Only one week left in Jos and my body is giving up on me! I woke up this morning not feeling so hot so I spent the first part of my day doing my discipleship curriculum on my bed rather than in Joshua’s office. It actually worked out much nicer--it was really quiet and I didn’t have to worry about people walking in and out all the time. I am currently trying to correspond meaningful Scripture with certain aspects of the layout Pastor Ben and I worked on. This project has reminded me of just how much the Bible contains! Some topics are easier than others to address (much more on prayer than the Trinity) but it seems to be coming together quite well.
Baba made chips for lunch, one of my favorites, before Adrie and I walked down to the Clinic to do our work there. It was still break time when we showed up so we decided to get on the internet earlier rather than later after work. Today is the one year anniversary of my Life List so we thought it would be a good idea to get something accomplished before the end of the day. Seeing as many of them cannot or should not be done in this setting we decided that learning Thriller would be the best fit! Unfortunately we have not found a way to download off of YouTube so, with our lack of internet outside the third story of the Clinic, we’ll have to wait. Oh well.
. Pastor Ben had neglected to tell us that we were expected to speak today in prayer meeting until about fifteen minutes before it all started. My stomach was turning and I was feeling pretty dizzy when it all started so I quickly had to walk myself out to get pulled together. When I got back they were waiting for me so I walked in and shared in a bit of a babbling form of what my experience at Faith Alive has looked like. They prayed over myself and Adrie and I was sent down (Biana’s orders) to see Dr. Old School about what I could do. Seeing as I had already taken antibiotics, been drinking water, and had persistent stomach dysfunctions for the past twenty-four hours Biana thought I may need to talk to someone with more understanding. Bad idea. I love talking to Old School, which we did for the first few minutes in his office, but once he heard I wasn’t feeling well the questions started. Had I been taking my malaria pill? Had I eaten any fruit? Had I thrown up in the past two days? Panic set in as I realized that what I thought was normal upset stomach was in his mind transferring to e coli. He wanted me to have some tests done and I started to flip out.
With all the emotions building up about leaving soon, anticipating things back home, and just being tired and feeling sick I made the poor decision of starting to cry. Right in the waiting room. In front of patients. With Old School holding my hand. I explained to him as best I could that “I--Am---Just---Emo-tion-al Right Now And---Need To--Leave.” There are a few moments in my life where I wanted to disappear just for the sake of having a few minutes to compose myself. At Faith Alive there is nowhere to escape to be alone. In fact, that is something I have found to be true even of Jos. I never realized my need for alone time to process and decompress until that minute. I have not had a true moment to myself the whole time I have been here. Even when I am in my bedroom by myself there are always people yelling outside, baby goats crying, and one of my flatmates in another part of our home.
All I wanted was a sleeping bag, a big open night sky, and some fireflies.
Back home from the Clinic I fell into bed for a little while and went down to dinner where I forced myself to swallow five spoonfuls of rice. I was a little worried of my own sanity at this point (stomach matters aside) so I did some laundry and listened to Denison Witmer. Adrie always knows how to help out so she suggested watching a movie to end the night. I chose Robin Hood because, well, it’s probably the best movie ever. Next time I run into someone who is feeling sick and completely overwhelmed I am going to prescribe them one hour with cartoon animals and folk music. That just seems to be the perfect mix! Feeling more like my normal self I had a yogurt, wrote my blog, and will crawl into bed to enjoy sweet dreams and proper healing. Tomorrow is a new day...
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