A Stay in the Hospital

Last week, I spent 3 days in the hospital. For those how knew and were praying, thank you.

Here is the story for those who dont know. I had got a very serious kidney infection and was admitted last Friday afternoon. They kept saying that I also had infections elsewhere but they were not sure where. At first they also suspected malaria, even with a negative test. They finally determined that the infection was also in my eyes and gastrointestinal system. I was severly dehydrated when they admitted me. My skin was a pale gray color and my lips and eyes were quite yellow. After hydrating me and giving me IV antibiotics, they decided I could return home on Monday afternoon. I have continued resting til today. Today and yesterday I have been up for short times but have to return to bed and rest frequently.

Please continue to pray, my health is very fragile at this time and I am unable to fight much of anything.

Outreach and break

Wow! it has been a while. Outreach was busy. The team I was on spent two weeks in Singida. I thought it was horrible. I was sick nearly the entire time and was struggling to do anything with the broken arm. It has since healed and I don't seem to have any lasting effects.

After two weeks, we moved from Singida to Usa River for a week and then to another small village near by. The last two weeks were fun and I really enjoyed getting to know the people. We did a lot of door to door ministry and some seminars. It was a good but tough experience.

We returned to one week of school left and then graduated. Following graduation, I went on a trip with some friends from my class for a week and a half. We traveled all the way to the south of Tanzania and back. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I didn't take the travel doctors advise about staying out of fresh water. I went swimming and got sick again. Ugh...

I recovered and spent two weeks with the team from CTK when they were here. I really enjoyed the medical and orphan ministries that we did. And it was nice to see people from home. Though, I have to admit it was a bit weird and odd to not feel a part of the team.

The day before CTK left for Nairobi, I left on another trip. I have been staying for the last two weeks with a friends family in southern Tanzania. It has been really relaxing but once again, I ran into problems with my health. I ended up with an abcess on my leg and had to go to the hospital here. I have had to go a few times to have it checked and have the incision cleaned.

I am leaving to return to Arusha on Friday. I will be starting school again on Monday. At this point, I am planning to make a trip back to the states sometime in late Feb or early March. Hope to see many of you then.

I may or may not be able to recover my photos from the first 5 months. I had my computer fixed and the photos may be lost forever. If I do recover them, I will try to upload a couple of them.

Quick addition

Will try to upload a photo of the beautiful cast job later.

Crazy times

A lot has happened since my last post. We are very busy and getting ready to leave for four weeks of outreach. My team is going to Singida, the other team is going to Tanga. Please pray for our teams we are going into areas with Muslim and witchcraft strongholds. Pray specifically for safe travel and safe food and water. The team going to Tanga is going into the middle of a cholera outbreak. I could use prayer also. The devil has really been trying to discourage me. First, my back was causing problems. The day it started feeling better, I got dizzy and collapsed. That turned out to be double inner ear infections. I got antibiotics at the hospital but as the infection was clearing, I was having serious stomach problems. That was caused by the antibiotic being given to me at two times the appropriate dose. Saturday, I was feeling the best I have in weeks and…Sunday, I fell and broke my arm! At this point, it is becoming comical, even with the pain. I am excited about what God is doing in my life. I am planning to do a second school in September, Principles of Children and Youth Ministry. This is in preparation for a ministry that God has given me vision to start. As things develop, I will share more. For now, the hunt and peck typing is getting tiring, so I will say ‘blessings to you.’

Half way

Wow time has flown. We have been incredibly busy. We did two weeks of outreach and now we are back to the lecture phase again. Not too much to say for now. Hopefully will have some more things to say soon. Pray that the connection here is working then.

Weeks 4 & 5

Wow! Weeks 4 & 5 are gone already. That means that school is 1/4 over. We spent week 4 in Enkikaret. It was amazing. I really enjoyed the prayer times in the middle of 'nowhere' in the desert. God gave me the opportunity to bury a lot of things there and I am so grateful for that. I got to go with some friends one night to buy goats from the family of the one friend. We had so much fun, but had to walk back in the dark with no flashlight. The last night in Enkikaret we butchered and ate the two goats that our class purchased. It was really fun.
Week 5 was fun. We had a great speaker and her topic was Godly relationships, so you can imagine how fun that was in a group of mostly young singles. The weekend has been really fun. One of my friends and I spent Saturday shopping to have a surprise birthday party for another friend. The party was today after church and we had a lot of fun.
Please keep praying. I am understanding what my ministry is going to be but still uncertain if I am to do it here in Tanzania or in the states. Please pray for clarity and discernment as opportunities present themselves. Please also pray for our outreach the next two weeks. We are doing an outreach in the local community. Please pray for my health. Just today, I have gotten sick. My stomach is really having issues.
The photos are the boys butchering the goat we purchased, me holding dinner, and a shepard boy we met. Sorry, I don’t have any pics of the birthday party yet. I forgot my camera and have to get them from a friend next week.

Happy Easter!

Weeks 2 and 3

Week 2 was very busy. We had classes all week and Saturday I spent the day with some of my classmates at the local Young Life club. It was a lot of fun and actually really relaxing. It is held at someones house and their yard feels like somewhere in Hawaii. I could totally live in a place like that, but don't worry, I haven't made any plans in that direction. I still don't know what I will do following DTS.

This week has been busy also with classes and working. For those who have been here. You should see the New Vision School now. It is amazing. It was so busy with kids there last week when I walked there. It looks completely different.

We are spending next week in Enkikaret. I am so excited. Please pray for us. There has been a water shortage here and we frequently don't have running water on the base, so the conditions in Enkikaret are expected to be worse.