This is Tchad

So I got to go into my first surgery!! There was a lady who was rushed
into the bloc because she had a molar pregnancy and was bleeding out
into her abdomen. You could tell that she had lost a lot of blood
already and was super weak, so we helped her onto the table and they
started giving her the drugs she needed that they had. For some reason
when I heard that she was bleeding out, I just thought that it was
though her vagina and not into her abdomen, so here I am watching them
cut her open, and as they cut through one of the deeper layers of skin,
blood just started gushing out! I started to freak out thinking that I
was going to watch this lady die on the table right in front of me.
There was so much blood coming out of her that the table couldn't hold
anymore of it, and it fell onto the floor in big puddles. It took them
a while to stop the bleeding and get everything that they needed to get
out, but the surgery was so cool, but scary, and it was so amazing that
God helped the doctors know what to do. It's crazy all the stuff that
happens in hospitals; all the death, life, sickness, and health. I
simply can't wait for Jesus to come. Other than that I got to watch a
few more procedures that weren't as adrenalin rushing, and I stayed with
a women for 3 hours while she was in labor, only to find out that an
hour and a half after I left she gave birth! I was a little upset at
myself for leaving, but hopefully I'll be able to see one soon. This
has nothing to do with anything hospitalish, but I ate salad for the
first time at my house! I was so excited! I'm not gonna talk about how
much oil was on there, but the fact that I got fresh salad was amazing!
All you people in America need to be super thankful that you have good
fresh stuff all the time, whenever you want it, because there are little
Asians in Africa right now that don't have it! So back to hospitalish
things, there's also a little boy who's 3 in pediatrics who got burned.
All of his back and butt, his stomach, arms, and part of his chest and
face. His older brother got burned too, and it's so hard seeing them in
pain. Yesterday I helped clean him off, and we had to peel some gauze
off of his back, and he was in so much pain he was just shaking and
crying while his dad held him, and the Tylenol that he's on isn't enough
for the pain. Another baby came in yesterday who had a really high
fever and had stopped eating, drinking, and talking 3 days earlier. He
had a bad case of malaria, and the nurses were doing what they could,
but it was too late. The dad's hand was on the baby's heart when he
died, and the parent's kept asking if he was just tired and sleeping.
It was so sad! I hate it when little kids die and they didn't have to.
If only his parents had brought him in a little earlier. But there
are kids here who are getting better, and are leaving for home again, so
that's some good news.

Some other news is that I have officially had malaria! Last week I
wasn't feeling very good, and I got tested but it was negative, so I
went back to my hut and went straight to bed. It felt like all of my
joints were burning, and all my skin was sensitive to touch, so every
time I moved it hurt all over. I had a fever, and didn't sleep good all
night. I woke up at 8pm feeling like I needed to pee a bit, so I tried
getting up so I could go. I stood up but almost fell cause I was so
weak, and as I went to put a skirt on I just started to pee. I tried to
stop and was running out of my hut at the same time, but it just kept
coming and I peed all over myself. I can't believe that I'm 20 and I
peep myself! The joys of Tchad! This actually happens to lots of
people here, so as weird as it sounds to you, pooping and peeing
yourself is a little more normal sounding here in Tchad. One of the SMs
had amoebas and pooped himself in the middle of the night while he was
sleeping, and when it woke him up he had to walk a ways in the cold
night to wash himself. While he was showering it happened again, and he
had no control over it. Another girl got stung by a scorpion and while
she was at the hospital getting the meds she peed herself...see, this is
pretty normal here. One SM here gave me malerone though, so I didn't
have to take quinine for the malaria. That just means that the next day
I was fine and was at work without nasty effects, and I went to Mondou 2
days later too. It's the 2nd biggest city in Tchad, and it was so
overwhelming. There were cars and motos everywhere, and they even had
paved roads! The biggest building in the city is this bank for all
banks, or something like that. It's 5 or 6 stories high, and it would
even be considered nice in the states. I don't know why they have it
though. There are never people in it, and that money could have been
used to better the people, but whatever, it looks nice. The shops there
have everything! There were things there that still had shine to them,
and we found cheese and chocolate. It did almost cost $6, but hey, we
found it. We found a place where we could get ice cream, and we had
sandwiches and smoothies...it was amazing! We were all sick over the
weekend because of our amazing finds, but hey, it was totally worth it!
In the part of the market where you could buy veggies, I saw carrots
and potatoes, and really nice looking peppers. It was so overwhelming,
it made my so tired! You know in the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" they
have those kids who are beggars, but they all work for one man? Well,
it was the same type of thing in Mondou. Kids would be at every corner
all carrying the same silver bowl begging for money. They weren't very
smart though cause 5 kids would walk past at the same time, all with the
same type of bowl begging for money, and they all had nicer clothes than
the kids in the village where I live. I don't know if I'm gonna be able
to handle going back to the states if I'm overwhelmed by this city. The
fact that there were watermelons for sale overwhelmed me...isn't that
sad?!?!

Well, that's been a quick read of my life over the last couple of weeks.
Lots more has happened, like I went dancing at some river for a
baptism, and the dad of my local family came home and I got to meet him.
I wish I had time to tell you everything that happens to me, but I
only have time for the important things like wetting yourself and such.
I hope that you all have an amazing Christmas, and that this year you
are reminded of the real reason why we celebrate the birth of Christ.
This year I pray that you are able to share the gifts that God has given
you, and that you are able to tell others about His love for them!
Merry almost Christmas, and I happy New Year!

What are we celebrating?

Yesterday was a celebration...I'm just not sure what they were
celebrating. There was a horse race, and I'm pretty sure everyone in
Tchad was there. Some of the horses and men riding were drunk, so of
course I thought it would be a bit entertaining . I could hear the
beating of drums as I walked closer, and there was a cloud of dust that
covered the people. I was surprised at how fast some of the horses were
running...even some of the drunk ones! The horses had these mettle
plates on their foreheads that the riders would hit with an ax...it was
kinda weird, but hey, I'm in Tchad. Anyways, the horses would run
around this lap place, and the people could stand on the outside of the
circle or on the inside...but to get to the inside people had to run
through the horses and try not to get hit. It wouldn't be so bad if the
dust wasn't so thick that you could barely see 10ft in front of you. At
first I was not about to go, but after a while I realized that the party
was happenin on the inner part of the circle. I finally got brave
enough and ran to the inner circle...wow, that kinda sounds exotic or
something. I watched from the side for a while, and Lenden (one of the
SM's here from Cali!!) even rode a few laps on a friend's horse. I
could tell he had fun because when he got off the horse there was dirt
all across his teeth! Hahahaha! After he finished we decided to check
out the dancing and drumming. It was packed! It was bad enough that
all you could smell was alcohol and dust...but than you add in some bad
body odor and hundreds of dancing drunk people...so basically I had an
awesome time! No, I'm just kidding, I was only in there for 5 minutes
and than I needed room to breathe. We walked to a different part of the
circle where you could watch the horses from another point. It was hard
to see because of all the dust, and a girl who was probably 2 or 3 ran
across the road. She didn't make it all the way, but the first horseman
saw her and stopped the horse, but that sent him flying and the horse
spooked and ran off. Unfortunately, the next 3 riders didn't see her,
and she got trampled. A man ran out and grabbed her, bu it might have
been too late. I wanted to go and check, but if we went to help and she
died while we were helping, the people would get angry as us and say it
was our fault...so we walked away. (They could have killed us if she
died while we helped her). We walked to a different part and ran back
to the outer part of the circle where Tammy and Brichelle were. I
thought that all the fun and excitement was finished at that point, but
I was completely wrong! I went to a part where I could see the horses
again, and there was a drunk man standing beside me holding his horse.
The fact that he was drunk didn't really make this an awesome situation,
but anyways, I was standing there watching the horses, and he started to
sing and dance, but whatever, that's what everyone was doing, drunk or
not. Then he reached over and groped my chest and grabbed my waist
trying to dance with me. I wanted to slap him or something, but then
thought that would be stupid to make a drunk man with a horse angry...no
one would have helped me. Whenever people are being attacked, it's
pretty rare that someone will step in to help, especially for a woman.
So I pushed him away and walked back to the white people crowd. He came
again and grabbed my arm trying to get me on his horse, but Cory told
him off. Wow, I'm super safe here in Tchad! We decided to leave after
that, but as we walked away all I heard shouting, drumming, horses
running...basically craziness. I was walking in a cloud of dust...but
even in that mess the sun was so beautiful. As I was walking away I
felt as though I was walking towards peace. That's how it is with God.
We need to have the mess of this world behind us, and the peace of the
Son in front.

Happy Birthday to Me

So, I am now officially 20...I'm so old! It was definitely the best
birthday I have ever had...in Tchad. I was able to talk with Alyssa
Fitting on Thursday, as like a before birthday gift, and than on my
birthday I got to talk with my family, what a blessing! Friday night
(my birthday eve) all of the missionaries from Bendele ate around a camp
fire, sang, and than slept on top of these super huge containers! It
got pretty cold during the night, but it was a lot of fun. Then Tammy
and Brichelle came up to my hut and surprised me with a piece of pumpkin
pie, a candle, and a birthday song, and then they took me to church.
After church it was pretty chill, we ate left overs from Thanksgiving,
and vegan ice cream...which was pretty amazing actually! Than, I was
chillin at the hospital and all the people down at the hospital had
planned a surprise birthday party for me! We all went back down to
Bendele and ate dough boys and chili, sang songs again, and played
games. They played mafia for hours! It was so funny watching and
listening to them play, and learn how to play! I was talking with
Matthew about farting and what we missed about home, but that was fun
too! Then we slept out on part of the run way, and looked at stars
through a telescope. I had so such fun! The only thing that kinda
wasn't fun was the fact that we slept out on the run way. It got SO
cold! I know I'm in Africa and all, but it got down to the 50s, and
most of the people had a hard time sleeping! After we all woke up at
around 5am, we watched Mulan, and than departed to our different areas!
It was really nice though that they all planned it for me, and took the
time to make the day special for me! I have been so blessed, and I
really want to praise God for another year of life that I have to learn
how to love Him more and share His love with others! I hope that
everyone has an amazing and blessed week! Continue praising God for
each new day of life that He blesses you with!

happy thanksgiving!

The evangelistic meetings in Lai finished last week Friday, and there were 5 people who stood up to be baptized!  Praise the Lord!  I know some of you were praying that the people would be quiet while he spoke, and it happened.  Slowly over the days the people who were making the most noise left.  In the end we were left with 70-80 people, and they were listening.  Even though there were only 5 people that stood up to be baptized, there is a seed that was planted in the peoples' hearts and God will continue working.  The hardest topic for the people to understand was the Sabbath.  I guess that in their culture and language the 7th day is Sunday, and the calenders were messed up for the uneducated people some years back, so the calender shows that Sunday is the 7th day, and they have never read these verses before...well, many of them can't read, but they have never heard this before.  But I do know that many were listening, and that God will continue to work in their hearts.  Thank you so much for your prayers in that, and continue to pray as Matthew will be doing Bible studies down there once a week or so, so continue learning with the people down there.

I have been learning a lot while going to and from these meetings, and one thing I learned is that God is ALWAYS protecting us, and we are not indestructible!  The moto rides there and back have been teaching me a lot!  On the way back one night, I was riding behind a man named Piere, and he was really a bad driving!  We hit every bump in the road, and I still have bruises on my butt from that ride.  But once we hit the sand I was sure that we were going to fall, and he still persisted on going pretty fast even though we were weaving all over the road.  On another night, Matthew and I were traveling back home when I truck was coming towards us with it's brights on.  We couldn't see a thing, and I was getting all upset at how rude they could be and that we couldn't see a thing!  Well, we ended up stopping cause we couldn't see, and right when the truck had passed us, there was a HUGE hole a ft in front of the moto!  It was the size of the moto and it dropped down this 10ft little cliff thing.  I know it wasn't super big, but we could've gotten hurt, and we were alone on this big road!  God protects us in the little things, and the big, so continue to praise Him for the life that we have been blessed with today.

I have a lot to praise Him for, like the fact that there is an American family here that has taken Matthew and me in, and we spend a lot of time with them on Sabbath afternoons.  Well, last night they made us pizza!!!  It was the best thing that I have ever eaten!!!  Everything was local, and man, it tasted amazing!!!  So now I'm pretty excited to see what we all bring for our Thanksgiving meal!  Wow, it's almost Thanksgiving, and almost my birthday!  I'm gonna be 20 in Tchad!  I can't say that I'm super excited about that, cause I would kinda rather be 20 in America, but I guess I'll just have to get ice cream when I get back to celebrate! 

Speaking of celebrations....two Sabbaths ago I was in Lai again, and we got back home kinda late.  I was really tired and couldn't wait to go to sleep!  Well, driving through the village, we passed some houses that were singing and dancing and playing drums (ok, so the people in the houses), and I told Matthew that I thought it would be cool to go to one of those sometime.  They were celebrating something with the Evangelical church...or something like that.  Anyways, so we passed 2 or 3 houses like that, and it was kind of exciting to see for a second.  Well, we finally made the turn towards my hut, and I could feel the excitement of being able to sleep and finally get some rest!  Well, we pulled into my compound and that's when I saw it; over 50 people BY MY HUT playing drums, singing (it's really chanting, but that's how they sing here), and dancing.  I kinda laughed because when I said I wanted to go to one sometime, I didn't mean that night when I was super tired, but oh well, they can't do this all night right?  WRONG!  My brother came up and greeted me, and then told me that they were going to be doing this all night!  Ok, so some of the dances and drum beats were pretty cool, but not cool enough to do all night long!  I tried a couple of the dances in the background where I couldn't be seen, but then headed to bed.  All of the beats basically sound the same, so it put me to sleep after a while, and they did finally take a sleep break at 3am...but then they started it up again at 5am.  The church was packed with dancing Tchadians that Sunday, and then after hours of that, they all returned to the houses to dance again!  It finally ended Sunday evening.  That experience made me grateful that I am SDA and that we don't dance for 2 days straight!!! hahaha

Life here really is good though.  I am alive, I have a bit of a cold, but it's my own fault that I'm not better.  I got my first package this week...actually first 5 packages this week!  One of them contained oreos...I would like the emphasize that fact that it contained and no longer does, so I still have a bit of a cold! lol  But God is teaching me a lot through the Bible, Great Controversy, the locals, the missionaries, and through nature.  I praise the Lord that when I arrived it was the rainy season!  Everything was green and beautiful...it's not now, but it was then.  Everything is browning nicely now, and the people are burning their fields (I'm not sure why they are, but they are), and things are getting hot during the day.  But on the good side, there is salad materials for the next few months!!! I'm super excited about that!  Oh, and talking about fresh stuff, remember how I said that I ate a grasshopper the other day?  Well, I guess that with the dry season comes the grasshopper/locust season.  The other night, my mom (local mom whose name is Monique) reached into her fanny pack and pulled out a handful of live grasshoppers, and her son reached in his pant pocket and did the same.  They all had their wings and back legs torn off, but they were still squirming.  They just thew em in a pot and ate em like that...it's been a regular thing this week and every time I get a little less disgusted...I still feel bad for them though.

So part of this blog I wrote last week, and didn't have enough battery to send it, so here's the rest.  Today is Thanksgiving for me, and night time for everyone who will read this on Thanksgiving day!  We've been doing this survivor thing here with all the SM's, and the loser of last week's challenge had to come at 8 this morning to cook pancakes for everyone's breakfast...my team lost so I was here at 8.  After breakfast we all started cooking for our BIG thanksgiving meal.  I made sweet potato fries in this super awesome batter, and made a ketchup type dipping sauce (not even close to ketchup, but it got the job done), and lime aid (since limes are in season now).  There were at least 6 pumpkin pies (since pumpkins are in season now), and there were mashed potatoes (which the potatoes had to be imported from a big city since we don't have normal potatoes here), and stuffing (which everything had to be made from scratch), and we killed our own 3 chickens this afternoon (which are abundant at all times...and when I say we, I really mean other people, cause I actually didn't help in the unnecessary slaughter of these poop animals), and salads, and man there was so much food!!! We were having a blast preparing everything, and dancing to music, and singing and....ok right now none of of can sing, because there's this cold going around Tchad that everyone's getting and we are all losing our voices.  I can't believe that we're in Tchad and we have colds...some tropical disease would be a much better story, but oh well...next time.  Anyways, the point of that super long sentence about food was to say that we had some amazing food!!!!  One of the guys gained 4lbs!!  We all sat on the ground around these grass fence things that were cut to make tables for us, and we bought some material from the market to decorate...it basically looked like America...except in Tchad!  There were 30 white people...30 of us!  It was super weird, but super fun...we even had some locals come and join us.  There is so much that I have been blessed with and I want to share some of those things with those of you who actually read this far!  I am thankful for family and friends in the states that send packages...and prayers, and families that have taken me in here.  I am thankful for food, even when it has rocks in it, because there really are a lot of kids in Africa starving right now.  I am thankful I haven't gotten malaria yet (and I hope I never do), oh, and did I mention that I am thankful for packages with things from the states (hahahaha)...it helps keep me going sometimes knowing that people are thinking of me...but prayers are much more needed!  I am so glad that God has given us His word to keep us going.  It's there to strengthen us, encourage us, rebuke us, and love us...which is what God is there for too.  I hope that all of you beautiful people in America, or Canada or wherever remember all the things that God has blessed you with, and continue to praise Him.  Happy thanksgiving USA!!!!

So I know I have talked a little about the food here, but I really don't
think you all understand how amazing it is over here. Last week I found
these little black bugs in my food, but didn't take them out because I
was already half way through the meal by the time I found them, but it
added some nice spice! Oh, and I also ate a grasshopper...actually it
was more like a bird, this thing was pretty big! They fry em up and put
some nice spices on them, but just the thought of eating a big
grasshopper made it hard to enjoy. Some of the food here is just really
good, like the rice. It's kinda like eating in a sandbox. Actually at
my house it's really not that bad, I'll get a rock or some sand every
other bite, so not too much. But last week I went to Matthew's family's
house, and well, I really did feel like I was eating in a sandbox.
Every bite had a couple of rocks, and some of them were big! I always
know that I can't chew all the way down because of the rocks, but that
meal it was like I couldn't chew at all; it was really nice. And I know
that I have been in Tchad long enough, because when I have a meal
without rocks, it's super surprising.

So I just got a puppy, and I don't even like dogs, but this one's super
cute. He is technically my family's though, so they take care of him,
but I contributed and gave him his name, and I thought that Jackie Chan
is a fitting name for an Asian! I've never had a puppy and I didnt'
realize that they are such hard work! He's sleeps outside though, and I
just put my iPod in when he starts crying...I'm gonna be an awesome
parent! Oh, and people have asked me what kind of wild animals I hear,
so I want to let the whole world know how awesome Tchad is. Every
night, right outside my door I hear crickets. Some of them sound quite
nice actually. During the day, there are lots of cows, donkeys, goats,
chickens, sheep, dogs, pigs, the random neighborhood kids, pretty exotic
really. At night, IN MY HUT I have mice that I can never find but can
always hear, huge spiders, lots of ants and crickets, geckos, and these
big black wasp things that make homes in my hut and put their larva in
them...and they taste great! I'm just kidding, I only eat
grasshoppers. When I first got to Tchad, some of the sounds at night
would scare the pee out of me and keep me up for hours, but it did help
my prayer life. Another thing that helps my prayer life is riding on a
moto with a Tchadian. When I drive I don't go too fast, but I like to
feel the wind on my scalp. The Tchadians though, man alive! They will
fly down the road swerving around the pot holes, people, cows, random
donkeys, and there is a ton of sand on the road. Since it's not rainy
season anymore the roads are all dried up and so in some parts of the
road there are 4 inches of sand. I know that doesn't sound like a lot,
but when you're flying down the road at 50 mph with 3 people on the moto
and no helmets and you're swerving everywhere, that 4 inches can kill
you...but don't worry dad, I'm in God's hands. Oh, and this is not at
all about prayer, but there is only one paved road in this whole country
and it ends 2 hours away from here! The people still call all the roads
here highways...If only they knew that a highway wasn't a small dirt
path, that would rock their world!

Oh, so I can't remember if I already wrote this, but I'm gonna tell you
anyways. So a while back, I was in my hut getting ready to go to bed,
but I really had to pee. My squat hole is a ways from my hut, and I
don't like going there at night because there are a ton a really big
cockroaches, so I always just go right outside of my hut. So I took my
headlamp so I could look at the ground to make sure there's no snakes,
scorpions, or spiders, but when I found a nice spot to pee I turned the
light off so that the locals didn't have a show. On my way down to
squat I lost my balance so I thew my hands down so that I could catch
myself, but since my light was off I didn't realize that I had dropped
it on the way down, but whatever, I peep and went back into my hut. I
was really confused when I got back in my hut though because I couldn't
find my light. After I had looked for a bit, I went back outside to see
if I had taken it out there, and that's when I remembered I had, but it
was too late, there it sat...right in the middle of my pee puddle!!!
But don't worry, it still works great!

There are things that happen in Tchad that are a little more serious
though, like the evangelistic series that's happening in Lai right now.
It's a town 18 kilometers from Bere, and the church thhere meets under a
mango tree right now. We've had 3 meetings so far, and Satan is working
really hard. I have never heard such disrespectful people in my life!
The meetings are held outside, so all the peolpe come to see the Matthew
because he's white, but they don't respect him. There will be kids in
the front yelling out random words, and drunk people walking around and
talking. Sometimes I can't even hear myself think. There are only 10
benches and 20 chairs, and over 200 people coming. I know that there
are people who are coming and hearing what is spoken, and that God is
blessing the meetings, but last night I couldn't help but think of how
Satan is possessing these people and causing them to be so disruptive.
On the first talk of the Great Controversy, there were so many
problems. The mikes would work for everyone until it got to the actual
sermon. Sometimes they would work for Matthew, but then the
translator's mike would stop, and they had to stop for almost 5 minutes
one time trying to get everything to work. I know that the lives that
these people live are not filled with hope, and that God can free them
from the bondage that they are in, so please please be praying for the
meetings! I can't remember all the times zones right now, but we are 9
hours ahead of California, and the meetings are every night at 6pm our
time, and will be continuing until the 18th. Pray for Matthew as God
continues to use him through speaking each night, pray that God quiets
Satan and his angels, and that through these meetings that God is
glorified. Thanks again for the prayers and support every day as we
continue working out here on different things.

I hope that this Sabbath is a blessing and that you are able to spend
some awesome time with God today. Happy Sabbath

I'm in Tchad!!!

71 days; 213 left to go. Man, I cannot believe that I am here in Tchad,
Africa. I see videos that we've taken and it looks like a different
country, but being here everyday I feel normal. I've learned quite a
lot in my first two months here; like it's bad to hand things to or
receive them from a person with your left hand, you always shake
everyone's hand when first arriving somewhere, French is super hard to
learn...especially when trying to learn Nanjere too, and food in America
is AWESOME!!!! Everyday, twice a day, I get either rice, pasta, or
sweet potatoes with oil. Everything here is cooked with oil, and the
people don't understand the concept of fresh anything. All veggies that
I eat are fried before they're added to my rice, pasta, or potatoes. It
really doesn't taste bad at all, but after a couple months of the same
thing, it starts getting hard to stomach it. The other day I was eating
sweet potatoes with its oil sauce for the millionth time in a row, and I
almost started gagging...it was pretty bad.

I live with a local family in the village where I have to get my own
water out of a 20-30 ft well everyday for my shower, and where I have to
go to the bathroom in a hole that's 4 in. by 4 in. Let's just say that
I have to practice aiming. The first day that I lived in the village I
asked where the toilet was, and they pointed to some wall where there
was no hole, but I figured that they knew where to go to the bathroom,
so continued with my business. Later, while I was eating, the mother of
the home pointed to some other brokenish wall and said "WC". Well, I
had no idea what she was saying, but when she took me over to see it, I
saw that 4" by 4" hole and realized that I had gone in the wrong place!
Well, after a few more words I discovered that I had just taken a dump
in their shower! I was a little embarrassed, but don't worry, I took a
shovel and threw it in the neighbor's field.

Everyday I think of how life is so different, and how it's so normal for
them. It's normal for them to eat really disgusting food and enjoy it,
and to go hungry for a long time, and to ask every white person for
everything they have including the shirt that I currently am wearing
(which is covered in paint and rust dust). I feel like I have no
privacy, not even in my own hut! Kids will come and sit outside and
watch me, and while I take my shower they will walk by and wave or talk
to me, and when I just want to get away, everyone stares and says
"Nasara!". Sometimes I feel trapped with no way out, but it helps to
look up at the stars at night, because I feel close to God, and close to
something familiar.

Life here has been pretty chill with nothing too exciting. Well,
besides getting some stuff stolen which included $2200, but God is good
and much of it has been returned. I've been working doing some
construction of huts and two 1-day churches, and have been able to
shadow in the hospital a couple of times. I feel like nothing that I've
done here has been helpful though. Sometimes I feel as though my days
here are pointless...well, until yesterday. There was a man who had
broken his back over a year ago while working, and was in a hospital for
a while that didn't take good care of him. He left that hospital with
lots of bedsores and infection, so he came to the Bere hospital. Well,
he was released after a month or so because there was nothing left that
the doctors could do for him; his body was rotting while he was still
alive and there was nothing left. Well, he came out to the town I live
in to ask for help, and we couldn't do anything but pray and give him
some sweet juice for energy. Matthew and I went to go visit him and
sing to him yesterday, and when we got there it was like looking at a
breathing skeleton. When he looked in our direction his eyes would roll
back in his head and he could barely move his arms. I prayed before we
started to sing, and then we sang to him, his wife, and their youngest
child. In the middle of the 2nd song, He moved his hand and it barely
touched the baby, and that was it. He was finally able to rest without
pain. That's the first time I've ever seen someone die, but it was a
relief, and the only sadness I felt was for his family, and his widowed
wife the three children. But for him, I was happy that he no longer had
to feel the pain of this world, because he had been feeling it for way
too long! I feel as though death is such a blessing here. Even when
the babies die right after being born, I just think of how they won't
have to experience the pain of this place and how they will be resting
until Jesus returns. It might not be right that I feel that way, but
after seeing and hearing about some of the pain the people experience
here everyday, I can't help but feeling that way. I really just want
Jesus to come soon, but so many of the people here haven't heard, and
don't understand the love of God! This morning I was able to sit down
with 5 of the children in my home and the mom, and we read the Bible and
had a prayer...hopefully that made a difference in their day today.
Keep praying that God's work here is blessed and that the people learn
more about the love of our Maker.

The smells of Tchad...they're not so bad really. It's like
roses...dipped in poop. Okay, so a little bit of an exaggeration, only
some parts smell like that. Sometimes I'll be walking by someone's
compound and the smell just makes me wanna throw up! The meat in the
market is horrendous, and the people have never heard of deodorant. You
know how bad body odor sometimes smells like bad onions? Well, onetime
coming back from church I was forced to ride between two bad onions on
the moto! I have gotten used to the different smells of this place, and
it's starting to smell like home...not saying that my home in the states
smells bad, I'm just getting used to the smells here!

I didn't realize how important rice is to the people here till I got
here. There are rice fields all over the country, and they taught me a
good lesson yesterday. The family I live with owns a rice field and so
I went out with them to harvest some if it. First we started out with a
sickle cutting down the rice plants and making little piles. Then we
took those little piles and made big ones and carried them over to this
tarp. At the tarp we slapped hand fulls of these rice plants down, and
then beat the plants with sticks so that all the rice would fall on the
tarp. After hours of all of that goodness we gathered the rice in big
bowls and dropped it down on the tarp where the dirt and other things
that were not needed got blown away by the wind. It made me think of
how my relationship with God is. I really don't want to be blown by the
wind because I am not strong enough in my faith. Well, I know that it
might be hard to picture the process of this rice gathering, but it's
not finished yet! After the 3 mile walk there, and 3 miles back in the
super hot African sun, the rice still has to be pounded to get the husks
off. It's a long process for a little bit of food, but it's what the
people here do everyday! They work so hard for everything that they
get, and they do it in order for them to survive. What about us in our
daily lives, are we as passionate about our relationship with God, as
the people here are about their rice fields? They both take time and
have their different challenges, but in the end they're both necessary
for our survival. Have you spent time working with God today?

A video of myself and Matt Haus from Chad