates had been feeling sick in the days earlier, so in that moment when I woke up to the grumbling and moaning of my stomach I thought the worst but hoped for the best. My thoughts were right: I was sick.
I decided I would take some medicine and continue to hope for the best: being not sick for hours until I came home again and use our lovely squatty potty. We went to church at 9:45 where we sang and led some discussions for the youth.
Pastor Florence, the pastor of the Nazarene church we attend, is the kindest, most welcoming, joyful woman I have ever met! She has taken us under her wing, encouraged us women, and even had us over for scones and a movie. She is such an example of allowing the Holy Spirit to radically take over your whole being.
After church we went to the wedding we were all invited to, where I had the honor of being the photographer! Well Amy was asked and wasn’t feeling well that morning so I stepped in and took her place. I was kind of nervous because I’ve never really photographed anything important, but I learned so much and had such a blast! I have to say photography is hard work though and even though wedding photographers charge the big bucks, they deserve it! I was EXHAUSTED by the end of it and had five minutes to shovel down a plate of food at the reception before I was ushered outside again to take more pictures.
All in all our first African wedding was a blast, and I even caught the bouquet! And got proposed to right after. (Getting proposed to is a normal occurrence around here. One day I went into town with Primrose, the lady who helps us, and was proposed to four times within an hour.)
Once we got back home it was already 3 and I laid down in my tent to take a nap before dinner. I felt sick at dinner and kept sleeping until 9 the next morning. When I woke up I rolled over and thought “If only I were home right now and my mom was rubbing my back, then I could fall back to sleep”.
But then reality set in and I remembered that I was on the race and that no chicken noodle soup would be coming my way and that my mom couldn’t be there to soothingly listen to me whine about not feeling better. I tried getting up and seeing who was up but couldn’t sit up for very long.
When I found out that some of my teammates went to the clinic to get checked out, I doubted whether or not I had the strength to walk all the way there. But I did with the help of my team.
When we got to the clinic I had to lay down on a bench because I didn’t feel well enough to sit up. Fifteen minutes later the doctor asked us into his office and after listening to me share my symptoms: headache, stomach pain, unfun trips to the squatty potty, feeling weak; he ordered me an I.V. so I did not become more dehydrated.
Some think that the sickness began after Friday when our friend from last month, Abel, came with fresh fish from Mozambique. We had such a great time with our friend and the fish was delicious, so I choose to disbelieve our sickness came from that…
Anyway, the doctor then went to set up a private room for me while the nurse pricked my hand three times before the I.V. was a go. (She said my skin was hard… maybe because she hasn’t had much practice on white skin before… who knows).
As we were in my private room the super nice doctor introduced our friend and a random white lady walks in that I have never seen before. (One funny thing is that with us being the minority here people always think that every white person around is our friend, this is not the case.)
After talking with Corinne more we found out that she is an independent missionary that works establishing daycares in the next town. She asked if we were with the World Race and we said “Uh, yes… how did you know??” She told us she could tell by what we were wearing. It turns out she has housed two WR teams in the past two years and was asked this year but couldn’t.
She asked how we knew to go to Dr. Christian and went on to tell us that it was a miracle that I got seen so quickly and got a private room. She informed us that normally people wait half the day just to be seen and never get a private room. The girls who have been praying for people at the clinic every day came to know Dr. Christian and felt comfortable going straight to him. The Lord had so much favor on us in getting seen and taken care of so quickly.
I laid in the hospital bed for about six hours but had so many people coming in and teammates watching movies with me that the time went by so quickly. Walking back home I felt so much better and was back to my jokester self.
The next morning I went to the clinic to pray and a kombi (15 passenger public transport van) came to a stop right in front of us. Through an open window a young woman pointed to me and yelled for everyone around to hear “Sanibonani (a greeting) How is the diarrhea?!” All I could say was “I’m fine, thanks” before I embarrassedly looked down at my feet. Apparently word got around the clinic (and possibly the town) that the red headed American was sick with diarrhea.
Don’t worry mom it’s been two days now since my hospital visit and I am feeling fine. I’m learning to find God’s favor and divine appointments everywhere. I cannot believe we leave for China in a little over a week!
Happy Thanksgiving Mom and Dad! Wish I was there sharing a turkey-provoked nap on the couch with you as the Cowboys play in the background. Today we are about to go to Amy’s friends’ home here in Swaziland and enjoy an American feast with 30 something Americans! Internet is highly monitored and thus not allowed in China, so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! Love and miss you all so very much!!!
