And on that day when my strength is failing...
As you may remember from my previous post, I started feeling sick about a week ago during church in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Since that time, my health has varied, ranging from feeling almost fine to being immobilized by dizziness, fatigue and blinding headaches.
This would be hard to deal with any time, but it's especially frustrating during my last couple of weeks in Asia and at the same time I'm preparing to host the team from Chets Creek Church (Jacksonville, FL). Chets Creek is my parents' church, and has supported our Doi Saket 1 homes for many years. I've been looking forward to their visit for a long time, and for my body to quit on my like this has been pretty disheartening.
Well, yesterday I went to the hospital, got some bloodwork done, and to a mixture of relief and disappointment, the doctors couldn't determine the cause of my malaise. It's not Dengue (thank God; been there, done that) and aside from a low-grade fever, they couldn't find anything obviously wrong. They gave me some various supplements and analgesics and told me, "Eat more. Rest as much as you can. Make sure you're drinking enough water."
So I slept most of the day yesterday and let my staff go to the airport to greet the Chets Creek team, and then proceeded to sleep very poorly last night, suffering from a terrible migraine from midnight to about 4am. But at breakfast, I had a bit more appetite. And I made it through church reasonably well. In fact, by the afternoon, I had about 60% of my normal energy. I conserved energy throughout the day, but I was able to join the team through a full day's schedule, and I'm hopeful that tomorrow will bring something like complete recovery.
It's been great having the Chets Creek team here — Pastor Spike spoke in church this morning, Pastor Abel gave a short message this morning, The Swindells and the Jolleys have enjoyed interacting with the kids and staff, and our Chinese guests have been a blessing as well (they even made dumplings for us!).
I love seeing our ministry through the eyes of first-time guests. And even though these guys are well versed on Asia's Hope's strategies and philosophy, there's nothing like actually being here to experience the people, the places and the flavors. Their time here is short, but we have a lot packed into our schedule — lots of time with the staff and kids, lunch with some of our university students, a visit to a hill tribe village...we're even going to kill a pig and have a barbecue on our farm in Wiang Pa Pao.
It's a lot for a visitor to take in, but these guys are game. And they really seem to be enjoying the experience. Church this morning was especially fun, as many of the songs were Thai versions of ones we know at home: Here I Am To Worship, Shout To The Lord and 10,000 Reasons. So even though none of us speak much Thai, we sang loudly and joyfully in our own languages.
To all of you who prayed for my health, thank you. I think that three months living out of suitcases and moving every few days is finally taking it's toll. But I'll be home soon. In the meantime, I'm hoping for enough energy to finish well.
