This morning I was able to go to church with the parents. My sister went to her nephew’s soccer game, but we decided to go to church. It was only about 4 blocks away, and it was in a building that definitely did not resemble any churches I had ever been too. In fact, I would have had no idea it was a church! Obviously, a church is not a building. The service was definitely Pentecostal, and it was really a breath of fresh air. I truly enjoyed the worship service, and I actually felt comfortable there, despite looking completely out of place in my white American skin. There are a lot of things that go through my mind in a service so unlike what I grew up with, but one thing was for sure: these people had the love of God. They loved God and his love was displayed in how the treated each other. I really feel like I have a lot more to process with this service, but I know that might not happen right now. God will help me work through the questions I have when the time is right. For now, I know that I felt love when I was in that church.
After church we went to the supermarket to get food for lunch. I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I used to think that food was cheaper here. That’s not true. I think there are maybe like fruits and vegetables that are cheaper, but overall, the food is actually really expensive here. Now that I can exchange the prices in my head easier, I am learning that things cost a lot more than I thought. For example, while we were walking through the grocery store, I was trying to do some quick math. Just one example, a 2 liter bottle of pop is $2.50, and a ½ gallon of ice cream is $9!
Physical update: yeah, still struggling. This morning my dad actually noticed by the way I was turning my head (or actually not turning my head.. I look kind of like a robot!). He asked me about it and then really got concerned when we realized the whole left side of my neck/shoulder is really swollen. There are 2 little bones that stick out from neck, but you couldn’t see the one on the left side because of the swelling. Usually, Advil helps a lot…but today it didn’t really do anything. The muscle relaxants don’t seem to help at all either. So after church, my mom and sister kept ironing towels and putting them on my neck and stretching my arm. It did feel good, but I don’t’ think it is going to help long term. They also told me to take this pill. Yeah, not sure what it was, but I took it! They seemed insistent, and I was not about to say no :) My Tica mom thinks that she knows what I have, and she said that it is Tendonitis. The problem is, I have no idea how I would have gotten this, nor do I know how to make it go away! So I’m not really sure if that is what it is or not, but my mom was so excited about helping me that it’s hard to tell her that I don’t really think the warm towels and pills aren’t really helping. She is just absolutely sure that it is going to be better after this pill I took and after the warm towels. She is so sweet :) She said if it doesn’t feel better tomorrow, we will go to the doctor.
The rest of the day I think we are just going to be spending time at the house. I finally am going to get to talk to my family again on Skype today, and I’m very excited for this! Please pray for continued healing in my neck/arm as this is really just a burden and distraction. I can honestly say that I didn’t think I would have something like this while I was gone. Please pray for God to give me healing and peace during this time. Please pray that I will truly find contentment in Christ and not in my circumstances. I know that my health will come and go, but Christ is the only one who will stay faithful forever. Like Paul, may I learn to be content in any situation, whether rich or poor, hungry or full, in sickness and in health. Jesus, may I reflect you in this journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment