Baptism By Fire

Ok, this is exceptionally outdated. I wrote this in my journal and just haven't gotten around to typing it up. But this is how I got started working in the hospital.

My second Sabbath in Chad was quite memorable. I was walking to church, and it was fairly cool since it was still morning. As I came to the corner of the hospital where I turn to walk to the church, I saw some people with their large bull cow. These cows are some of the most miserable creatures I've ever seen. They're so gaunt, and they are what I imagine the seven cows representing famine in Pharoah's dream looked like.

An older man was telling a little boy (about 7 or 8 maybe) to get the cow. When the boy went to grab the rope, the cow got angry and started rushing the boy with his horn (the cows have huge, long horns). I watched in horror as the cow tossed the boy several feet in the air with his horns. The boy landed hard on the ground, and I'm really not sure how he managed not to get trampled. But somehow the boy scrambled away, and I ran over to check him out.

I didn't see any broken bones or wounds, but he was bleeding from his mouth. I frantically tried to motion for his family to carry him to the ER (Urgencie), but I think that they were in shock. I decided to run to get James, but I couldn't find him. Fortunately, by the time I finished looking for James, the family was taking the boy over to the hospital. I decided that there wasn't anything else that I could do, so I went on to church.

Church is kind of difficult here because I don't understand everything, but it's getting a lot better, especially now that I have a French hymnal and I'm learning more French. This particular Sabbath was more difficult though because in the middle of the service it started pouring down rain. So there was rain pounding the tin roof of the church, and it was almost deafening. All of us SMs had decided that on Sabbaths we would make lunch together and eat together after church. So we all went to the middle house and made egg sandwiches-- toasted bread, mayonnaise, scrambled eggs, and tomatoes. It was definitely interesting learning to cook
over a charcoal stove, but the food was amazing!

Once we were nice and full, we decided to play a game of Bible Bananagrams. That was so much fun, and it was really challenging to use only Bible words. In the middle of our second game, James came in. I was definitely surprised by his reason for coming. The hospital had been having trouble with one of the nurses not showing up to work, not doing his job, and giving patients wrong meds. Apparently, he had decided that he didn't want to come to work this Saturday, so James asked me if I would work his shift from 3 pm to 9 pm.

Needless to say, I was not very happy to have to work on Sabbath, and I was scared because there was so much I didn't know about how the hospital works. But I went. And I worked. It ended up not being that bad. It was definitely challenging and tiresome, but I think it was good for me. I think being thrown into work and out of my comfort zone was good for me because I was forced to learn fast. Maybe baptism by fire is the best way to go.

God Is Faithful

Once again, I'm writing about experiences from a long, long time ago. So I hope that you don't get confused since this is old... One day, I will catch up and you will be able to read about current happenings for me in Tchad. But for now, I figure any news is good news.

September 20
I can't even begin to write down all the ways that God has been faithful to me since I've been here. But I wanted to write down a few specific things that have happened so that you can see how God is working.

The first has to do with my devotions. I really felt impressed to read in Hebrews, so I did. I don't think God could have chosen a better book for me to read at the beginning of my time here. One day in particular I was really not wanting to be here; as soon as I woke up, my first thought was, "I don't want to be here. I want to go home." That morning I read Hebrews chapter 6. All of it was encouraging, but verses 10-12 really gave me the strength to hold on. It says:

"God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised."

That's certainly not been the only time I've felt God's providence in my devotions, but it's one that I wanted to share.

Another small way that God was good to me has to do with the weather. It's rainy season right now (well, it was in September), so it rains quite a bit. One morning I was going to take my shower, and I could see storm clouds and hear thunder. I said a quick prayer asking God to hold off the rain until I was done with my shower because it was already cold (yes, it gets chilly here) and I didn't want my clothes to get wet. It wasn't until I had just finished my shower that I began to feel little raindrops heralding the storm that broke loose not five minutes later.

I mentioned before that there was one day that I really didn't want to be here... Well, there have actually been quite a few of those days (there were at the beginning anyway). It's not always even because life is hard or different here; some days I just wake up and don't want to be here. Other days I have reasons for not wanting to be here. But whatever the reason (or lack of reason), I try to pray for strength and encouragement. And God always comes through. He always gives me something to turn the day around and to give me perseverance.

One day I was irritated because my French was still not very good. The language barrier makes the other nurses not trust me (not really a problem anymore), and it makes everything more difficult. That morning, one of the nurses I was working with, Samedi, told me out of the blue that my French was getting better. And recently, several of the other nurses have told me the same thing. It's very encouraging to hear.

My French is still improving, and I think it might be a process that continues until I leave here. But lately I've been able to have mini conversations with people that I work with, and as I've gotten to know them a little better, it's given me more reason to want to stay. So as you can see, God has been good to me. And this is just a small sampling of his faithfulness.

God is so good, God is so good
God is so good, He's so good to me

*Post note: This was something I wrote in my journal a long time ago. Since then, God has proven faithful in even more ways, my French has
gotten much, much better, and I've come to love the people here. I work with some really amazing people, and I love the family that I live with. I have truly enjoyed getting to know the people here, and as much as I know I will love going home, I know that when I leave Tchad, I will miss each of the people here so very much. I've been able to have good conversations with a lot of the people and have made a lot of friends here. It seems like everywhere I go in this life, I will always be missing someone dear to me. I can't wait for the day when we can all go to heaven to live together forever, and I will never have to miss anyone again. Come quickly, Lord.

--
"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her." ~Hosea 2:14

Malaria and Quinine

I thought that it's about time that I write a bit about malaria. Before I came to Africa, I was really worried about getting malaria, and to be honest it kind of scared me. Thankfully, I am no longer afraid of malaria; nothing like facing your fears to get rid of them. So, here's a bit about malaria.

Originally, I was going to keep score-- me versus malaria and giardia. Now, I'm not so sure because I have a feeling that the statistics might be discouraging.

I ended up getting malaria eleven days after arriving in Chad, which is funny because it takes 7-10 days after being infected to show symptoms. So I must have gotten malaria the first or second night here. Since then, I've had it two more times, each about 2-3 weeks apart. What can I say? The African mosquitoes must love my sweet, American B+ blood. I'm just hoping that I don't continue to get malaria every 2-3 weeks for the rest of my stay.

The first time I got malaria, I remember thinking that it wasn't that bad; a headache, a fever, and a little nausea. But after my second round, I took that thought back. It really isn't pleasant at all. The second time, not only did I have a headache the whole time and a fever for a day, but I also ended up being extremely nauseated for 3 days straight, and I had really bad stomach pain. Oh, and I ended up having a bad cold at the same time (thanks Stefan...).

To be completely honest though, I think that what's worse than malaria itself is the medicine used to treat it. Quinine and Doxycycline. Doxy just makes you really nauseated (as if the malaria didn't do a good enough job), even if you take it with your meals. But Quinine has a long list of awful side effects.

First of all, it causes you to have ringing in your ears. Constantly. It doesn't go away until you're finished with the medicine. Beyond that, it muffles your hearing, so you're constantly asking people to repeat what they just said.

Another side effect is evident in your stride. Quinine tends to make you dizzy, so sometimes it's difficult to walk straight. And good luck if you try to stand up too quickly; you just might find yourself face down on the ground. Usually I tried to take one dose of Quinine just before I went to bed (you have to take it three times a day) so that I would sleep through some side effects. But one time, I took it at 9 pm, went to bed, and woke up at 11 pm to use the bathroom.
Unfortunately, I forgot that I was on Quinine, and when I got out of bed, the world began to spin, and I almost fell into the wall.

The final irritating side effect of Quinine is what it does to your blood sugar. Quinine very effectively lowers your blood sugar. I was not aware of this the first few days that I took it, so when I would take my afternoon dose, I usually hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. So by about 2 pm, I would get really shaky, weak, and tired. Luckily that side effect can be easily remedied by eating something. But I learned pretty quickly not to take my Quinine without eating.

So, all in all, malaria isn't that scary. It's certainly not pleasant, but it's not frightening anymore. However, I've noticed that it seems like the times that I most want to go home are the times when I have malaria... Go figure.


--
"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her."       ~Hosea 2:14

The Crew

I thought that it would be good for me to write a blog about all of the other student missionaries who are here with me because then when I refer to them in stories, you can have an idea of what they are like and who they are.
First there is Stefan. He has been here since July, and we have been very appreciative of his French skills. He took both elementary French classes before coming here, and since he was here for two months before us, his French is very good. It was really nice because he was able to kind of show us the ropes and help translate for us. Stefan amazes me in other ways besides his French skills too. He's the youngest of all of us (19 years old), but he has such a positive outlook and a bring-it-on attitude. He's on his fifth round of malaria right now, and he's had giardia with malaria once, but nothing seems to phase him. He also seems very confident and sure of God's leading and ability to take care of things. While he's here, he's working as the accountant/administrator's assistant because he's an International Business major at Southern. He's a really good guy, and I've enjoyed getting to know him.
Jacob was the oldest until Ansley came. He's 22, and he's a pre-Med student from Southern. If it weren't for Jacob, I might not have made it on the plane to come here. I met him at the gate for our flight from Dulles; I had been crying because I just said goodbye to everyone, and I was really having second thoughts about leaving. But when I saw him, he was smiling, and excited, and he began talking about Africa and all the plans and things he couldn't wait to do. He was so enthusiastic that I couldn't help feeling somewhat reassured. I think that Satan wasn't very pleased with Jake's enthusiasm and positive attitude because when we first got to Bere, Jake had an awful start. He got really sick the second day he was here; he was vomiting, had to get IV fluids and spend his second night at the hospital, and was just generally miserable. I think he seriously considered going home (who wouldn't with a start like that?), but we all visited his house and tried to cheer and encourage him. We prayed a lot for him. Things have been much better for him since then, and he's been a big blessing here. His enthusiasm is back to its contagious self.
Next there's Jason, who is an EMT, pre-Physician's Assistant student from Union. I think he's 21 years old. He has also been extremely positive, and is always ready for adventure and new things. Kind of makes sense to me since he's an EMT and he's taking the International Relief and Response program at Union. Jason has also had his fair share of attacks from Satan. It seemed like any time he would try to jump in and help with something, it would be taken the wrong way. And, Jason didn't feel very useful at first because he was not a nurse and he didn't know French. But things have turned around a lot for him; he's learned a lot of French, and he is most definitely making himself useful.
So, for the first 5 weeks that I was here, it was just me and the guys. There were some other short term volunteers that I want to write about too, and then I'll write about the others who have come since then. Dr. Bond (his first name is James…) is a surgeon from the States who comes to volunteer every once in a while, and stays for a month or so each time. He's a funny man. And somewhat hard to read. The first time I met him, he pretended not to know English and made Klevin (another volunteer) translate. At first I insisted that he knew English, but finally decided that I would play along. It was kind of fun. He ended up being a blessing in disguise in one way. One day, I was really frustrated with him because I thought that he was expecting way too much of me too soon. His expectations were truly unrealistic, and it irritated me so much that there was no way I could live up to them. But after some thought, I realized that he was trying to push me for my own good, which was nice because a lot of times I don't push myself hard enough.
Then there was Gabriel, Dr. Bond's son. He's a 25 year old pre-Med student at PUC. At first I thought he was extremely shy, but I'm not so sure now. He had malaria when we got here, so I think that might have had something to do with it. But he's really nice, and he's very good at soccer. I'm glad that I got to know him a little bit.
Last of the volunteers that were here when I first got here is Klevin. I think he's also 21, but I can't remember for sure. He's from Brazil and is in Med school in London. I think he's planning to be a missionary doctor when he finishes, and he said he might come back here to work some. He has also considered working in the Amazon doing mission work. Klevin is a truly amazing person; I admire him a lot. He's the kind of guy that everybody loves because he's sincere and every word out of his mouth is encouraging or praising God. When he left, all the hospital workers kept asking me when he was coming back. He's going to make a good doctor someday because he really cares about people. Even though I had only known him for a little over a week, I was sad to see him leave because he was like a brother to me.
Those were all the people at the beginning of my time here in Bere. Since then, we've had some more long term volunteers come (and a lot of short term volunteers too…). Nathaniel is an engineering student from Denmark, and he's 22 years old. He is super fun, and I'm really sad because he's leaving in about 2 weeks. Right now he's teaching at the elementary school, and he's been teaching them how to sing "If You're Happy and You Know it," and when they sing, I can hear them over at the hospital (the school's not very far away, but still…). Nathaniel inspires me because he learned French so quickly, and now he visits with lots of different locals and gets to know them. He's also very funny and likes to play jokes. A bunch of us recently went to a holiday celebration near the market (more on that later maybe), and I went with my family here. As I was standing around talking with Berthe, I suddenly felt someone grab the bag on my shoulder, and I spun around real fast and was startled, and there was Nathaniel smiling and laughing at me because he had scared me. He's also quite adventurous, and we're hoping to go on a biking trip soon, but we'll see if it all works out, and I'll write about that later. One more thing about Nathaniel, I almost forgot. He amazes me because he has had just about every illness (not even joking) that you can get in Chad, but each time he has been so positive. I have never seen anyone as sincerely cheerful when they are sick, and I mean really sick. He had some really bad vomiting a few times, and when he was finished throwing up, he would come back and would still have a smile on his face and be like, "Oh, I'm alright. It's ok."
There's also a Danish girl, Maria, who just came a few weeks ago. She's 18, just graduated from high school, and will be going into medicine. She's very sweet, and at first she was quite shy. But she's definitely opened up some and we have fun talking and doing stuff together. She's really nice, and she's always willing to do whatever needs to be done. She recently helped paint one of the hospital buildings, and she goes around at the hospital on different shifts and helps out so that she can learn and be helpful. She's only staying until December though, and that's kind of sad.
Next is Ansley! Many of you already know Ansley, but I want to write about her anyway because I'm so glad she's here. Ansley and I went to high school together, and then to Southern together. She's a 23 year old nurse, and she is super positive and cheerful. She is forever encouraging me and the others here as well. She also has kind of taken the mother role, and she takes care of us when we're sick and fusses over us. She's sweet. She's also very fun and always prepared for whatever life throws her. There have already been so many times that I've been glad that she's here, and it's only been 5 weeks since she got here. One night I spent the night in Ansley's hut with her, and boy was that a memory. It was blazing hot, and there had been some unrest in Bere (I'll write about our little civil war sometime soon…), so we slept with the door closed. I slept on the grass mat on the floor with Ansley's mosquito net draped across me. Well, I guess to say that I slept would not be entirely true. I woke up at least every hour because it was hot and I was so itchy. I was really confused about why or how the mosquitoes would be biting me so much despite the mosquito net. I later discovered that I had actually been attacked by a bunch of sand fleas! You should have seen my arms… I looked like I had a skin disease. So, I didn't get much sleep at all that night, but it was really sweet of Ansley to let me stay with her. Not sure if I'll try it again anytime soon though.
Finally, there's Emily. It's kind of difficult to describe Emily; you just have to get to know her. But I'll try. She is a 22 year old student from Walla Walla, and she is pre-Physician's Assistant also. In addition, she is a phlebotomist, but we're making a nurse out of her. Actually, we're making nurses out of almost all of the SMs here. Anyway, Emily is one of the most energetic, cheerful, friendly people I've ever met in my life. She's just so full of life and love. I've already had so much fun getting to know her and hanging out together, and I know there will be more fun times ahead. Another cool thing about Emily is that she's very creative. She likes to design clothes, and before she came here she made a bunch of t-shirts that were Chad themed to raise money for her trip. She likes to sew a lot, so a lot of her clothes have some personal touches, and it's really fun.
As you can tell, we have an absolutely amazing team of missionaries here, and that's not even all of the missionaries here; those are just the student missionaries that are around my age. We've also had lots of short term people come through, older couples, middle-aged people, and then there's James and Sarah (the doctor and his wife who's a nurse). I wish that all of you could meet each of the people I've gotten to know here, but I guess you might have to wait until we get to heaven. God has called some amazing people to work here in Chad, and I feel so privileged to be able to get to know them and to work with them here. Words can't describe how much God has blessed me here.

My Family and My Hut

I recently wrote this to a class of third and fourth graders who are sponsoring me while I'm in Africa, so I figured I would go ahead and post it here as well. Enjoy :)

Hello from Africa!

Some of you had some questions about what it's like to live in a hut, so I thought that I would tell you a little bit about my family here and where I live.

I live with a family here in Bere, and the mother and father have 10 kids! The father's name is Pierre, and the mother's name is Hawaa. Pierre works at the hospital giving people the medications that the doctor tells them to take. Their oldest son's name is Innocent; he's 25 years old and he's not at home right now because he's studying to become a nurse like me. There are two girls who also don't live here at home, and their names are Elodie and Bernadette, but I've never met them since they live in other villages. So those are three of the kids who don't live at home.

Of the children who live at home where I am, Bruno is the oldest, and he's 18 years old. I don't see him around very often, but he's very nice. Berthe (pronounced like Bertha) is 15 years old, and I have a lot of fun talking with her. She really likes to sing, and she sings in the church choir almost every Sabbath. Next is Ruth, who also sings in the church choir. She is 11 years old, and she is very funny, but she doesn't talk as much as Berthe. Then there is Anne, and she is 8 years old. She is very daring and likes to go swimming at the river and ride the horses we have here at the hospital. Esther is 7 years old, and she is very good at math. She's a little bit shy, but she also likes to dance and sing. Dorcas is 5 years old and she just started school today. She is a lot of fun too, and she's very smart. She can already speak three languages! The last of all the children is Bezalel pronounced Bay-zah-lay), and he's just 2 years old. He doesn't talk very much yet, but he's very funny because he always wants to be doing whatever his older sisters are doing, even if they're just going to school. So that is my family here in Africa.

Living in a hut can be lots of fun, and it's a lot like camping. Inside my hut I have a cot with a net that hangs over it to protect me from mosquitoes at night, and I have a table and a chair. It gets really hot inside the huts during the day, so I don't usually spend very much time inside. But at night time, it can get cold so I have a
nice, warm fleece blanket that I cover up with when I sleep. Every day I wake up to the roosters crowing outside my door. After I get up, I go over to our well and drop a bag tied to rope down in it to fill up my bucket. I take the bucket over to the corner of our yard where there's a grass wall set up as the shower room. Once I'm in there, I take a little cup to pour the water on myself and I wash up. Sometimes it's really cold in the morning, but usually it feels really nice when it's hot outside.

After I take my shower and get dressed, we have breakfast as a family. When we cook food here, we have a little wire basket that we put charcoal in and make a fire, just like you would for a cookout. The food here is pretty different than what we eat in America, but I'll have to tell you more about the food later.

Love,
Kristin