Sickness in the camp

Good morning all.  It's nice knowing that when I post in the morning, you all are still asleep (I hope), so I can post and it will be waiting for you when you wake up and fire up the old computer.  I am the only one up right now which is good so I can get to the computer before everyone else takes a turn.  I'm seriously thinking that it might be nice to have my own laptop so I could post whenever I want and not have to wait for John to finish a lecture, etc.  I am so thankful that we have internet again.  Keir was able to beam a signal down the hill that reaches most of the homes here (after they moved a pile of dirt that was blocking the signal!).  He's decided to leave the big job of splicing the fiberoptics until the construction at the top of the hill is finished.  Wise move!

Where to begin?  So much happens in a single day here that it's hard to condense it down for you. And yet we are not crazy busy so I guess it's just the newness of so many things that makes the day seem so full.  First of all, a little update on our team.  Tammy (PT) and Theresa (OT) are proving to be awesome additions to our team.  When John first told me he wanted to bring additional people out here with us, I was a little skeptical.  How would others fit in?  Would  there be meaningful things for them to do?  How would I control myself in my relationships with John and Ryan while others were with us all the time?  I'm happy to report that we are getting along wonderfully.  Tammy and Theresa are becoming our friends, there is more than enough for them to do professionally at the hospital, and I am curbing my natural tendency to correct and pick at my husband and son by having the accountability of strangers with me 24/7.  It's a great thing!  Tammy is very much like me-a little compulsive about cleanliness and critters.  Believe me, those compulsions get tested on a regular basis.  It's a gift from God to lay down in your bed at night and just fall asleep.  If you let yourself start in on "critter-worrying" you will never fall asleep!  I'm really proud of Tammy.  There are two little lizardy things in their room right now and she is managing to fall asleep!  Theresa is a little more laid back and has a wonderful sense of humor.  She provides us with lots of laughs and has a wonderfully tender heart.

We are learning important things about the local culture.  Yesterday Tammy was working with a girl, helping her to improve her gait immensely.  After Tammy finished working with her, the mother asked if her daughter was going to receive treatment!  It turns out that the Gabonese consider a pill, surgery, or some kind of a potion to be treatment.  So Tammy rubbed some lotion on the girl and the mother was satisfied that her daughter had received their money's worth!  So Tammy is planning to take her bottle of Eucerin to clinic next week and rub down her patients after their therapy sessions!

re:the title of this post.  A stomach virus has been spreading through the camp.  It started in the Envision group (15-20 young people on short-term missions) and has spread to others, including Joanna, Luke and Sarah.  I've spent lots of time with JLS so I am waiting to see if it will hit.  I was relieved to wake up this morning without any nighttime bathroom runs.  I hope that if we are to get sick it will happen soon so that we have plenty of time to recuperate before we leave beginning Friday.  Please pray for our return trip.  The in-country airline is on strike so we may have to drive up to Libreville on Friday and how that is going to happen is in question.  I'm so glad that we have such support here.  We don't have to figure this out ourselves.  So we might be on the Hitu (pronounced hee two) bus again.  I have been getting laughs out of calling it the "hit you" bus!

Highlights from the last 24 hours:  telling stories with Tammy and Theresa; teaching a little lesson on South Korea to LS, complete with a kimbop (seaweed/rice roll) demonstration; enjoying a great dinner with Renee (physician) and Lisa (nurse); babysitting for Baby Esther so her mom could work while her dad suffered with the virus, doing laundry Bongolo style (US washer with cold water only, hanging to dry on our screened in porch with the ceiling fan on high to speed drying time).  Never a dull moment here, plenty of answers from God to see!  Please pray for Justin as he has training sessions in Wheaton today and leaves for the Ukraine tomorrow.