Missionaries Serving Missionaries

We just finished our school holiday, I always have a list of things I want to get accomplished over these holidays and yet somehow every term I find myself doing other things and not finishing what I wanted. This break I even made a calendar of what to do what day, then the phone rang. My friend had been sick for a few weeks and they determined it was brucellosis. You can get this disease from drinking unpasteurized milk or from meat not cooked fully, without proper care it can get serious quick. She had had the same thing last year so they determined it was a relapse and needed serious treatment including daily injections for three weeks along with blood tests every week to make sure the treatment was not doing more harm. On top of that she would need four medications a day for two months. I offered to come up and help out for a few days to take some of the load off of her husband and to entertain my friend. They are currently building their home so they are living with no water or electricity. Trips to the borehole and basin baths are common but challenging when you are sick. So I went there for three days and cleaned, cooked and entertained. After that I drove to Restoration Gateway, where I was last year and stayed with my friends, the Cessnuns. Dr Colby is the medical director of RG and his wife, Maryanne is homeschooling seven of her ten kids while the three youngest are running around and working at the hospital as well. I love this family and it was so lifegiving to sit with Maryanne while kids came in and out. I graded papers, helped cook and played games for three days.

While it may not have been my original plan, getting to go and serve friends for a few days was the perfect school holiday plan. It is so easy to get into the mindset that to serve means I have to be at school or be serving Ugandans. I love those times too but it’s just as much serving to serve other missionaries so they can continue their work well. Stay tuned for the next blog explaining how I ended up on a public bus at 3am and how 24 south Korean students ended up at Kitetikka Primary School!