Ok, maybe not death, but it felt pretty close. Maybe the plague...
So much has happened since I last blogged. It has been a week of highs and lows. Very highs and very lows. We went to Huancane for our 4th of July break. The travel to Huancane was not without its share of bus drama and very squished seating for the almost 2 hour ride. Once there we had a very fun 4th of July celebration including the great Texas vs. Georgia Showdown. After a frozen tshirt contest, sack race, tangerine roll, apple bobbing and fast dressing competitions, the teams were tied. We then went to the sudden death egg drop contest - drop an egg from the third to second story balcony of the hostel without it breaking using only the materials found outside the hostel. Unfortunately this did not perform its sudden death function as none of the eggs broke. It then went to the sudden, sudden death egg toss. After multiple throws the Georgia team was victorious after the Texas egg was dropped.
While all these lovely activities were going on, Alison was sleeping in the hostel. Little did we know her not feeling well would result in so much pain and sickness in the group. (Disclaimer: Alison is not to be blamed for all of the ensuing sickness. We prefer to place the blame on the heathens from Georgia who were trying to cripple our team. We´ll get you next time.) The 4th was on Sunday and our team planned to return to Conima on Monday. We planned to take the bus around 11am. We got up, cleaned the hostel and met Pastor Ruben around 10am to help us get on the bus. After sitting on the sidewalk for over 2 hours, we were told there would not be a bus to Conima that day. So, we went to lunch at a restaurant with Ruben and the Huancane girls. After lunch I went back to Pastor Ruben´s house with the Huancane girls and we all made small purses and wallets on his loom. Pastor Ruben makes hats, purses, scarves, Bible covers, all kinds of stuff. He had been showing the other girls how to do it, so after they finished I made one. It was a lot of fun. It was great to hang out with Pastor Ruben and his wife and the other girls. We were able to talk and joke and have a lot of fun. I believe it was the same day, Alison still wasn´t feeling great. She ended up throwing up 7 times in a row. We made supper at the Huancane girls´ house and then hung out at the hostel that night. We planned to get up early in the morning and try to catch the 6am bus to Conima. So we all went to bed pretty early.
At 12:10am Emily and I awoke to the sound of Kelsey throwing up. It was the worst sound I have ever heard. It sounded like she was about to die it was so bad. She just kept throwing up and moaning and going back and forth between the kitchen and her room. I felt so bad for her. I asked if she needed anything but she said no and went back to her room. I woke up again at 12:55 when she started throwing up again. It was so violent. I´m pretty sure I stayed awake for over an hour just praying to God that hers was over and that I didn´t get it.
That morning we woke up around 5:15. We were all slowly getting ready to go but Emily and I started not feeling well. Kelsey and Alison were better, but they both get car-sick so the bus wasn´t sounding great to them either. Long story short, we end up staying in Huancane another day because Emily and I are sick. We stay in bed all day, which was a very long day considering we were awake at 5:15, eating crackers and drinking Sprite and powerade. And we were just stuck in our cold room in the hostel in our sleeping bags with the bathroom on a separate floor. We both felt bad with nausea, and stomach pain and all the other unpleasant stuff you don´t want to hear about. Emily threw up some in the afternoon and felt better, but I still didn´t feel good. The Huancane girls gave us soup for lunch and that night Sonia made us soup and John brought us a heater. We all sat in the common room and read or played games or listened to music. And generally complained about our situation. We all wanted so bad to get back to Conima but to not ride the bus.
The next morning there was supposed to be a bus coming at 8am. During the night I got up and ended up throwing up finally. Which helped for a while, but after getting up the next morning I still didn´t feel great. Jeremy went out at 7am to look for the bus (you never know when it is going to come). I had about decided I couldn´t get packed up and make it to the bus when we got the call at 7:40 that the bus was there. So I had no choice but to hop up, throw my stuff in my bag and run with everyone else to the bus, saying all the way "I´m going to throw up, I´m going to throw up." On the way to Huancane on the bus we had to stand for the first half of the trip because the bus was so crowded. We were all hoping we wouldn´t have to stand, because we would get sick. Luckily when we got to the bus the whole back row was open and we were all able to sit down, which was a huge blessing, for us and those around us. I didn´t feel well the whole trip, but the bumpiness of the road didn´t bother me too bad and the trip was shorter than expected. We finally got to Conima Wednesday morning around 9:30am. We were so glad to be "home," even though it was 3 days later than expected and I still wasn´t feeling well, at least we were in our house and could make a fire to keep warm. I stayed feeling sick for most of the day, but by that night I was feeling a lot better and yesterday I felt fine. Alison threw up again yesterday morning, but has felt fine besides that.
Yesterday we had a really good day. We made posters for the VBS we are going to be doing at the school, put together goody bags for the kids, hung out with youth in the plaza, storied with the police and Kelsey and I managed to story with Sophia without Emily as our Spanish speaker.
Today we have gotten some things done, but now I am feeling bad again. Bad stomach cramps and back pain. We´ll see what kind of sickness this turns into...
Please pray we all get well and stay well. It´s so hard to be and feel effective when you are battling sickness all the time. We have such good days and things happen, but feel so miserable other times. Pray our bodies and attitudes get and stay well. Overall for the team things are looking up, but right now for me things aren´t so bueno.
I´m going to go back to bed. Thanks for the prayers.
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