Hmmm...

I'm in a bit of a funk right now and I'm not quite sure why. My day started off good, except the roomie is annoying me. She seems to be doing that a lot lately. I just don't feel the need to answer to her about anything, where I'm going, who is texting me, etc. And yet she continues to drill me. But, I don't think that is what is bothering me. Earlier today, I went to a thank you party for some friends of mine who just got back from a missions trip to Albania and Greece. They put together a presentation for the people who financially supported them and supported them through prayer. It was a beautiful presentation, beautiful words spoken by people who went, beautiful pictures and of course food. However, a few minutes into the presentation, I started getting this uneasy feeling in my stomach and I began to feel so out of place there. Why was I getting this uneasy feeling when these people were sharing about how God moved in them and in the people they encountered? I really couldn't justify why the feeling was coming over me, but it hasn't left.

Driving home, I began to zone out the radio, which is what I do when I'm really thinking about things. But what on earth am I thinking about? There were so many thoughts running through my head, I couldn't quite pin point one. I began to think about the people I met in Chile and the Dominican Republic and how in such a short time of meeting those people (10 days for each trip), they completely changed my life. I remember their names, their faces, their hugs, even the way they smelled. Like Charlie...she was my house mom the first year I went to Chile and no matter how many people were in her small little house, she tended to my every need, no matter what the cost. We would have Spanish/English lessons. She would point to a picture and tell me what it was in Spanish and I would repeat. I would then tell her what it meant in English, and she would repeat my English word. And when I came back the second year to Chile, she still remembered me, telling everyone I was her American daughter. Or Dilio from the Dominican Republic, in 10 days, we became very close, he became a big brother to me, taking care of me when I came down with Dengue Fever, making sure I was drinking as much water as I could. Dilio, the man I gave my Spanish/English Bible to because I knew he needed it more than me and the man who through my tears at the airport, I managed to get out that if God ever brought me a husband, I prayed he was as Godly as Dilio. Oh man, I miss those people, I miss how simple their lives are and I hate the fact how complicated mine is.

I guess maybe the funk is I need to go on another missions trip? My heart is aching to do that, it's been almost two years since I've gone. No, what I need to do is get my nursing degree and just move out of this country. I don't know, is God trying to tell me something? I guess maybe I'm also a little jealous that my friends went on a mission trip, but maybe that's not it.

I know tomorrow is a new day and maybe God will decide to reveal to me the reason as to why my heart is a little heavy right now.

Bran

It was one year ago today...

That I came down with Dengue Fever. Yes, today is the day. Well, actually I was sick in the Dominican Republic, but the symptoms really manifested today. I know, how crazy to remember that date.

The mosquitos that carry the Dengue Fever virus have the white spots on them. Ah yes, my dear friend, the Aedes Aegypti mosquito. This little insect made my entire team of 8 people deathly ill. Of the 8 of us, 4 people were hospitalized, and one of those people actually came very close to dying. The day before I got sick, a team mate of mine called me to inform me her husband was in the hospital. Doctors were saying he had Dengue Fever, and she was coming down with it as well.

Literally the next day, I broke out in the symptoms with the exception of the skin rash. I had the rash, but very minor. I went to Urgent Care, my temp was 102. The doctors said if did have Dengue Fever, I needed to go to the ER right away. Off I went to the ER for them to say I only had a sinus infection. And even though I had just come back from a foreign country, no lab tests were ran at all.

By the time I got home my fever spiked to 104. I was home alone, left to try to fight this myself. I don't ever recall being that sick as 104 temperature is really high. I was trying to sleep but because my fever was so high, I couldn't sleep. I just laid there and cried. I was alone and couldn't even manage getting off the couch. My fever went down later that night. I remember crawling on the floor to the fan and just collapsing on the floor with the fan on me. Poor Stella, the cat, just laid next to me on the floor with her paw on my arm. She knew I wasn't feeling well. I had the fever for a few more days, then it got worse...I broke out in the skin rash, severely all over my entire body. I don't know what's worse: a temp of 104 or the skin rash that I couldn't control ravishing my body so bad that nothing was helping heal the itch. I went back to Urgent Care, crying, pleading with someone to please believe me that I had Dengue Fever and I needed some sort of help. By time I had gotten to Urgent Care, my fever began to spike and the rash had spread even more. The doctor listened to me and said he did believe I had the virus just from what I was telling him. He wound up giving me a low dose steroid to help with the itching. It took a few more nights for the steroid to take effect. I remember waking up at night clenching my fists, I was trying to avoid itching my skin. Even the slightest touch was extremely painful, everything hurt. They also call Dengue Fever the "Bonecrusher fever" because it literally feels like your bones are being crushed. It was horrible. My legs to this day still have red dots on them, a lasting symptom of the virus. Maricopa County finally stepped in and ran my blood. Between them and Centers for Disease Control (CDC), they determined that me, as well as the rest of my team, had Dengue Fever. This is a picture of the rash, but as it's clearing, not on my arms, I pulled this off of CDC website.

The doctor who incorrectly diagnosed me didn't get away so easy. I received a survey from Banner asking how my experience was. I typed up a nice long letter explaining everything that happened and how I was sent home. I don't really know how sick I was because my blood didn't get ran until 2 weeks after the symptoms disappeared. I don't know the outcome of the complaint, but I did get a letter from Banner apologizing for everything and said that if anything happened to the doctor, it had to remain confidential. Oh well. I just hope that next time someone says they've just come back from another country, he'll take more precautions and order labs.

My immune system was not strong before I got Dengue Fever, but the doctor's have said my immune system has been compromised and I need to be careful because something like the flu could now kill me. My immune system is literally shot now. Oh joy. Since November of last year, I've made 7 different Urgent Care trips and I've averaged about 10 hours a month in sick leave. Funny what a little mosquito can do to you, huh?

Here are some websites, my favorite of course, is the CDC website.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue_fever

www.cdc.gov/NCIDOD/DVBID/DENGUE/

www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/dengue.htm

Quote of the day: "If you think you're too small to be effective, you've never been in the dark with a mosquito." ~Unknown

40 = no sleep, lots of healing, and a big decision

Well, hello everyone! How are you? I'm good. I'm back from my missions trip. I had an AMAZING time! I didn't want to come home, but that is nothing new for me.

Okay lets start with the 40 hours. Yes! I went 40 straight hours with no sleep. It was weird I wasn't tired at all, I guess when you need to keep going, you just push yourself. But we left late on a Friday night and I didn't finally fall asleep until late the following night. I don't know how I did it.

We flew over some islands on the way to the Dominican Republic. Look what I saw out my plane window:

I don't know what islands these were, but they were beautiful!

We left bright and early the next day to head out to the community of Puello. It's about a five hour drive from Santo Domingo. On our way there, our van was acting funny. We stopped at a mechanic in Bani, he took our money, said he fixed it, even took it for a test drive with our driver, but about 30 miles down the road, the van was barely chugging along. We had a huge truck following us (with all our supplies). This wasn't a normal truck, but it wasn't a semi-truck either. The Food for the Hungry people were gonna flag down a bus to take us the rest of the way. We all decided, nah. We wanted to ride in the back of the truck with the open breeze. So, that is what we did, hopped in the truck and rode an hour into the next town. It was amazing. You really got to see the country that way. I loved it!

Right when we got to the community, we went to work unloading everything. We stayed in a church. Puello was on a long bumpy dirt road, about 20 miles away from the Haiti border. Everything in the community was so green, and the community is surrounded by beautiful mountains and rolling hills.

Yep folks, God's Great Creation right there. It doesn't get any better than that. We were welcomed by the people of Puello (about 200 people total) at the Community Center. The kids said hello to us and sung us a song. They were cute, and I fell in love with them immediately.

The next day was filled with me and two of my other team mates teaching. I had to teach on how children learn and how to prepare a lesson plan. Each lesson received positive feedback. During the day, the men were building latrines (outhouses) at various homes in the community.

I specially brought my Spanish/ English Bible to give to someone. I knew someone needed it more than me. The moment I met Dilio, I knew he was the one I was gonna give it to. Every day, we sat outside and ate lunch, one day the bees were out of hand. I'm severely allergic to bees, for those of you who didn't know. So, I decided to go inside and eat my lunch alone. Dilio came in and sat with me, and began to tell me his story. He has a powerful testimony and it was amazing to see him break down in front of me and cry as he was talking about how awesome God is. He just learned English about a year ago, and speaks it very well, he mentioned how he is beginning to thirst for the word in Spanish as well as English. So, I gave it to him. He told me that Bible I gave him was worth a million dollars. This is him. Everyone said he looks like Alex Rodriguez from the NY Yankees. I guess. Jason, what do you think?

I had to do my lesson on purity for the teenagers two different times. Those two times were the most difficult for me to do. I was talking about keeping your bodies pure for marriage and abstain from sex because God made that for marriage. Those lessons forced me to talk about stuff I don't normally let people in on. Some of my team members said I had the most powerful message. Really? Gosh, okay if you say so.

In between all of that, we were loving on the kids. They are easy to love. Look at these kids:

The second picture is Manuelito. I wanted to take him home. He's a keeper!

We also had the privileged to do 16 home visits. This is where we take the families a bag full of everyday things you use around the house: toiletries, band-aids, antibiotic ointment, washclothes, etc. While we were there we would talk to them about our testimony and tell them about Jesus. Of the 16, we had three people accept Christ. The first one that accepted Christ was very emotional. Vicky (one of my teammates) busted out an old Gospel song, I think it was called "Victory is Mine". We were all singing and clapping, it was amazing. The lady who accepted Christ, her mother was a Christian and had been trying for a long time. As we were leaving, her mother just hugged me, and began thanking me and my team, she was praying for me in Spanish and bawling. Yep....shed some tears at that house. God is so awesome. This is also one of the people who accepted Christ:

He cried when we told him about Jesus. He had heard of him, but said no one had ever really talked to him about Jesus. Again, I had an AMAZING time! I want to go back, I didn't want to get on that plane to come home.

In my title it also talks about healing and another big decision. I can't discuss what the healing was. I don't know if I'll ever discuss it on here. Let's just say I got my head clear. And yes, when I make decisions, they are never small. I can't talk about the decision right now. I need to tell some people personally before I post for all to see. Sorry I am being so sketchy!

Last thing...sickness. Friday morning in the Dominican Republic, I ate something that didn't quite settle with me. I was sick all day Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately, I as of right now (Tuesday), I am still not feeling up to par. I got a call earlier from one of my team mates telling me that her and her husband were sick. Her husband was so sick they actually admitted him to the hospital. The doctors think they have Dengue Fever. Another teammate is sick as well. Please keep them in your prayers. I don't have the symptoms of Dengue Fever, but I have some sort of stomach bug!

Anyways, sorry this is long. But seriously, do I ever post short posts? Here are some more pics!

This is what everyone's house looks like.

I came out one day...this is what I saw in the back of the church.

See, that stuff on the roof? That is meat drying in the sun, by the way.

We played Baseball with some of the kids. They can certainly play and they kicked out butts. It's all good though.

This is Ronnie. We dubbed him "Foto Ronnie" as every time we went to take a picture, he would pose.