Some of my friends and family back home already know that I was incredibly sick last week. I had everyone’s favorite symptoms! Fevers over 103, body aches, migraine, swollen glands, and absolutely zero appetite. The best part was that all of this was happening to me in a small village in Rwanda.
I had to get up close and personal with a foreign medical care system and honestly, it was rough. A lot of you are probably imagining crude buildings, uneducated doctors, and poor medical equipment but this wouldn’t be entirely accurate. The doctor’s office was actually in a really nice, modern building. The doctors seemed fairly well educated (many of them spoke Kinyarwanda and French, but not a lot of English). The equipment also seemed new, modern, and in perfect working order. But despite ALL of this it took over a week for a doctor to accurately identify that I had strep throat and prescribe me the correct medicine. The medical crisis is still real.
In the week before I was diagnosed I saw three different doctors, had two IV treatments, was given three different medications, and was mostly turned away to lay in bed and continue to get worse. There were moments where I honestly wasn’t sure if I would ever recover even though I KNEW it was simple strep throat. This is the less glamorous side of the World Race folks. This is one of the many risks that you take when you agree to follow the Lord’s call on your life to “make disciples of all nations.”
This may all sound discouraging, but honestly I learned so much during my illness about what the Father is really asking of us. I’ll let you in on a secret: missions is a call for ALL FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST. Not just some. The command to make disciples of all nations wasn’t given to just a select few, it was given to ALL followers of Christ. He has asked every single one of us to take risks such as: foregoing perfect medical care, being willing to take on the illnesses of those you serve, and taking on the privilege of trusting Him completely.
In short, getting sick was one of the better things to happen to me on the Race. I got a more hands on version of “take up your cross.” And I think it is something that every single Christian needs to experience. To be clear, I’m not wishing sickness on any of you but I am wishing uncomfortability and a need to rely on the Lord on every single one of you. I encourage you to consider short term (or maybe even long term) missions. You could even head somewhere in your own city if it isn’t possible for you to travel abroad, but if you consider yourself to be a follower of Christ then the need is urgent. His people all over the world need you and your willingness to trust Him completely.
Today marks our first day in San Jose, Bolivia which is the village we will be serving in this month. We will be fairly deep into the Amazon and will have very little (likely no) access to wifi again. Please be praying for me and my team as we serve the community here!
