Yeah, that is no mistake. They are two separate occurrences. My birthday was on Thursday. I turned 26. I used to dread this age because I was crossing the halfway mark of the 20's and that always seemed like a sign that I'm finally getting older. I realize now that I'm here, however, that it is just another number. Looking back at my life, especially the last year, I see how I've grown from a boy to a man but I still have a long way to go before I can consider myself old (even if the village kids call me Mdala...old man; a sign of respect =D). It's really amazing to see the changes that God has wrought in my life, personality, attitude, well pretty much every area of my life these last four months. I'm so very thankful for His faithfulness. I'll go more in depth in a future post. Right now my time is limited.
As for this week, I've been facing different difficulties each day. Wednesday I started feeling very weak. I was having trouble breathing but went to the village anyway to say hello to the people in my Bible studies. By the time I got back I was feeling like I had been hit by a car. My very bones were hurting. I have no idea what it was but towards the end of the day I started feeling better.
Thursday, I woke up feeling pretty great! It was my birthday (as I mentioned already) and so I was wished happy birthday and sang to multiple times that day. As part of the celebration, someone brought me a coke to the village (a very special treat!) that I was able to drink before heading to Komaniana for Bible studies. I got back and made dinner and then was treated to chocolate chip cookies and presents! I got an anti-malaria pill (oh boy!), a shetanga (not sure if that's spelled right but it's basically a piece of cloth that the ladies wrap around as a skirt)...I feel like I should explain this gift. So, earlier in the week we went to a market to look at these shetanga's for the girls in our group. I was the only guy and made the comment that sometimes it stinks being a guy because we can't wear brightly colored clothes like that. Anyway, there was one in particular that I said I was thinking about buying to use as decoration just because it looked so cool. Anyway, someone ended up buying it for me as a gift so that's the history of that. And my other gift was a scone!
The next day, we had a free day for the first time in the villages. We all went out to the rapids and went swimming! Very cool! Then I was given a paddle and went out on the river with one of the boys from the village. We stopped at an island in the middle because our boat had sprung a leak. While he was bailing the water out, he started to drift out to the river so I reached out to grab the canoe and at the same time he swung the oar back and cracked my head pretty good. I had a nasty knot on my head and it started bleeding pretty good. To my credit though, I didn't let go of the boat until it was back on the shore. And it gave me a cool lookin wound.
However, when I woke up, I had a little headache. By mid-day Saturday it was a full-blown migraine. Took some advil and a nap and felt a bit better. Towards the end of the day it was almost completely gone. Today we went to a church in Livingstone. It was amazing! I love the music they have! There's a concert I want to go to tonight but I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it.
So, as you can see, while we are doing alot of good and sharing the Gospel with people, we're still managing to get hurt...I mean have fun ;-) It's been a really good time. I can't believe that we'll be leaving in like two weeks. Keep praying for God's power to be at work in our lives and the lives of the villagers. There's a guy in one of my Bible studies named Mofet who is struggling with the after-effects of TB and is in pain and always has a high body temperature that we would love to see God heal, not just physically but spiritually as well. And one of Mike's disciples that we did a Bible study with was beaten by her husband last week so they could use prayer as well. Her name is Jennifer and his is Patrick. Be praying that God will convict his heart and draw Patrick to Himself. And an update on Maureen and Elaina. They are both still healed and doing well and Maureen was able to start working but they are still struggling financially. And of course, keep praying for the team and I!
No comments:
Post a Comment