i'm back in south africa at hands hub, and it seriously feels like seeing close family and friends again.
so many things have changed during the three months i've been gone -- new faces, new office structure, new meetings -- but it's been good knowing that some things never change; we'll always be brothers and sisters.
"we are together" is this year's theme for conference. carlos says it all the time -- "estamos juntos." we've been ingraining this concept since the beginning of conference, but this morning was the first time i think i've really experienced it.
praise and worship.
for one second, i glanced back and looked at the people i was worshipping with.
representatives from nigeria. zambia. mozambique. swaziland. zimbabwe. south africa. the congo.
volunteers from canada. the states. the uk. australia. germany. holland.
it gives me chills whenever i think of this image or whenever i'm in large corporate worship settings, and i'm always reminded of one thing.
one day,
...at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
- Philippians 2:10
Friday, March 20, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
road trip
off to south africa for conference in about 6 hours!
carlos and family, jean aimee, pastor ferai from zimbabwe, levy, and i will be travelling down to maputo by bus. we'll be spending a night in maputo and complete our journey to nelspruit, south africa by another bus!
please pray for a safe journey!
(and an enjoyable one, too)
carlos and family, jean aimee, pastor ferai from zimbabwe, levy, and i will be travelling down to maputo by bus. we'll be spending a night in maputo and complete our journey to nelspruit, south africa by another bus!
please pray for a safe journey!
(and an enjoyable one, too)
Sunday, March 15, 2009
out of the miry clay
after a week of being sick,
i'm better now!
almost 100%
:D
malaria occurs so frequently here that it's spoken of almost casually.
"lisa has malaria," "manuel has malaria."
still, it doesn't make the experience any less unpleasant.
i came home from home-based care last friday with a sudden massive headache. i went to sleep immediately, at around 1:30pm-2:00pm, and woke up at 8pm. -_- by then, i felt i had somewhat of a fever and felt unusually tired/fatigued. no vomiting. no diarrhea. 'ok. so i might have the flu. couldn't be malaria.' i went back to sleep after having talked to my nurse housemate about the symptoms for a while.
i woke up saturday morning with the same piercing headache and my body burning up. i still felt extremely tired, even after having slept for that long. my housemate needed to go into town, so i stayed at home in bed sleeping. at some point, i felt i really needed to get up and move around -- 'maybe i feel tired because i've been sleeping so much.' i saw dirty dishes in the sink. 'hey, i'll wash the dishes.' i walked into the kitchen, turned on the water (we have running water now!), and started scrubbing dishes. after two dishes, i felt too tired and found myself panting and went back into the dining area to sit down. after a couple of more attempts to finish washing the dishes, i just went back to sleep. ^^;
carlos actually came later that night and tested me for malaria (or the most common strain of malaria around here). negative. but we speculated the results might come out negative; the doxycycline i had been taking for malarial preventative medication may mask the results. carlos and my housemate agreed that i should take the medication for malarial treatment: 4 tablets of malarone for 3 days (which i had luckily saved!). i was somewhat skeptical; i'm not big on taking any medication in general. i decided to wait another night and see if the symptoms would die down. bad move. sudden chills.
nana, my 80-year-old next door neighbor, came over next morning to see how i was doing. she's a retired nurse who's been practicing in maforga for a very long time. she touched my face and immediately said, "you have malaria. you need to be on treatment. " "couldn't it be a flu?" i asked. "flu in mozambique = malaria." good point.
she took out the malarone i had beside my bed and handed over the tablets to see me take them down. "after 12 hours, you'll feel better." and like clockwork, i did! i felt better enough to eat a banana, although.. i felt like throwing up the banana for the rest of the day -_-
come monday, i didn't feel as tired! come tuesday, i was sitting up/walking around!
wow.
i probably had one of the milder forms of malaria. i probably had one of the shortest spells of malaria.
still, i wouldn't want to go through it again.
i guess it just.
comes with the package.
t.i.a.
sorry for all the worries i've caused.
and thanks for all of your prayers!
i'm better now!
almost 100%
:D
malaria occurs so frequently here that it's spoken of almost casually.
"lisa has malaria," "manuel has malaria."
still, it doesn't make the experience any less unpleasant.
i came home from home-based care last friday with a sudden massive headache. i went to sleep immediately, at around 1:30pm-2:00pm, and woke up at 8pm. -_- by then, i felt i had somewhat of a fever and felt unusually tired/fatigued. no vomiting. no diarrhea. 'ok. so i might have the flu. couldn't be malaria.' i went back to sleep after having talked to my nurse housemate about the symptoms for a while.
i woke up saturday morning with the same piercing headache and my body burning up. i still felt extremely tired, even after having slept for that long. my housemate needed to go into town, so i stayed at home in bed sleeping. at some point, i felt i really needed to get up and move around -- 'maybe i feel tired because i've been sleeping so much.' i saw dirty dishes in the sink. 'hey, i'll wash the dishes.' i walked into the kitchen, turned on the water (we have running water now!), and started scrubbing dishes. after two dishes, i felt too tired and found myself panting and went back into the dining area to sit down. after a couple of more attempts to finish washing the dishes, i just went back to sleep. ^^;
carlos actually came later that night and tested me for malaria (or the most common strain of malaria around here). negative. but we speculated the results might come out negative; the doxycycline i had been taking for malarial preventative medication may mask the results. carlos and my housemate agreed that i should take the medication for malarial treatment: 4 tablets of malarone for 3 days (which i had luckily saved!). i was somewhat skeptical; i'm not big on taking any medication in general. i decided to wait another night and see if the symptoms would die down. bad move. sudden chills.
nana, my 80-year-old next door neighbor, came over next morning to see how i was doing. she's a retired nurse who's been practicing in maforga for a very long time. she touched my face and immediately said, "you have malaria. you need to be on treatment. " "couldn't it be a flu?" i asked. "flu in mozambique = malaria." good point.
she took out the malarone i had beside my bed and handed over the tablets to see me take them down. "after 12 hours, you'll feel better." and like clockwork, i did! i felt better enough to eat a banana, although.. i felt like throwing up the banana for the rest of the day -_-
come monday, i didn't feel as tired! come tuesday, i was sitting up/walking around!
wow.
i probably had one of the milder forms of malaria. i probably had one of the shortest spells of malaria.
still, i wouldn't want to go through it again.
i guess it just.
comes with the package.
t.i.a.
sorry for all the worries i've caused.
and thanks for all of your prayers!
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