Sojourning in Asia

Hi! J and I have been in a neighboring country for a conference and it has been SO GREAT to step out of our current cultural adjustment process and be refreshed in so many ways.

The main highlights for me have been: taking a clean hot shower any time I want and eating really yummy food that I never get to eat in our new context. I’ve been averaging 2 showers per day! Just cause I can. J

J and I have really enjoyed living with this local family, but it has been hard stepping into less comfortable bathroom situations with sanitation issues being a concern. J and I rent one room from them in their home. We share a pit toilet and a western toilet with the family. I generally prefer to use the pit toilet because the children in our family leave “special presents” on the toilet seat (regularly), so I feel like it’s cleaner to use the pit toilet. There are no sinks in either bathroom so we usually use the shower “area” to wash our hands and brush our teeth. The bathrooms are cleaned regularly, but not the way that I would clean if it were my home.

Because the bathroom situations are not comfortable, I find myself taking showers on average 1-2 times per week. The head scarf/bandana that many women wear on their heads come in handy since my hair is dirty most of the time.

Although it’s been a big adjustment for us, me in particular, it’s been such a joy to live with this family and get to know them. They are so cool and I’ve loved seeing (and experiencing) the ways that they do life together.

On Saturday, for no particular reason... I (P) found myself scratching all over. "A case of the itches I thought, " as I took some medicine. I spent the rest of the day not thinking much about it at all. Sunday morning came and the itches were worse... more allergy pills I took. Monday, I took allergy medicine and Monday nite while sitting with our local family eating dinner, my face broke into hives and my throat started tightening. I became slightly alarmed since I'd never had allergies this bad and I was concerned about the possibilities of anaphalactic shock -- an extreme allergic reaction that causes the throat to close and a person to be unable to breathe -- can be fatal if not treated immediately. Tuesday I went to a doctor who put me on steroids and antihistimines. Wednesday I felt confident that all would be well, but from the beginning of the day, my body had red itchy splotches all over it and by afternoon my voice was raspy. When I came home from lunch I was sitting with our local family in their living area and my face broke into the worst case of hives and swelling that I've ever seen on anybody including myself. My lips were huge and I was told I didn't look like myself (which is good cause I didn't want to look like that. :)). After starting the course of medication I was supposed to take I had gotten worse.

Then a crisis of faith -- we told our family that we were asking God to heal me. They said... well lets go down to the local Mullah (Islamic spiritual leader) and give him some water. He will blow on it and say a prayer and then you can drink it. It will make you better (This is an example of Folk Islam, probably not traditional Islam). At first we said, "No thank you. We know that Jesus can heal us." But then I started thinking, " I don't like it when people refuse my prayers. Especially when I just want to bless them and see them get better." So we went to our family and said this. "We know that you love us and want us to get better. That's why you want us to take the water that's been blessed and blown on by the Mullah. We believe that God is going to heal me and that he doesn't need water or anything to heal me. But because we love you and know that you care about us, we would be happy if you would try to help us your way."

Then we went on our way to a meeting of others who believe the same way we do. We asked them to pray for us in Jesus name. They put their hands on my head and prayed for me and over the course of an hour, my lip started noticably decreasing in size. By the time I had left and come back to my house, my face was almost completely back to normal and the red dots on my body were decreasing. I felt better than I had in 5 days. :) When our family saw my face, they said. "What happened?" We said, "Some friends of ours prayed that Jesus would heal me and the swelling in my face went down. They said, "That's so good that Jesus can heal. If Jesus were alive today the world would be a better place." Then they gave me the "blessed" water and we took into our room.

Today is Thursday and my body is responding well to the medication or at least continues to get better. So that's great! Hope you enjoyed a tale about Folk Islam and the Kingdom of God. :) Although it wasn't a great big hullabaloo -- we feel grateful that we love a God who has loved us in Jesus and is willing and able to heal us in our afflictions. And even when He doesn't, our hope is in Him who loves us, cares for us and can safely bring us to be with Him at the end of our days. 

     It's been a long while since we've updated the blog. We just got DSL in our new place and we are going to embark on the adventure of telling stories about the issues and experiences that come up for us while we are here. If you look to the left, their should be some pictures of our trip to the village with the local family we live with.

          We currently live in the home of a local family with 15 family members currently living in the Havli. This trip was a visit to a new house being built in the village where they have a lot of relatives. This house is huge with more rooms than I would know what to do with and a small family of 4 will live in it to start. In the family we live with, one of the sons, his wife, and his 2 kids will be moving into this home very soon. Although you can't tell from the pictures, this family is quite well off.

           It was a great trip, although J and my (P) stomach were not doing so well that day. The pictures say a lot about the amazing way people here are able to handle life without good utilities. Some of the pictures are lunch being made over a pit fire, washing dishes by outside tube faucet. Thanks for joining us in our blogging adventures.

A story of God's power: Shingles, I am told is the chicken pox virus left in a person's cells after a person gets the chicken pox. Usually young people do not get this health issue; it’s generally reserved for older people and stressful situations. At certain times, the virus literally crawls out of the cells and infects a person’s body. The pain and mottling and symptoms are supposed to last from anywhere between 2 weeks and 1 month -- and it is very painful.

A new friend here in his mid-twenties got Shingles. Mighty random for a young person. Some of us felt that it smacked of the diabolical... so, we did what any victors in Jesus would do. We prayed passionately for God to heal him.

Day 1 -- Friend was in pain, but was told that the pain would only get worse from that point on. We prayed in faith believing that God would stick that virus back where it belonged.

Day 2 -- the Shingles were worse -- increased pain. But we prayed in faith believing that that God would stick that virus back where it belonged.

Day 3 -- the pain was the same as on Day 2. So we prayed in faith believing that God would stick that virus back where it belonged.

Day 4 -- the pain was diminished and the shingles were drying up.

Day 5 -- the pain was sporadic and his back was totally dried up.

The medics told him it would be 14 days to 30 days with ever increasing pain. God determined that He would bring his power to bear in this situation and show Himself to be the powerful healer He is. The Shingles left  9 days early. :) Yay! God is powerful!

oh no! i just lost my post! i was just reminiscing over the fact that before i actually let people know about this blog, i wanted to make sure that i would update it. well, i think it doesn't really matter anyways. i think it's amazing the amount of time we've spent researching good communication mediums for our upcoming move. i've spent hours researching blog hosts, skype vs. vonage, cameras, and email newsletter templates. :) well, we finally decided on VOX, skype, CANON SD 870is, and... still to be determined.

as we enjoy job training here back east, i feel so grateful for a long transition. i feel grateful that the hubs finished his 3 years in outside sales, that i was able to finish my teaching semester, that we were able to visit family in Texas and California and see my sister's new baby! i'll post pictures soon. i feel grateful that we have 2 months to emotionally prepare here on the east coast before we leave.

 will write more later!