It’s been a long time since I’ve updated my blog…I figure it’s about time that I give an update of what’s going on over here.
Thanksgiving has come and gone; Christmas is a few days away. Time is flying! The picture at the top is of me and the kids on the team on Thanksgiving day. They’re fun. Thanksgiving was good! We had dinner together as a team and then we watched Fireproof. That’s a really good movie that I think everyone should watch, it’s a Christian film produced by the same people who made Facing the Giants. Anyway its a good movie that you should see if you haven’t seen it yet.
Since I last updated one of our church members got really sick and was in the hospital for 2-3 weeks. It wasn’t looking good for a while, but praise God that she’s out of the hospital and back at church. Truly her story is a miracle because if you saw her in the hospital bed you wouldn’t think she’d be here today. While in the hospital she had some days were she was unresponsive, not able to recognize people, not eating, etc. But the little church here in Fria banded together and someone was always there with her at the hospital to give her family a break when needed, and most of all we prayed. We prayed and God heard and answered. It was a miracle that she came out of the hospital and is in good health now! God still works miracles, Amen!
Other than that… health talks at church are going well. Right now we’re talking about Nutrition. I introduced the idea of vegetarianism and the original diet a few weeks ago. I’m not sure how well its being digested. I’m getting lots of questions, but I’m just gonna present the facts and answers questions as best as I can. Doing these health talks is teaching me a lot and showing me things I need to change concerning my own health and eating habits. All the research and preparation I’m doing reminds me that my body is God’s temple and I have to be cautious about what I put into it and how I treat it. And I’m seeing more fully the dangers of meat eating.
Shadowing at the hospital is cool. Seeing a lot of malaria, malnutrition, and measles. Practicing my French at hospital too. I’m getting to know all the people there kinda. We speak with my French/English mixture. They try to explain things and help me understand. They’re nice. I like them. That’s what being a missionary is about huh? Forming relationships with people even when you can’t always understand each other. I just pray that I’ll eventually know enough French to tell them about Jesus. Some have asked me questions about Adventists, like what makes us different from other Christians. I try to explain using the few words I know, but I usually only get one small point across. It’s so hard when there’s a language barrier and you don’t know if you’re communicating your ideas correctly. But I pray that God will give me the words to tell them about the saving love of Jesus and God’s mercy.
Well that’s it for now. Christmas is in a few days so Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!! It’s hard for me to believe that Christmas is in a week and it’ll be 2010 in 2 weeks!!! Time is flying! And it doesn’t help that I’ve been in summer since May. No fall, no winter…so it definitely doesn’t feel like Christmas time. It feels like Christmas in July!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!! Thanks for reading!
~Alex
