The past several days have been very full!
I was admitted to a hospital in Chiang Mai for ten days in order to receive around-the-clock care. It was discovered that I had a bacterial/fungal infection in my eye, resulting in a corneal ulcer. To put that in simpler terms, I lost my sight for several days and my eye hurt like crazy! It was definitely challenging being in the hospital for that long. I am so grateful that I had another teammate and my leader with me most of the time! However, I also had to process the fact that I was missing out on a lot back at our ministry site. God showed me that in the long-run, the people and activities in my life are much more important that whatever happens to my physical body. On that note, my eye is healing so well! It is slowly returning to a normal color, and all of the foreign bodies have been removed. Since the doctor had to physically scrape fungus out of my eye (yes, both disgusting and painful), the open wound scarred over, which still obscured my sight. The scar is supposed to go away over time. I’m so grateful for all of the prayers and support we received while in the hospital! Not only was I healed, I was filled with peace!
The week I was discharged also happened to be the week of the big camp that our ministry site puts on. I was disappointed to have missed most of it, but I was mostly excited to be back with the girls and my teammates! Since the girls are on a break from school, they are all going to visit family. The majority of them still have living parents who simply can’t afford to support them, however, they do get to visit on vacations. Sadly, that means we have begun saying our goodbyes to the sweet girls who have become like sisters to us. As of right now, only one of the girls has yet to be picked up by her family. This has been challenging and hard for all of us, and we will miss them so very much!
One amazing thing we got to experience this week was Songkran: the celebration of the Thai New Year! The festivities last several days and mainly consist of throwing water at people – no joke! Also called the Water Festival, it has definitely become my new favorite holiday! We drove an hour into Chiang Rai and as we were in a taxi/bus-like vehicle with no doors and open windows, we got splashed with bucket after bucket of water! Once in the city, a couple of locals handed us some buckets and we got to join in on splashing water into passing vehicles! So much fun! Yesterday, one of our ministry staff members filled trash bins with water and we (bins included!) piled into the back of a pickup truck and drove through town – getting even more soaked, if possible!
Looking forward:
- Pray that our time serving here would continue to be meaningful and fruitful, even if the girls aren’t here.
- We will be leaving our ministry in just about a week to go and spend our last couple of days in Chiang Mai. Pray for safe travels and the ability to process all the emotions and thoughts going on in each one of us!
- As we are less than two weeks out from being back in the States, please pray that each one of us in the team would see the direction and purpose in life back home. We aren’t here for just a spiritual experience – we want our growth to continue once we get back, although I know the devil will be working hard against that. Pray for strength and passion!
