Last Week

So, last week was a loooonnnnng week. It started out with a phone call from the director of Every Nation on Sunday night. He was wanting to know if I had sent him an email that day asking for him to send money. I hadn't even been on the internet that day so it was not good news to find that someone had send an email out asking for money to be sent.
The next morning I went to an internet cafe with a slightly swollen foot to find that someone had changed my password and I couldn't get into my email account. I sat there for a few minutes working on getting back in the account and finally when I did discovered that the person had sent the same email out to many people. It was an email pretending to be me and asking that money be put on a friend's account (a friend that I do not know). So, I sat there most of the afternoon emailing people to not send any money to any account except to Every Nation unless they first speak to me by phone.
I also checked my facebook account and found that the same thing had been done. So, more messages to be sent out. I changed all my passwords and am praying that this has rectified the situation.
By the time I reached home I was in a lot of pain because of the swollen foot. I could barely walk and it was slightly purple. The week before I had worn tennis shoes which had rubbed blisters on the back of my feet. I knew that my foot was probably infected so the next morning I woke up and went to the clinic at the church. The nurse, a missionary here for a couple of months from Alabama, confirmed that I did have infection in my foot. This is not the first time this has happened here. I tried to explain to her what they did the last time but being the medical professional, she chose to ignore what I was saying and do her own thing. She gave me an antibiotic that I had told her I don't react well to, saying that if I would eat with it there would be no problem.
So, I went home with the antibiotic and spent the whole next day puking. By that evening my roommate became concerned because I had a high temperature, couldn't stop puking (even though there was no longer anything in my stomach), and my foot looked worse. So, she called the pastor to come and pick me up and take me back to the clinic.
I returned to the nurse and she realized that the antibiotic and I really didn't get along. So, I spent that night on IV meds and getting rehydrated. The next day more of the same. Hopefully, the next time she has a patient tell her something she will listen instead of deciding that because she spent 5 years in school that she knows the patient's body better than the patient.

Return of the Rats

So, yesterday afternoon since I was off work and my roommate was also off we decided to pull out my laptop and lay around and watch movies. As we were watching and extremely funny Nigerian film, out of the corner of my eye I see this little creature running across the kitchen floor. (From my roommate's room you can see most of the kitchen cabnits). This little creature then chose to jump off the floor into one of the cabinets. So, I jump up and tell my roommate who is half asleep that I've just seen another rat, which, by the way, we thought we had exterminated them.

So, we rush to the kitchen and close all the doors leading into other rooms and cover the crack leading on the door leading outside. We then proceed to start trying to get the rat out of the cupboard. He/she must have know we were on a death mission because it quickly ran under the crack of the door leading to the bedrooms.
So, the next step was to set more rat traps and go back to our movie. When we finished watching the movie, I went to put my laptop back in its case and out the little creature ran. This time we were wiser than the rat and put something in front of the door to my bedroom so that it couldn't escape again under the door. Thankfully, I have not yet put any furniture in my room so it had no place to hide. After a few minutes, the rat met his death at the hands of my roommate and a really large shoe.

Don't Wait for the World to Hurt You, Just Go to Church

I really don't understand. I'm frustrated. I'm confused. I'm trying not to be angry. I feel rejected. Anyway, I know all of these feelings will pass quickly.
Over the past year, I've been struggling with churches. The leadership appears to have a complete disregard for those they are supposed to be shepherding. Those in the church seem to have a lack of compassion for each other, each wanting to prove to the leadership that they are the most holy. I really don't get it. I don't think God sees anyone of us as better than the other.
I can't really say much about what is going on. I just pray that God will quickly heal my heart.

Without Things

Before I left from the states, I was franctically running around trying to buy all of the things that I thought I would need while here. Needless to say that I ran out of time and many things had to be left behind for shopping at a later date.
Upon arriving here, I realized again how stupid it was to try to buy everything before coming here. Almost everything (well, almost everything....... still haven't found hot cheetos anywhere) can be purchased here. Sometimes at a cheaper price and sometimes not. I think next time I should better focus on buying those things that are expensive here or that I can't find here.
Another thing I noticed is that life is so simple here but at the same time so busy. This means that most of the time, I don't have time for things. It seems life is more simple with less stuff and I seem to be even more content. Perhaps this is because there is less focus here on things and more focus on relationships. I'll have to remember this the next time I am shopping and think that I absolutely have to have something. Some times it's probably better to leave those things behind.

4th of July

So, I woke up today and realized that on the other side of the world it is a public holiday. I've been so busy that I hadn't even thought about it. Some holidays, like Thanksgiving, I've been able to celebrate here in the past. For instance, on one Thanksgiving, my roommates and I celebrated by going out to eat on the Saturday after. Ok, so not really a true Thanksgiving celebration but it worked and gave us an excuse to go out to eat.
But, today since it doesn't look like I will be celebrating. It is work as usual.
I have heard though that the American embassy is having something but since I'm not registered with the embassy I have received no updates about it. Also, for some reason, none of the other missionaries are choosing to attend, possibly due to the fact that many of the expats here tend to like to do things that most missionaries won't be seen doing here.
So, guess it's another day as usual, whatever a usual day for me here is.

Roommates That Don't Pay Rent

I think I may have mentioned that I found an apartment here and my roommate and I have moved in, although we are still lacking quite a bit of furniture. I haven't yet got my bed but it is in the process of being made. So, for the time being, my roommate and I have been sharing a room.
Frequently, one of us has to wake the other one up because of the sound of small critters chewing on things. Since we don't know what they are chewing on and don't want it to be something important, we have to get up at various hours of the night to start hunting for the critter to be killed. These critters who seem to be many are small rats that have taken up residence there before we moved. My roommate and I both agree that we don't want anything living there, however small, that doesn't pay rent. Hopefully the rat terminator will come soon and kill them as well as their even smaller friends, the roaches.