My ear is so infected...it feels like it's going to

POP!

MOZAMBIQUE

I remember warm sunshine. Humidity, tropical wonderfulness. I see the sea from the XaiXai bible college. I see the compound and the garden. During teatime, I kindly declined a cup of tea and learned that that was taboo, even though I had a good excuse "It is too hot outside!". I remember waking night after night covered in sweat because we only had a ceiling fan and it didn't go fast enough to cool us down. We had to learn to fall asleep, sweating. I saw the beautiful Indian Ocean in all of it's organic, fresh, lovliness. A wonderful medicine that cured my sinus infection that had started just a few days before we were to leave the states...for three weeks. I remember going down to the water reef and looking for little colorful creatures in the crevaces. The hot sun on my neck as I reach in to try and find a hidden cowry shell. Beyond the reef you would see some fisherman, the ones who got away with it--others were fined for going past the reeves, either to "save you from the sharks" or to try to save the rest of the living reef that was beyond. We walked down the beach in barefeet, holding our sandals in one hand and pulling up the edge of our skirt with the other hand to keep it dry. Eating half a chicken. Eating a whole fish (head and tail included) being greated by a rott weiler and a mix pup everytime we "came home". Painting the front of the mission house in white. Dave getting shocked by the open outlet without a light in it. "What's up shockage!?" Long drives that went on forever. Rough terrain in the bush. Eating curried Fish and curried chicken until we felt sick. Then taking that same rough terrain back home. Getting car sick. Hating curry. "Muffler trees" for sale and a tank of some sort IN a tree, chained up. Cows. Filtered water. 5:30am safari trips. Seeing my first lion in Africa. Waking up to the growls of Hippos. Emily getting food poisoning. Everyone accept me getting parasites (PTL T didn't get sick!) Phillips, Craig, and Dean in the mornin. Cheese grader. Recycling ziploc bags. Brown sugar in your tea instead of white. Fresh, sweet, African pineapple. Jade plants. Art. Mountains. Hiking/exploring. Big smiles followed by shocked screams (white skin). Cheeseburger and "chips" (fries). Colorful walls. The tide comes in about 2pm--best be warned. BRAAI. Hermit crabs. "We call soccer....soccer." Tangerines. Jesus Film in Shangaan. Miniature bananas. Glowing crabs, on the beach, sandals, screaming girls. Flowers hanging from the kashu trees. Passing out Bibles in Shangaan and Portuguese. The missionaries "Rigged up" security system which consisted of a switch, wire, and an outlet...OUCH! Watching my team-mates eat Nchima for the first time. I encouraged them to put sugar on it :) RAIN. Me skidding down the stairs on my rump and causing permanent damage to my back. God saving us from a potentially dangerous trailer accident. Extravagant, beautiful, abandoned hotels. Sunrise, sand dollar, jellyfish. Maputo, city livin! kurio shopping. Getting excited about American food. Dip shoes in Pesticide to get into S.A. Fanta. Bats flying around our heads...all night long. Kruger park. Big 5. Photographer's heaven. sunsets. Water buffalo road block. Buzzing Legs. Big ben. Gorgeous parks, and too much walking in London. NEVER fly with British Airlines.

Who really wants to do the same boring job everyday anyway? I mean, sitting in a chair and doing the same thing over and over, everyday, it just sucks.

I am going to get to go out and do different things, everyday, with different patients==watching their progress/or otherwise. I will get to do the grossest things known to man/woman and get paid big bucks for it. Okay, maybe not BIG bucks, but real money (a lot more money than I get now) none the less.

Maybe I'll even get to be farted in the face (story I heard from my tutor that happened to her) ***Names withheld for privacy reasons.

Ode to Daniel

25 years old you would be if you were still here...but you aren't. The pain of your passing has lasted all of these years. Though you lived only a few days, your life is etched in our hearts forever. Brother Daniel.

I am crying now just thinking of you if you were still alive. I know you are in Heaven waiting for us, but we can't help but wonder how life would be if you were still with us. I wonder what you would be.

Daniel you gave your heart up for us so that we could live. The seeds you planted in our lives, and God grew into completion, will spread forever through the generations to come. Dear Brother Daniel.

You were the first missionary in our family and I vow to keep that going. I am the first born, I have an obligation, and a calling. Both I cannot deny. I am reminded this day of how you gave up your life so that our family could find God--a purpose only HE knew at that time. Every person in our family probably would not be where they are physically or spiritually if you had not lived...then died.

Our pain in your remembrance, of your love and our love for you will never go away. We love you.

Thank you for your sacrifice.

Daniel.

Sometimes the weight of worry over a friend is too much. The burden of their spiritual state is overbearing.

I'm such a downer I could be a good prophet, but I don't want to bring people messages of doom like most of em in the OT.

I'm sick of being ill. I'm ill of being sick. I want to be done. Stupid pathogens.

I'm falling apart
I'm barely breathing
with a broken heart
that's still beating
in the pain
there is healing
in Your Name
I find meaning
So I'm holding on,
barely holding onto you.