Summer Sickness

We said good-bye to my parents a week ago. Yes, that was a sad day. I truly praise God for the time we had together and that they really got to come and do all those amazing things with us! We praise Him that we were all healthy and strong, and that they returned to U.S.A. safely.

When my parents left, we accompanied them to Manila and then planned to return here by land and sea. Here are some excerpts from my recent email to them:

...Saturday we had a slow day and I had a chance to go to Starbucks and read that book Dad gave me. That night we met up with some friends of ours who just had a baby boy at Christmas. It was fun spending time with them.

Sunday we went to a Catholic mass in the old city for a cultural and religious experience. It was really interesting. Later that night I started feeling sick, and that was the beginning of a week of sickness.

On Monday morning we were supposed to meet our friends, Micah and Rachel, at the airport, but I woke up feeling even more sick. I was so bummed! I slept some more and then forced myself out of bed to meet them at the mall for lunch. I could hardly eat a bite.

We drove with them in our NZ friend's car down to the Batangas. It was a couple hours. Thankfully I did not need a C.R. on the drive. Once we got there we stayed with their family and my former student, Christy, was really happy to see me. I felt bad because I had to leave the dinner table to go lay down. I slept 13 or 14 hours until the next morning.

I was disappointed about my sickness, which I still don't know what it was (in fact I am still recovering a bit from it). It was my stomache especially and I felt nasuea all the time. I was so weak and had no appetite. I hardly ate anything the whole week.

Nate and I kept plugging along and took a boat to a nice OSM guesthouse overlooking the ocean. It was so beautiful! We met some Vietnamese believers who go to seminary in Manila. They told us of the persecution in their country and the underground church. We also got to lay in hammocks and read, so that helped me a lot.

The next day, however, we left again at 5am and took a van/bus thing several hours down the next island to the dock at Roxas. It was the first day of school so we saw all the little kids walking in their uniforms down the highway (do they let kids do that?!). The road was rough and I tried to sleep on Nate's shoulder.

When we got to the dock I almost fainted. I had to get some juice and bread and then sat down by a wall and layed my head on my knees. I was a mess! The men in the town thought I was wierd I'm sure as they wondered what this white woman was doing in a heap by the wall. Nate bought us our boat tickets and after a wait and a walk we were on another boat.

The smell of the fish and the smoke was enough to get me reeling. I felt like I was so dizzy and I could not stand. Finally they let us up to the deck where I immediately slept on a bench and never really woke up. I was constantly sleeping. Nate said I was like a mute the whole day. I was a zombie trying to stay afloat!

When we got to the next island, we took a little Banca boat over to a famous island called Boracay. Lots of tourists come here for vacation. The sad thing was I couldn't enjoy it because I was sick! We walked up a hill in the hot sun and I just wanted to find a bed!

God provided a lady who walked by and told us about a cottage with an air con and hot showers for only 1000P. It was minutes from the ocean beach and it was just around the corner from where we were! Perfect! They showed us the room and before they even closed the door I was on the bed.

I felt so bummed that we were in a world-famous beach and it was beautiful, but all I wanted to do was go to the C.R. and lay on my bed. A whole day I slept in there. Thankfully, we decided to stay two nights. By the second day I was strong enough to go out to the beach and sit in a chair while I watched Nate swim. I was so disappointed that I could not swim with Nate or even play frisbee with him. I just sat and read. I was so weak.

After all that madness I asked Nate if we could just fly home. I just wanted to be home. We got tickets for Friday, that next day, and took a two hour bus around windy cliffs to the airport. We flew for maybe $80, so it was worth it. Otherwise I would have had three more days on a bus through the mountains!!

When we finally got home I was so glad!! We were so glad to be home--did I say that? Well, it was quite a week. We were so sad to say goodbye to [my parents], then to Victoria and Micah and Rachel. I got sick on our trip and then when we got home it was somewhat empty.

I have been resting constantly and trying to recover since we got back Friday night. I have only been out once, and that was to go to church on Sunday and to get groceries. I never even came to school to check email or to write you two. I was just so wiped out.

I'm so thankful that God kept us all healthy and strong while you were here!!! I would have been even more disappointed if my sickness had been while you were here. I'm finally getting better little by little. Pray that Nate and I will both be well and strong soon!...