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.
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