It was Dengue Transitorio!

To those of you who have been disappointed at my lack of blog updates, I’m a deeply sorry! I’ve been carried away by my daily activities, and I’ve neglected you by not updating you on the sweet life in Banica. I’ll try to write a blog at least once a month!

Let me give you the latest news:
Last Thursday, Nov 5th I woke up with a sudden exhaustion and lack of energy. I went to morning prayer like usual and noticed Mairin wasn’t there. Sam told us she wasn’t feeling well, so she wasn’t gonna come to Mass with us. I began to feel sick as she was telling us what had happened to Mairin, and I thought to myself “wow, I can really feel how she’s feeling!”. After Mass, I told Sam I wasn’t feeling well. I went home and slept all morning. I thought it might have been that I was tired, but I couldn’t find the strength to get up. My muscles ached, and my head hurt really bad. I had a really high fever, but since no one carries a thermometer in their homes, I will never know what my temperature was. My host parents insisted on me eating, but I would look at the food and lose my sense of hunger. Arturo had to feed me like a baby at one point because I couldn’t find the strength to hold the fork to my mouth. Isaac had to go to Sabana Cruz on his own because there was no way I could go with him to teach. I wrote down what he needed to do and gave it to him before he left to class. We had a seminarian named Carlos that day, so he went with Isaac to Sabana Cruz and taught the kids about priesthood. Isaac told me it was a good day, so my heart was at peace and I went to bed thinking tomorrow everything was going to be all right.

Little did I know that for the next five days, the array of symptoms I was experiencing was going to increase to almost every possible thing your body could ever do when you’re sick. From fever, to vomiting, to a rash, I felt I was slowly decaying into a really bad illness. By Wednesday, Sam and I got up really early to go to a private clinic in San Juan. They did all sorts of tests, and discovered I was carrying an ameba inside of me! Apparently an ameba is a parasite that you can get here by drinking dirty water, or eating a fruit that hasn’t been washed properly. The cardiologist examined me and saw my skin rash. Later he got the results of my blood test and found a small count of platelets. He was worried I might have dengue, so he prescribed another blood test. The Lord answered my prayers, and my dengue test was negative. The doctor said I might have had DENGUE TRANSITORIO, meaning I had dengue for a short period of time. Kinda scary, but I’m glad it’s gone!

During my illness, I missed out on so much! The sisters of the Restitucion visited us, there was a movie night in Sabana Cruz, a retreat for young girls at Rincon Grande Abajo, and just quality time with Jesus. I even got home sick because I realized no one would take better care of me than my own family. Every one around me was trying to make me feel better, but I just felt the desire to be in my own bed, with my family watching over me. I couldn’t even properly pray, so I was been deprived of my Heavenly Father as well.

Now I’m feeling so much better. My platelets are still low, so I guess that’s why I still feel weak. The doctor recommended guayaba juice with aji moron. It sounds gross but people tell me it’s not that bad. I have yet to try it.. we shall see.
The pictures I’m posting are from our fun trip to El Morro. Mondays are our day off so we often do fun things as a team. Two Mondays ago we went to a small waterfall about an hour from Banica called El Morro. The water was very cold, but we managed to get in and soak the cold water for a little bit. John, one of the volunteers found a crab, something very exotic for this area, I think! The second picture is from our little girls' group called Teresitas. The third picture is from my new guitar class. No, I'm no expert but Father says that since I know more than they do, I can teach!The last picture is me dancing with my Bible Study Girls. There's two of them not showing in the pic, but these three are the biggest dancers!

I’m praying for all of you, asking the Lord to keep you safe and healthy (as well as any other intentions you may have!) I ask that you may continue to pray for me, the volunteers, priests and mission in Banica. I truly believe God is gonna do great things with us here. There’s still a lot of work ahead of us, so we need all the prayers and spiritual health we can get!

May the peace of God be with you always!