You might be a girlie girl....

if after four days of being sick in a foreign land, the minute you feel a bit better you can't wait to do two things: pluck your eyebrows and straighten your hair.


Anyone surprised? Yeah, I didn't think so. 


I'm not even sure where to begin with this one (it's probably going to be a long one), but I guess I will start at the beginning of the story like most good story tellers (which I'm not, but I will try)....


It was the Friday before Independence day here in Antigua and everyone could feel the excitement growing in the air. There was a "special activity" planned for after class at CSA and all the teachers were busy getting dressed up in the typical attire of different villages of Guatemala. The smell of delicious food was wafting in the air, and students were having a hard time paying attention because their growling stomachs were distracting them (okay, maybe not all students...but definitely this one). Oh yes, all Americans visiting here had most definitely been warned against eating Guatemalan food off the streets, but no one ever mentioned the Independence Day celebration food at language school being suspect. It looked yummy so, guilty as charged, I indulged. 

After feasting and watching the teachers' fashion show.....

I headed off to San Jose de Pinula with Hannah, Susan, and Alisha. They are a mission team from The Village Church in Dallas who just so happens to be working at Casa de Libertad and Fundaninos, which just so happens to be the orphanage where my friends from church in College Station are working. They were very gracious to invite me along with them for the ride. Oh my, that ride should have a blog post of its own! Let's put it this way: remember my post about McDonald's earlier? I love that place even more now. Not only do they serve wonderful food (never ever ever ever ever thought I would say that!) but they also give great directions to misdirected foreigners. Okay, that's ALL I'm saying. Our visit to Hiper Paiz (Guatemala's Walmart) should also have its own post. I'll suffice that one to say that we spent about two and a half hours there trying to buy a bed for Alisha. 

I'm pretty sure that terribly overused saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words" fits well here. 

 

We got to Fundaninos on Friday evening and I got to spend some time catching up with Nathan and Rebekah (unfortunately, we never got a picture together!). A team from The Village that was planning on serving in Huehuetenango but couldn't get there because of landslides also arrived that night. On Saturday, we spent all day playing with the precious kids and holding babies....only my favorite two things in the world! 

This is Isabella....what a cutie! She was having a great time dancing in her bouncer. 

The three kids I spent the most time with were Roberto, Mateo, and Michelle. 

Roberto is such a sweetie! He wanted me to sit by him at lunch and he kept asking me if I wanted more tortillas. He would proudly hop up and run to the tortilla basket for me. He was a little disappointed when I didn't want any more. I miss this kiddo already.

Here's an excerpt from a Facebook message Rebekah sent me on Monday: 

On Mondays I always like to ask my class what they did over the weekend. the first person to go says something and then everyone just repeats what that person said. Of course the first person said "I played with some Americans" and everyone else just repeated that. When I got to Mateo and asked him what he did he said "I played with an American" and I asked "what was there name?" and he said "Uhh... Meredith". It was so sweet.

Seriously made my heart melt. Why are these kids so precious and sweet?

Rebekah also told me that Michelle wrote me a card...once again, sweet girl!

So the afternoon was all fun and games, but when evening hit, things took a turn....the first turn. Rebekah was showing me around a little bit more and we walked up on a bunch of kids crowding around Maribel, a 15 year old girl, who was sitting on the ground under the monkey bars. She had fallen while playing a game on the monkey bars and her ankle was immediately swollen. It definitely looked broken. Unfortunately, the directors of the orphanage had taken a group of kids into town for a karate tournament so Nathan and Rebekah felt responsible. After about an hour (an extremely stressful hour) of icing her ankle and deliberating about what to do, the directors got back just in time and were able to take her to the hospital. It turned out that it was just a really bad sprain. Praise God!

Little did we know, that wasn't the only medical emergency for the night.

On Saturday evening, I started feeling achy and had a headache, so I took some ibuprofen around dinner time. In the middle of the night, I got really hot and my head was pounding so I got up to splash water on my face. When I was in the bathroom, my vision started going out and everything turned black. I remember thinking, "I should probably let Rebekah know that I'm about to faint," but next thing I knew I was on the ground face first and wondering if I still had my teeth. Thankfully, I caught my fall with my left pinky...ha! So my only injuries are a jammed pinky, a swollen lower lip, and random bruises. 

Since Rebekah had just gotten up to go to the bathroom a few minutes before and was still awake, she heard me fall and was right there. I stood up and told her, "I think I fainted."....and then fainted again. Nathan carried me to the couch and the three of us stayed up for about an hour before trying to go back to sleep. 

Then, on Sunday, I pretty much stayed on the couch all day. In the afternoon, I got up to go to the bathroom and ended up fainting again. We called Rebekah's dad and aunt who are both doctors and they said that it seemed like my body was trying to fight something off. So far, my only symptoms were fever, headache, and fainting. 

We called the Glicks and they wanted me at their house for the night so one of the team leaders from the Village drove me (Nathan and Rebekah came too) to meet them halfway. When we got back to their house, the dizziness was gone but I started having stomach issues, which we now know is what my body was trying to fight off with all the fainting craziness. On Monday, I pretty much slept any opportunity I had. I went to the doctor and got antibiotics and she wanted me to have lab testing on Tuesday to see if I had amoebas or parasites. Sure enough, the lab test came back positive for amoebas and an intestinal infection. Eek! 

Just because there have been a lot of words and not a lot of pictures, here's an amoeba for ya:

Going back to the beginning of the weekend story, we're thinking that the "delicious" food at the school is the most likely culprit for gifting me with the friendly little amoebas. 

I think I'm going to start referring to this week as "the week that amoebas made me sleep for three days straight. " Yeah, they made me do other things too, but I'll spare you those details.

In all of this, the Lord is so good. I have SO many things to be grateful for...that it happened when I was with the Forbes and not with my homestay family in Antigua who most likely wouldn't have heard me, that the team from the Village was there and was super encouraging, and that I was able to spend a few days with the Glicks while I was recovering...just to name a few. My brothers and sisters in Christ really served me during this time and made being sick and away from my mommy a lot more bearable.

My prayer in the last couple of days has been that God would reveal what he wanted to teach me through this (other than to stop thinking I'm Guatemalan and can eat whatever I want). Trying to go the "what for?" route rather than the "why?" route because I know his plan is perfect and he is sovereign. 

I've been studying James over the past few weeks. As I was reading it again yesterday morning, I realized that one thing God is teaching me through this is perseverance. 

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in in nothing." James 1:2-4

When I was talking to my dad on the phone, I started being emotional about it for the first time and was thinking, "Maybe I should just go home and do this next summer." Well, that's not being steadfast or persevering. I've always had a problem with wanting to quit when things aren't easy or the way I expect them to be, and honestly I've gotten away with it my whole life. The truth is, God is going to bring me through this and I'm going to stay here and serve the Lord as planned. I'm so grateful for his grace in teaching me this lesson early in my trip. 

I'm still asking God what it really looks like to have joy. He has a lot to teach me! 

Told you it was going to be a long one. High five if you made it all the way through.