I woke up feeling queasy last Sunday. In spite of my best avoidance efforts, I ended the day tethered to the bathroom. I missed a fun movie night at my flat, and I felt like I was dying. I spent the majority of the week in bed. It's difficult to even recall what happened beyond lots of sleep, moaning, and Gilmore Girls reruns.
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| A full rainbow after the storm - the stadium and our flat on the left side of the road and campus on the right side of the road. |
On Monday, I got out of bed for two hours to attend our student leadership meeting. On the way to the meeting, the back end of a passing storm revealed a full rainbow. It appeared to start at our flat and end on campus. The first few hours of the storm had been an eerie shell of a storm, with lightning and thunder and tree-bending winds but no rain. It was really beautiful, and we count the few minutes of rain as a real victory. But after lots of prayer, the clouds opened up for a few brief moments and brought us a beautiful reminder of God's faithfulness. We celebrate every single drop of water here!
Tuesday appeared to be a normal day, and I headed to team prayer like nothing had happened. I made it the whole way through campus time and even ate real food for dinner. But the calm was short-lived, and I spent all of Wednesday agonizing over the work I was simply unable to do in my exhausted, weakened, bed-ridden state. If the humility that comes from being completely helpless wasn't enough, the Lord brought on an extra dose through my sweet roommates. They respected my illness preference of being alone but brought me tea and grilled cheese (one of the few comfort foods that actually tastes the same here). Just in case I've ever doubted it, God definitely does not need us to do anything for Him, and we definitely do need one another.
I was out of bed again (though not well) on Thursday. I tried to convince myself I felt fine as I ignored the tummy rumbles and took Margaret, a girl I disciple, to get coffee at a local cafe called Mugg & Bean. What was once an almost-daily experience, sitting in a coffee shop, has become a luxury. Few Batswana have expendable income, and those who do spend it on longer lasting luxuries like cars, clothes, and appliances. In the only two coffee-shop-like businesses that I can think of in a city just slightly smaller than Pittsburgh, 95% of the customers are ex-pats, mostly white. Few locals can even comprehend dropping P20 (~$2) on a cup of coffee. There isn't even a Starbucks here because no one is crazy enough to pay Starbucks prices. It was within this context that I sat across the table from Mags, with a cappuccino in hand, talking about life. This sweet girl, who survives on $120/month (P1.200), could NOT get over how wonderful it was to sit in a coffee shop. She couldn't stop smiling. She dreams of a day when she can do it again. You read right. Dreams of a day when she can buy a cup of coffee in a cafe. It's moments like this that put everything else into perspective. I am so blessed to pour into this girl, whose eyes are always wide and whose heart is always grateful. May we all become a little more like her.
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| This monster went into my foot |
Sadly, on one of my very few outings this week, my foot fell upon a gigantic thorn. I see them all the time. Thorn bushes scratch passing vehicles and grab passing hair fairly often. But man, when one pushes into a foot... oh, the searing pain! This monster only went about an inch into my foot, but an inch is really far. A bright spot in the whole experience (the details of which I will spare) was when the kind pharmacist who cleaned and bandaged my foot told me, in all seriousness, "Next time, don't step on it." It took all I had not to roar with laughter. "Noted."
We're still not sure what the culprit was that kept me in bed all week, but contaminated water is definitely near the top of the suspect list. The more tap water I drank to rehydrate, the worse I got. My roommates have both had run ins with nausea this week, too. We have bought bottled water and installed a filter on our faucet. I hope it works! I'm feeling mostly well now, having kept all of my food down for the past two days. Please join me in praying for lasting health. And, perhaps, for less yucky reminders and life lessons.
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| Grilled cheese, tea, and Gilmore Girls helped me make it through the week |
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| I communicated through signs on my bedroom door |
