One Month Left

Today we experienced what I’ve been dreading during the whole trip, which was going to the hospital. There are no private doctor’s offices here- everyone just goes to the hospital. Hailey has had an infected ingrown toenail for a few weeks, and we’ve been treating it at home. With it not showing much improvement, we finally decided to take her in. The hospital building itself was better than I expected, and I wasn’t worried about the quality of the doctor because there are a lot of smart, talented people here. My main fear was the equipment and its cleanliness, and the masses of sick people that we’d have to be around while waiting. Sure enough, there were a ton of people. When we finally did see the doctor, he barely spoke English and essentially just cleaned her toe and gave us some antibiotics. I’m extremely thankful that it didn’t need anything more.

This is a rough time of year here because with the monsoons come the host of horrendous mosquito-borne diseases. Cases of H1N1 are on the rise, as well as that brutal Chikunguyna that I had when we were here in 2007. It made your body ache so badly that even laying down hurt. Worst of all is that Dengue fever has now made its way here, and people are contracting it throughout the state. Prayers for our health and safety are coveted more than ever!

We have 3 ½ weeks left in the trip, and I’ve been reflecting on the whole trip over the past few days. All I can say is that it has been weirder than I ever could have imagined. I knew we’d face a lot of boredom, as we did last time, but I never thought it would last as long as it has and that the isolation would be so severe. I had thought I’d find a friend that I could hang out with. I realized that God has brought me several different friends but only for very short time periods. There were the missionary ladies from America who were there for one weekend. Then, there were the European ladies for a few Friday nights out and a Wednesday lunch, but they all left for their home countries months ago. Then there was Janice and Mohan who provided the two weeks out at the summer camp for the girls. We have some great fellowship with folks at church here as well, but that is only for three hours on a Sunday. The rest of the 90% of our time has been total isolation. The hardest aspect has been not having regular support and fellowship with another Christian woman like I get from my friends at home. Again, I thought I’d somehow find that here.

I’m at a loss to explain what this has all been about. I have faced many stressful situations in my life before but never like this. More than anything, it’s been psychological punishment. I feel like I’ve been taken to the edge of all that I can stand, and then God brings me back just one inch. I’ve had to trust Him even when I’ve felt like He is turning a deaf ear to my prayers, which has been most of the time. I’ve cried out angrily to God about what has seemed like an utter waste- for the girls and I to be stuck in isolation in our apartment for so long. Then I read about some missionaries to China who were beheaded one week after they arrived. Wow- talk about feeling like it was a waste! I can’t imagine what they must have been thinking, like ‘Are you kidding?! I came all the way here to be killed in the first week!’ Further reading revealed that a huge surge in conversions took place because of their deaths. I’m hoping that the lessons learned here will have some impact on people we encounter throughout our lives. Perhaps it won’t. Perhaps it is just a test.

Many blessings have come about in this trip, to be sure. We are blessed to have been involved in Radiant, our little church here. The people are amazing, and I know that Adam has been a blessing to them through encouragement, speaking, and building their website. I’d like to think that I’ve been an encouragement to the pastor’s wife as well. I think Adam overall has received a lot of blessing in this trip. He has had amazing success at work and has been recognized for his talents. The downside of it all has been that he’s had to deal with me and my emotions! I’m sure that’s been his cross to bear during this trip.

Thanks again to everyone for their prayers, especially to my friends who have put up with my constant whining e-mails. I can’t imagine how these past five months would have been without e-mail support!