My friend Claudio
game night
some of my boys
my roommate fabio
my girlfriend Rubia
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Some quick pics
Hey all, definitely appreciate all the prayers and concerns, the back has been giving me a lot of problems in the past two days and definitely need wisdom to know what to do about that. Its quite hot here and the small town is starting to feel small, but things are well, here are a few pics from Brasil.
My friend Claudio
game night
some of my boys
my roommate fabio
my girlfriend Rubia
My friend Claudio
game night
some of my boys
my roommate fabio
my girlfriend Rubia
Thursday, March 19, 2009
First Impressions of Colombia
I praise God that I survived the long day’s journey from São Paulo, Brasil to Sincelejo, Colombia. Such a switch would have definitely been some major culture shock if I hadn’t already been used to traveling in Latin America as I went from a massive globally powerful city speaking Portuguese to a small farming town speaking Spanish, but I feel like through all my experiences I have been prepared to pretty much live and deal with any circumstance effectively in any part of Latin America.
My journey started at about 5:30am when I got a ride from my girlfriend (a story to be told another day, but her name is Rubia (who-be-a), she’s 24, obviously a very special girl, met her on a missions trip, she’s lives in São Paulo, has a degree in Business Administration, works for a Brasilian bank and is up for the craziness and adventure that is a relationship with me) and her brother to the airport for my 9:30 flight. Luckily we got there early as I learned that my 9:30 flight left at 8:30. I was worried about my luggage weighing too much, but was impressed by the grace of the airline (Avianca, the official Colombian airline) to let me check three bags, and pass the weight limit without any fee. It was incredibly hard for me to say goodbye to my housemates and people from my neighborhood. I spent the whole day before visiting all my friends and people I worked with saying tearful goodbyes and not believing how quickly my time past. I can’t believe that 6 months ago I didn’t think I spoke Portuguese and was scared to live in a favela. It is so amazing to see how things change and how God really worked on me and was graceful to me in learning Portuguese so fast and adjusting to Brasilian culture. I think in a lot of ways I became more “Brasilian” in 6 months there than I ever became “Mexican” in my nearly year and a half there. I said a tearful goodbye to Rubia and to Brasil and with a bit of fear and trepidation went through customs praying that my back would hold up. I took my aisle seat (so I could get up and move around which sometimes helps my back). I definitely struggled through a fair amount of pain in my 6 hour flight to Bogota and was relieved to get there. I spent about an hour and a half in the airport in Bogota before an hour flight to Cartagena. There I was met by a 30 year old or so employee of my microcredit organization who met me in Cartagena to help me with my baggage and getting to Sincelejo. We took a taxi to the “bus station” which was a patch of dirt with a few buses waiting on it and there we took a shared taxi to Sincelejo, about a three hour trip, with a full taxi, including a crying baby before arriving at the house where I am staying. Thanks to a good exchange rate I pay about $190/month for my own room/bathroom, all my meals and daily laundry service. Additionally there is a cable TV I can watch and a fan in my room (which helps a lot as it is very hot here). There are two other young people staying here in this family’s home (a common practice to make some more money in various parts of Latin America) as there is a university near my house.
Now to the interesting part, I spent the last two days visiting various projects where our organization (ADIN, Asociación para el Desarrollo Integral, the Holistic Development Association) is helping various small businesses. I was impressed by a carpentry shop that started with a man and a saw and now with small loans over time has two electric saws and 6 employees making quality furniture that gets shipped to Cartagena and Bogota to be sold. I also visited a successful small bakery, a small family business that makes various kinds of jewelry and a beauty parlor. Last night I visited the missionary’s house who is acting as my host while I’m here. Their names are David and Connie Befus, formerly president of the LAM. Dr. Befus has written several books including one called “Where there are no jobs” that is a sometimes referenced book in economic development literature. He has an MBA from Michigan and a PhD from the University of Miami and I’m really excited to get some life and career advice from him. Today we visited a town about 40 minutes away (a $1.50 bus ride) from Sincelejo. It was a beautiful little beach town where with probably about $20,000 you could retire like a king and a live on a beautiful, peaceful beach for a good number of years. There we visited various projects, ranging from small convenience stores, a woman that makes and sell chocolate to fisherman that make a living off of catching shrimp and lobsters. So far it’s been a great experience here.
I think though my favorite part of this town is that for $0.40 you can ride a motorcycle taxi anywhere in the whole city. It’s an amazing system that allows for affordable travel all across the city. I could get used to the door to door service for a fraction of the price of even São Paulo public transportation. My back is holding up alright so far, I’m definitely in significant pain, but I stand by my decision to come to Colombia and think that it will be an incredible learning experience, as well as a restful time. I say restful because it seems like most days I’ll be done with work at 6, giving me some free time in the evening, which is something I am not used to. In Brasil I was pretty much on call 24/7 and had no where that was my own space. Here I have my own room and some free time which is much appreciated. I definitely still need your prayers for wisdom with my back as a $60,000 or so surgery in the US isn’t really in the cards and I need to see if I can do it more affordably in Mexico or if I will have to wait (6 months) to be able to go back to Brasil and attempt to have the surgery in their public health care system (i.e. free). I appreciate your prayers and will keep you updated on comings and goings in Colombia. Much love and God bless.
My journey started at about 5:30am when I got a ride from my girlfriend (a story to be told another day, but her name is Rubia (who-be-a), she’s 24, obviously a very special girl, met her on a missions trip, she’s lives in São Paulo, has a degree in Business Administration, works for a Brasilian bank and is up for the craziness and adventure that is a relationship with me) and her brother to the airport for my 9:30 flight. Luckily we got there early as I learned that my 9:30 flight left at 8:30. I was worried about my luggage weighing too much, but was impressed by the grace of the airline (Avianca, the official Colombian airline) to let me check three bags, and pass the weight limit without any fee. It was incredibly hard for me to say goodbye to my housemates and people from my neighborhood. I spent the whole day before visiting all my friends and people I worked with saying tearful goodbyes and not believing how quickly my time past. I can’t believe that 6 months ago I didn’t think I spoke Portuguese and was scared to live in a favela. It is so amazing to see how things change and how God really worked on me and was graceful to me in learning Portuguese so fast and adjusting to Brasilian culture. I think in a lot of ways I became more “Brasilian” in 6 months there than I ever became “Mexican” in my nearly year and a half there. I said a tearful goodbye to Rubia and to Brasil and with a bit of fear and trepidation went through customs praying that my back would hold up. I took my aisle seat (so I could get up and move around which sometimes helps my back). I definitely struggled through a fair amount of pain in my 6 hour flight to Bogota and was relieved to get there. I spent about an hour and a half in the airport in Bogota before an hour flight to Cartagena. There I was met by a 30 year old or so employee of my microcredit organization who met me in Cartagena to help me with my baggage and getting to Sincelejo. We took a taxi to the “bus station” which was a patch of dirt with a few buses waiting on it and there we took a shared taxi to Sincelejo, about a three hour trip, with a full taxi, including a crying baby before arriving at the house where I am staying. Thanks to a good exchange rate I pay about $190/month for my own room/bathroom, all my meals and daily laundry service. Additionally there is a cable TV I can watch and a fan in my room (which helps a lot as it is very hot here). There are two other young people staying here in this family’s home (a common practice to make some more money in various parts of Latin America) as there is a university near my house.
Now to the interesting part, I spent the last two days visiting various projects where our organization (ADIN, Asociación para el Desarrollo Integral, the Holistic Development Association) is helping various small businesses. I was impressed by a carpentry shop that started with a man and a saw and now with small loans over time has two electric saws and 6 employees making quality furniture that gets shipped to Cartagena and Bogota to be sold. I also visited a successful small bakery, a small family business that makes various kinds of jewelry and a beauty parlor. Last night I visited the missionary’s house who is acting as my host while I’m here. Their names are David and Connie Befus, formerly president of the LAM. Dr. Befus has written several books including one called “Where there are no jobs” that is a sometimes referenced book in economic development literature. He has an MBA from Michigan and a PhD from the University of Miami and I’m really excited to get some life and career advice from him. Today we visited a town about 40 minutes away (a $1.50 bus ride) from Sincelejo. It was a beautiful little beach town where with probably about $20,000 you could retire like a king and a live on a beautiful, peaceful beach for a good number of years. There we visited various projects, ranging from small convenience stores, a woman that makes and sell chocolate to fisherman that make a living off of catching shrimp and lobsters. So far it’s been a great experience here.
I think though my favorite part of this town is that for $0.40 you can ride a motorcycle taxi anywhere in the whole city. It’s an amazing system that allows for affordable travel all across the city. I could get used to the door to door service for a fraction of the price of even São Paulo public transportation. My back is holding up alright so far, I’m definitely in significant pain, but I stand by my decision to come to Colombia and think that it will be an incredible learning experience, as well as a restful time. I say restful because it seems like most days I’ll be done with work at 6, giving me some free time in the evening, which is something I am not used to. In Brasil I was pretty much on call 24/7 and had no where that was my own space. Here I have my own room and some free time which is much appreciated. I definitely still need your prayers for wisdom with my back as a $60,000 or so surgery in the US isn’t really in the cards and I need to see if I can do it more affordably in Mexico or if I will have to wait (6 months) to be able to go back to Brasil and attempt to have the surgery in their public health care system (i.e. free). I appreciate your prayers and will keep you updated on comings and goings in Colombia. Much love and God bless.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Herniated Disc
The art of the goodbye is a difficult one. In the last 2 years I have said goodbye to 3 countries and 5 cities (College Park, Eldersburg, Mexico City, Puebla, São Paulo) and am now on my way to my 4th city where I am arriving knowing few to no people and walking in faith that God will take care of me. However, these goodbyes have not been the only ones that God has been teaching me. God has been teaching me very difficult lessons in letting go of things I cherish. As most of you know I have been suffering for the past 6 weeks with severe back pains. After hospital visits, x-rays and several treatments from a chiropractor my pain continued to worsen and I went and got an MRI which diagnosed me with a very large hernia in my lower back. With each new hospital or doctor I hoped for an answer that wouldn’t be that, I prayed that somehow there might be some simpler answer and that I might be able to get back to my normal life. I have struggled to come to terms with the pain and why it is that this is happening to me at the age of 23. I kept reminding God that I was 23 and wasn’t supposed to have these sorts of problems.
I think in life there are always character and faith defining moments. In every good epic movie the characters are faced with trials early on in the film that prepare them, that give them the strength for more difficult tests in the future. I truly believe that God is using this back problem to prepare me to fulfill his will, to break me and teach me dependence on him. I look to James where it says that we should consider it pure joy when we suffer trials because they produce perseverance and perseverance produces maturity and the completion of our faith. I can say literally that this health problem has brought me to my knees (or to my bed, or should I say my mattress on the floor). It has been a very humbling experience to realize that I am a weak and fragile human being. Throughout my whole life I have been a passionate athlete, I never knew anything but to play at 100% intensity with no concern for my body. I never was the most skilled, but I played with heart and played for the love of the game. Now to be in pain just in sitting down for a few minutes or trying to walk a few meters is a humbling thing. It’s hard not to be out there playing ball with the boys. It puts to the test my belief that God works all things for the good of those that love him. I have been faced with saying goodbye, perhaps forever to my life as I knew it. My “normal” life (if you could call it that) might be gone forever, the days of pain free kicking around of a soccer ball or carrying heavy things for other people might be over. I have put my back on the altar and offered it to God, if it brings glory to him and is what I need than I am willing to spend the rest of my life with this pain. Each morning as I get up the pain reminds me that this world is not my home, as if the Portuguese and the different culture didn’t do it, now I am getting the message. It has also taught me to appreciate the small things, to truly be thankful to God for each new day, for each breath of air and for each time I am able to sit down and eat.
Since the pain started I have lost a lot of my mobility and have had to spend a fair amount of time with bed rest. I started to read the Bible from Genesis on and have been amazed by how captivating it has been for me. Not a single book failed to fascinate me and teach me about this God that I am learning to surrender my life to. I have been struck by his heart for his people, his love of justice and the simplicity of his call to us. Over and over again in the Old Testament he says that he wants his people to seek him and he will be found, to look to him, to seek his face, his will, to put all of our hope in him and to stand firm in his strength, seeking refuge in his strong and loving arms. I am reminded that so often in our comfortable American lives we don’t seek refuge in God because we don’t see the storm, we don’t feel the winds picking up and so we continue as if life is normal. I think to the people before the Tsunami hit who were playing on the beach, picking up the sea shells oblivious the incoming terror. I praise God that he has shown me the storm and that it is real, perhaps he needed to debilitate my back to make me see that I need to find my only refuge and shelter in him. It is so easy to take refuge in bank accounts, health insurance, money, abilities, jobs, degrees etc.
I think to how many times I have wrestled with the godliness of health insurance as I have always felt that it is hedging our bets if God doesn’t come through for us. I now am experiencing what it is like to have a health crisis without insurance and can say that God has been faithful, providing me with friends and “family” who have taken care of me. I recognize this would not be possible in the US (could write a lot of commentary on this but won’t) or at least difficult. After a visit to a public hospital I left with an X-ray that I didn’t pay for, managed to find a Chiropractor who treats me for free and then get an MRI for discounted rate (about $250 for MRI and some other exam I don’t know the name of in English where they inject some kind of dye in you and do another MRI). I have no reason to believe that God will not continue to care for me as I travel this coming week for Colombia. I would ask for prayers for the transition, which would be difficult under normal circumstances, but is even more daunting with the back problems. One thing though, that I can assure you all is that I am closer to God now than I was two months ago and for that I praise God for my herniated disc. Some days I cry because of the pain and some days thanking God for the gift of the pain to make me remember who he is and who I am.
I am sad to leave Brasil, to say goodbye to Claudio, my 50 year old drug dealer friend who is currently wearing my favorite pair of shorts as he stands in front of the favela selling drugs. He was the first person to talk to me on my first day in the favela. He said “hey you, gringo, are you a missionary?” and then told me I had a good heart and that he wanted to have a good one too. Today he asked me for a pair of shorts and after thinking about how I didn’t really have any to give him I was convicted by Jesus’ words and I went and grabbed a pair for him and told him that another world was possible, that there was hope outside of the traffic and that I would be praying for him. He told me that he knew that there was more to life and that he was looking for it too. I will be sad to say goodbye to him, to the little kids that come up to me shouting “Tio!, Tio!” and jump into my arms, I’ll miss the high school kids that have become like the little brothers I never had and I will miss my family here at Casa Esperança.
To conclude this letter (sorry for its length) I wanted to thank you all for your prayers, concerns and emails. I want you all to know that I praise God for all of you and count all my struggles and pains pure joy as I know they are helping me trust in God. I have always felt like God had big plans for my life if I would only let him in. I still don’t know what those plans are, but I know he brought me here to Brasil for a reason, I know that he has given me a herniated disc at the age of 23 for a reason and I know that if I continue to look towards him, to seek him and run the race with my eyes fixed on him that he will go with me and his mighty hand will be at my side. I leave on Tuesday, the 17th for two months in Sincelejo, Colombia to work with Dr. David Befus (former LAM president). He has a microenterprise development ministry and I am excited to learn from him. Pray for the day I travel for strength to survive the day, I will be leaving my house at 5:30 am, grab a bus to the airport, then a 6 hour flight to Colombia, a 2 hour layover, a 2 hour flight and then a 3 hour bus ride. Pray that God’s will would be done there and that God willing my back would not get in the way of the ministry. After that I will head back to Mexico City for yet another summer. Pray for healing and recovery as well as continued growth and patience for my back. Pray that I can find a doctor to treat me affordably in Colombia. Pray for all my brothers and sisters here in Buraco Quente (my favela), pray that God would use Casa Esperança to be a light and a hope in the community.
I think in life there are always character and faith defining moments. In every good epic movie the characters are faced with trials early on in the film that prepare them, that give them the strength for more difficult tests in the future. I truly believe that God is using this back problem to prepare me to fulfill his will, to break me and teach me dependence on him. I look to James where it says that we should consider it pure joy when we suffer trials because they produce perseverance and perseverance produces maturity and the completion of our faith. I can say literally that this health problem has brought me to my knees (or to my bed, or should I say my mattress on the floor). It has been a very humbling experience to realize that I am a weak and fragile human being. Throughout my whole life I have been a passionate athlete, I never knew anything but to play at 100% intensity with no concern for my body. I never was the most skilled, but I played with heart and played for the love of the game. Now to be in pain just in sitting down for a few minutes or trying to walk a few meters is a humbling thing. It’s hard not to be out there playing ball with the boys. It puts to the test my belief that God works all things for the good of those that love him. I have been faced with saying goodbye, perhaps forever to my life as I knew it. My “normal” life (if you could call it that) might be gone forever, the days of pain free kicking around of a soccer ball or carrying heavy things for other people might be over. I have put my back on the altar and offered it to God, if it brings glory to him and is what I need than I am willing to spend the rest of my life with this pain. Each morning as I get up the pain reminds me that this world is not my home, as if the Portuguese and the different culture didn’t do it, now I am getting the message. It has also taught me to appreciate the small things, to truly be thankful to God for each new day, for each breath of air and for each time I am able to sit down and eat.
Since the pain started I have lost a lot of my mobility and have had to spend a fair amount of time with bed rest. I started to read the Bible from Genesis on and have been amazed by how captivating it has been for me. Not a single book failed to fascinate me and teach me about this God that I am learning to surrender my life to. I have been struck by his heart for his people, his love of justice and the simplicity of his call to us. Over and over again in the Old Testament he says that he wants his people to seek him and he will be found, to look to him, to seek his face, his will, to put all of our hope in him and to stand firm in his strength, seeking refuge in his strong and loving arms. I am reminded that so often in our comfortable American lives we don’t seek refuge in God because we don’t see the storm, we don’t feel the winds picking up and so we continue as if life is normal. I think to the people before the Tsunami hit who were playing on the beach, picking up the sea shells oblivious the incoming terror. I praise God that he has shown me the storm and that it is real, perhaps he needed to debilitate my back to make me see that I need to find my only refuge and shelter in him. It is so easy to take refuge in bank accounts, health insurance, money, abilities, jobs, degrees etc.
I think to how many times I have wrestled with the godliness of health insurance as I have always felt that it is hedging our bets if God doesn’t come through for us. I now am experiencing what it is like to have a health crisis without insurance and can say that God has been faithful, providing me with friends and “family” who have taken care of me. I recognize this would not be possible in the US (could write a lot of commentary on this but won’t) or at least difficult. After a visit to a public hospital I left with an X-ray that I didn’t pay for, managed to find a Chiropractor who treats me for free and then get an MRI for discounted rate (about $250 for MRI and some other exam I don’t know the name of in English where they inject some kind of dye in you and do another MRI). I have no reason to believe that God will not continue to care for me as I travel this coming week for Colombia. I would ask for prayers for the transition, which would be difficult under normal circumstances, but is even more daunting with the back problems. One thing though, that I can assure you all is that I am closer to God now than I was two months ago and for that I praise God for my herniated disc. Some days I cry because of the pain and some days thanking God for the gift of the pain to make me remember who he is and who I am.
I am sad to leave Brasil, to say goodbye to Claudio, my 50 year old drug dealer friend who is currently wearing my favorite pair of shorts as he stands in front of the favela selling drugs. He was the first person to talk to me on my first day in the favela. He said “hey you, gringo, are you a missionary?” and then told me I had a good heart and that he wanted to have a good one too. Today he asked me for a pair of shorts and after thinking about how I didn’t really have any to give him I was convicted by Jesus’ words and I went and grabbed a pair for him and told him that another world was possible, that there was hope outside of the traffic and that I would be praying for him. He told me that he knew that there was more to life and that he was looking for it too. I will be sad to say goodbye to him, to the little kids that come up to me shouting “Tio!, Tio!” and jump into my arms, I’ll miss the high school kids that have become like the little brothers I never had and I will miss my family here at Casa Esperança.
To conclude this letter (sorry for its length) I wanted to thank you all for your prayers, concerns and emails. I want you all to know that I praise God for all of you and count all my struggles and pains pure joy as I know they are helping me trust in God. I have always felt like God had big plans for my life if I would only let him in. I still don’t know what those plans are, but I know he brought me here to Brasil for a reason, I know that he has given me a herniated disc at the age of 23 for a reason and I know that if I continue to look towards him, to seek him and run the race with my eyes fixed on him that he will go with me and his mighty hand will be at my side. I leave on Tuesday, the 17th for two months in Sincelejo, Colombia to work with Dr. David Befus (former LAM president). He has a microenterprise development ministry and I am excited to learn from him. Pray for the day I travel for strength to survive the day, I will be leaving my house at 5:30 am, grab a bus to the airport, then a 6 hour flight to Colombia, a 2 hour layover, a 2 hour flight and then a 3 hour bus ride. Pray that God’s will would be done there and that God willing my back would not get in the way of the ministry. After that I will head back to Mexico City for yet another summer. Pray for healing and recovery as well as continued growth and patience for my back. Pray that I can find a doctor to treat me affordably in Colombia. Pray for all my brothers and sisters here in Buraco Quente (my favela), pray that God would use Casa Esperança to be a light and a hope in the community.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Mais perto quero estar meu Deus de ti
Mais perto quero estar, meu Deus de ti
Inda que seja a dor que me uma a ti
Sempre hei de suplicar
Mais perto quero estar
Mais perto quero estar meu Deus de ti
On Sunday morning I stood in pain as my church began to sing this song that I wasn’t familiar with. As we sang further I couldn’t help but to be brought to painful tears with each chorus. Closer I want to be, My God, closer to you, even if it be pain that unifies me to you, I will always ask to be closer, to be closer to you my God. These past 6 weeks of back pain have been a trying time, a time of much doubt and many questions, but also a time of growth. I have spent a fair amount of time frustrated, but for the most part God has given me the grace to have patience in the situation and wait on him. I have used the time mostly resting to read over half the Bible and dedicate more time to prayer. I still feel like I have so much to learn, but can say that these past few weeks have been the school of hard knocks, but as James said I count it all joy when we face trials, because trials produce perseverance that helps to bring us to maturity and completion. On Friday I went to the chiropractor hoping to put my vertebrae in its place and walk out more or less cured. Unfortunately vertebrae in place I was still with the same problems and after 48 hours of waiting and hoping it would heal knew that my fate would not be that easy.
On Friday I also stopped taking my pain medicine (over the counter here) as I didn’t think it was helping that much and didn’t like being dependent on it. On Saturday I had normal levels of pain and so figured that the pain killers hadn’t been helping too much. On Sunday night while sitting at church I found that was not the case. About 3 days after I took my last pill, a sharp pain shot up my leg in such a way that I have never experienced. The pain was so intense that I literally bit my hand and cause a wound to it. I got myself home after church and spent about 36 hours laying in bed, trying not to move, getting up once to go to the bathroom and mainly trying to lay still to minimize the pain. Finally on Tuesday morning I got my pain medication back and within an hour was back to my previous pain levels. On Tuesday I want to get an MRI and will get the results back tomorrow. Then I will have to take the test results to my chiropractor to diagnose my problem. I appreciate so much all your prayers and support. I want you to know that even though my physical ailment doesn’t seem to be getting better I praise God for your prayers and know that they are being answered. Through this time I have remained for the most part in good spirits and am learning to appreciate the little things. Learning to understand that everything I have comes from God. That every day the sun rises I should praise God, that ever breath I take I should praise God, that every meal I eat I should praise God. I am learning to trust in God more, in my pain I am learning to rely on him and not myself. I am still somewhat nervous for my move to Colombia in two weeks. Not only am I leaving a community, a people, a family, a house, a language and a culture I have learned to love, but I am going to a new place where I know almost no one and have health problems to boot. I give these worries to God and know that he has always taken care of me and there is no reason he won’t continue to do so. I am learning what it really means to cast all my cares on him and trust that he cares for me.
Inda que seja a dor que me uma a ti
Sempre hei de suplicar
Mais perto quero estar
Mais perto quero estar meu Deus de ti
On Sunday morning I stood in pain as my church began to sing this song that I wasn’t familiar with. As we sang further I couldn’t help but to be brought to painful tears with each chorus. Closer I want to be, My God, closer to you, even if it be pain that unifies me to you, I will always ask to be closer, to be closer to you my God. These past 6 weeks of back pain have been a trying time, a time of much doubt and many questions, but also a time of growth. I have spent a fair amount of time frustrated, but for the most part God has given me the grace to have patience in the situation and wait on him. I have used the time mostly resting to read over half the Bible and dedicate more time to prayer. I still feel like I have so much to learn, but can say that these past few weeks have been the school of hard knocks, but as James said I count it all joy when we face trials, because trials produce perseverance that helps to bring us to maturity and completion. On Friday I went to the chiropractor hoping to put my vertebrae in its place and walk out more or less cured. Unfortunately vertebrae in place I was still with the same problems and after 48 hours of waiting and hoping it would heal knew that my fate would not be that easy.
On Friday I also stopped taking my pain medicine (over the counter here) as I didn’t think it was helping that much and didn’t like being dependent on it. On Saturday I had normal levels of pain and so figured that the pain killers hadn’t been helping too much. On Sunday night while sitting at church I found that was not the case. About 3 days after I took my last pill, a sharp pain shot up my leg in such a way that I have never experienced. The pain was so intense that I literally bit my hand and cause a wound to it. I got myself home after church and spent about 36 hours laying in bed, trying not to move, getting up once to go to the bathroom and mainly trying to lay still to minimize the pain. Finally on Tuesday morning I got my pain medication back and within an hour was back to my previous pain levels. On Tuesday I want to get an MRI and will get the results back tomorrow. Then I will have to take the test results to my chiropractor to diagnose my problem. I appreciate so much all your prayers and support. I want you to know that even though my physical ailment doesn’t seem to be getting better I praise God for your prayers and know that they are being answered. Through this time I have remained for the most part in good spirits and am learning to appreciate the little things. Learning to understand that everything I have comes from God. That every day the sun rises I should praise God, that ever breath I take I should praise God, that every meal I eat I should praise God. I am learning to trust in God more, in my pain I am learning to rely on him and not myself. I am still somewhat nervous for my move to Colombia in two weeks. Not only am I leaving a community, a people, a family, a house, a language and a culture I have learned to love, but I am going to a new place where I know almost no one and have health problems to boot. I give these worries to God and know that he has always taken care of me and there is no reason he won’t continue to do so. I am learning what it really means to cast all my cares on him and trust that he cares for me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)