Unexpected Blessings

“I’ve seen better days, but I’ve also seen worse.  I don’t have everything that I want, but I do have all that I need.  I woke up with some aches and pains, but I woke up.  My life may not be perfect but I am blessed.”

Well as many of you know (or at least have heard) that I had some major health issues over the past couple of months.  Glad to say that now they are all resolved with just a few minor follow up tests set to occur in a few months.  Over the past months I have seen just some wonderful unexpected blessings and I just wanted to share some of those with you all.

The first blessing occurred when my bosses from PC came out here to my site and I had a fantastic visit with them showing them around my site and my most recent biodigestor project.  It was just a great time to show off some of my hard work and talk to them about possible future activities.  I also was scheduled to go into the office to get my flu shot and to turn in all of my receipts for my grant so luckily I got a ride back to Asuncion with them, a trip that takes me ~7 hours takes about 3.5 in a car.

 

This later turned into a blessing because during the couple of days when I got really sick I was already in Asuncion and visiting daily with the doctors instead of in my site. At first I just thought I had the flu or something of that nature so honestly if I had been in site I would haven’t thought too much about it and when it did get serious I could have been in serious trouble being so remote.  So that Friday I ended up in the hospital being at first treated for dehydration and was told just a short overnight stay in the hospital with some routine tests. 

That later turned into a 6 night stay filled with countless tests, getting my appendix out, and puzzling the doctors.  There were a few blessings that occurred to me during that time.  The first was that my room was very nice, a private room in a very nice hospital and I had my own bathroom (with hot water!), a couch, fridge, and even my own TV!  The other blessing was just the outpouring of support I began receiving both from my PC family and my friends/family in the US.  One of my PC friends actually came in from her site and stayed with me two nights in the hospital and I also received 3 other PC friend visiting me which helped immensely and helped keep my spirits up.  Even though many of my friends I had just met about two years ago many of them seem like I have known them forever and they were a fantastic support system and sounding board for me.  I was also just very impressed by the support given to me from PC with countless visits from the doctors and they went above and beyond to help me out.  I also had a visit from the country director and countless texts and messages from so many different friends and family.

 

After I was released from the hospital I stayed around Asuncion and luckily my awesome site mate was able to get me a bag packed (since I originally was only staying for 1 night and this was almost 2 weeks later), and Alcides was able to come in and spend the weekend with me.  It was great to just get a little bit of normalcy back after being in the hospital for so long and missing my site while also trying to figure out what was going on with me.  I ended up being “medically evacuate” which just means that I went back home in the US while I got my medical issues taken care of. 

It was a blessing in and of itself to just be at home surrounded by such love and support.  I was able to see some fantastic doctors and once again went through the gauntlet of medical tests but through it all beginning to feel better and better.  I had a lot of good time in Columbia hanging out with many different church friends and was able to spend some good quality time with my parents since I had been gone for almost 2 years now.  So my main priority while I was home was getting better and seeing the doctors but I still had some time for some fun and fellowship which you will be able to see below.  I was back in the US for just over 3 weeks before they decided I was well enough to come back to my “southern home” here in Paraguay.  Even just the traveling back and forth portion of my trip met with some amazing blessings just making all of my different flights even with all of the delays, maintenance issues, and the like. 

So my most recent blessing is being back here in my site and I came in during a dark and rainy night and luckily the driver had 4 wheel drive as it was quite the mud run.  I was very excited to be back at site and to just hit the ground running but we had a couple of rainy days which means that I was forced to stay inside, but it all worked out perfectly since I had time to get my house cleaned and get caught up on some other projects.  The weather turned quickly into winter while I was gone so temperatures have been in the 50-60 cooling down to the low of 40 the other night so quite chilly and wet and rainy but so far I am loving it!  Stay tuned for some upcoming blogs about getting my biodigester lit for the first time (scheduled to happen this Friday!) as well as some other fun activities!

“Don’t think of the things you didn’t get after praying.  Think of the countless blessings God gave you without asking.”

While I was home I was blessed in the fact that it was BBQ time for Olivet so below are some pictures of preparing for the 58^th BBQ.  This was after the guys had gotten the tent set up and everyone working so hard together on Thursday night to get all of the tables ready to go.

The wonderful fellowship on Thursday night!

The mutton cooking early Saturday morning which was one of the things that I seriously missed in PY, so I was able to get my fair share of mutton, too bad I couldn’t bring any back with me!

All of the wonderful pies being cut, that is one thing that I haven’t mastered down here is making a pie so I was able to eat some wonderful pies!

The chicken pit right before it was lit and chicken began to be cooked.

Where I spent my BBQ time working as a part of a fantastic team that served over 1,000 guests!

A few days before I left I had the wonderful opportunity to tour the Warm Springs Ranch which is the breeding facility for the Budweiser Clydesdales.   

One of the most recently born babies!

Great photo opportunity and it really made me appreciate how large these animals really are.

After the visit to the ranch I had the opportunity to go fishing with my dad so we had a great time north of Columbia, we didn’t catch a lot of good eating fish but we had fun none the less and got to watch a fantastic storm roll in!

The Saturday before I left my church sustainability group took a trip to Fulton to visit Bluebird Composting which was a beautiful facility and I was able to actually learn a few new things about composting to bring that information back here to PY as composting is one of my projects.  The scale of their operation was just impressive and they even had worm composting and made compost tea, all things that I do here in PY!

Just a great picture I got of my church on Sunday right before the baby shower of my Godmother Jennifer.  It was so great to still be in town for the baby shower and so great to be able to catch up with my Mast family!

Dad and I and then Mom and I my last night in Columbia enjoying the beautiful views from The Roof.  It was just a great time to spend with family as I recovered and rested.  It was also a time filled with great food from all around Columbia!  It was just a blessing to be able to go out to eat and not have to think a week in advanced what I would be cooking for dinner!