Feelin good today!

I'm learning to make the most of the days that I'm feeling well instead of being enormously frustrated on the days when I'm not.   We have the CO visit this week and I'm so excited that my energy is good!   The doctor said my kidney has finally cleared up hooray!   That yucky cleanse and all the water I've been drinking must have done the trick.  Right now just trying to get some other health stuff in order one by one.

In the meantime,  I'm working on finding what will work for me for the next service year.   I'm also getting ready for.....  beet harvest!   It's that time of year again for me to go back to work in the Midwest.   You guys have any good energy boosting tips to get me through our 12 hour shifts besides holy spirit and coffee?!   I'm starting to wrap my head around having a plan b, c,  and d for next year if I can't return to my assignment in Nicaragua.   Do I go to a territory that is less physically challenging?   Boring!  Another country?  Not likely.   A congregation in need in the States... possibly.   Bethel US or Mexico?   Who knows!   Right now I'm focusing on getting my health in order and asking Jehovah to guide me.   No matter what capacity I'm serving in,  I just want to be busy in Jehovah's service.   I want to have some good stories to tell Jonah in the new system,  lol.

On another note,  some of you ask how longterm needgreaters support themselves.   Well,  normally I can stretch my harvest money to last a year.   But,  since I had to return here to the States early this year,  I knew my savings would get eaten up quickly.   Friends and family have been great about letting me couch surf (bouncing from couch to couch every other week.)  They also treat me to an occassional burger in service when they see me eating peanut butter and jelly.   (Hey,  I loooove my pb &j but it seems to make some people feel sorry for me :'( )  But anywho,  to supplement myself till harvest,  I have a new trick up my sleeve.   Jewelry.   I'm not at all one for selling stuff but if I could afford to keep it all,  I would!   I met two local pioneer sisters in Nicaragua who make beautiful crystal jewelry by hand to support their family and their ministry.   I also have a pioneer friend from Mexico serving in Nicaragua and he is also making jewelry to support himself.   So...  I brought a bunch to the States to sell.   It works out well because helps me get my bus fare to the Midwest and helps support 3 other pioneers too!   You can't beat that with a stick!  I'm only selling it locally right now since I'm not sure how much postage would cost but if you want to see it,  I started an instagram account called "kim51480".   They are all quite talented.

To all who have sent me well wishes thanks so much.   They really help me on my "whoa is me" days!   I hope you all are well!  Nica Chica B-)

CO week....  Woop woop! 

Preach the wooooord throughout the laaaand!!!  (Marching in place with the music) love that video! 

My detox/juice fast is over!   Now where did I leave off.....  lol

Va-cay in in El Salvador

I was so bummed when some of the sisters that were sent from Mexico to help our congregation were leaving so.....I followed them to El Salvador!  They decided to stop there for a week vacation and since I have friends there too, I decided to tag along.  

After the first meeting with one of our host families.

Karaoke and Mexican food after the meeting, woo hoo!

Some of the local sisters decided to teach us how to make the local dishes.  We ate fruit out of a giant green alien looking pod called fruita de Paterna .  I tried to let it pass me by but everyone was looking so I had to try it.  It actually tasted fine but I was prejudiced by the way it looked!  Next we made Flor de Izote and Pacayas (below).

They took the flowers above and mixed them in frothy eggs and cheese below.  After that they deep fried it.  You can see the unfried and fried below.

Finally they added a tomato based sauce and viola!  Fried flowers for dinner!  They were a bit bitter for my taste but I ate all the fried cheesy goodness :-)

In passing, I said that I'd like to learn to make tortillas and pupusas one day but probably wouldn't be able to.  The sisters seemed to take this as a personal challenge.  I was getting ready for bed when a sister pulled me into the kitchen with a practice piece of dough.  I found myself surrounded by little old Salvadorean ladies cupping their hands around mine showing me to make the perfect pupusa tortilla.  They finally left me in the kitchen to practice on my own but put me through a final exam before letting me go to sleep.  Once I got it, they ran and got my camera and took this photo!

We bounced around to many different houses while were in El Salvador.  Unlike in the States, you can just show up to someones house needing a place to stay and it's no problem at all.  In this picture,  we stayed with the parents of one sister.  They welcomed all of us in their house with no heads up.  I was really comfortable and slept well.  I get some of my best sleep on the floor!  When we were leaving the brother gathered us here and tearfully thanks us for staying with he and his family!  He was so overwhelmed that friends from Mexico and the US would stay in his humble home.  He kept apologizing that he didn't have more to give but felt it was a privilege to have us with them for just one night!  I was floored.  Trust me, the privilege was all ours.

The loving family sending us on our way to our next stop in El Salvador

Congregation number 2!  We went to visit a tiny congregation where one of the Mexican sisters went to help last year.  They have 1 elder and 1 servant.  Almost the entire congregation is made up of sisters!

There were 3 sisters in their early 20s living in the Kingdom Hall apartment.  The elder allowed us to stay with them.  So very small quarters for three, quickly became tiny tiny quarters for 10!  We borrowed mattresses from the elder and his family (we also stayed there one night)  and all slept on the floor.  Again, I slept sooo well!  One night after lots of service we borrowed an old tv to watch the copy of  "The Notebook"  that I had just bought (best movie Ev-er!!)  Anyway, we were all on the floor indian style with pop corn and all when we heard a loud pop.  Then, the tv started smoking!  They quickly got the tv out to make sure we didn't burn down the tiny KH, yikes.  It was actually pretty hilarious.  Then we just sat there looking at each other like ok, now what!?  We stayed up playing games instead.  We'll have to watch the ending another time!

Lunch of spaghetti, sour cream and mangoes, mmmm!

Who knew there was a water park in El Salvador!!!  Things got lost in translation and I didn't realize we were going here until we arrived lol.  It's called Termos del Rio .  I'm not much for swimming or water related recreation but I had a ball sleeping in a hammock, eating and watching them!

 

I teased the friends that this was my second time in El Salvador and I still had not been to a party or seen any one dance.  The next day, the elder organized an impromptu congregation fiesta with specially ordered pupusas and ice cream cones!  Boy did they ever show me they know how to party!!!

Pupusas!!

My lil BFF--I was only there for 3 days but she was always right under me and cried when I left.  So much love!!!

Everyone was so sweet!

At the bus station in El Salvador

This donkey really thinks she's a puppy.  She hangs out at the border (on the Nicaraguan side).  She waits for the buses to come in and then walks right up to everyone and nudges their hand for a snack.  She has NO fear and is quite persistent.  I assured her I didn't have any food left but she didn't believe me!  El Salvador will always have hold a special place in my heart <3 . 

District Convention in the A

Here are a few pictures from the district convention with my old congregation a few weeks ago.  I hope to double dip and catch at least one day with my parent's congregation this weekend!

My first time having Korean BBQ--yummy!

And.....I'm back!!!

Hi everyone!

So here I am, back on the radar again!  Where have I turned up?  Back home in Atlanta, at the moment.  It's been great hanging out with family, old friends and making tons of new friends. I got back about a month and a half ago ( I think).  I usually only spend a week or two here before returning to my assignment so everyone keeps asking me, "How long will you be with us?!"  To which I have to reply awkwardly, "um....I'm not sure..."  I'll have to take you back 8 months to December 31st to explain.

My service day ended great as always.  I had dinner and went to the room to hang out with the girls.  After awhile I started feeling "not well."  Nothing I could really put my finger on but nothing to worry about.  After about an hour, I started feeling nausea and told my roommate I was going to the outhouse as a precautionary measure.  That was the beginning of the end.  I have NEVER been so violently ill!  While I hugged the outhouse toilet on my knees wondering if I'd make it to the new year, more and more time went by.  After about an hour, the sister we live with asked the girls where I was.  They had been joking that I was hung over from the new year (the jokes your friends make when you are not around!!).  They didn't realize I had been gone that long.  When they came out I think I nearly scared them to death at how sick I was.  They tried to get me to go to the hospital but despite being unable to stand, I refused.  Hospitals in the larger cities are fine but near us they are VERY unsanitary often with no gloves, makeshift stretchers and bodily fluids splattered all over the place.  I decided to take my chances on the outhouse floor with bugs crawling around me.  Knowing my stubbornness and seeing I was getting worse by every passing minute they started making concoctions.  At first I refused but after while I gave in.  One sister gave me piping hot water with tons of lemon juice to kill bacteria in my stomach.  I took one sip and instantly knew I had gone very, very wrong.  After two hours of violently vomiting that was like pure acid!  It felt it sear its way down my throat and at the moment it hit my stomach  I can't even explain the pain.  Right when I thought I couldn't possibly get anymore sick, I did.  Finally, they gave me a nausea pill which eventually quieted me to the point of them being able to help me back to bed.  Everyone slept around me and whenever I made a sound or movement they were there to hold my hair give me water or whatever I needed.  I continued quite ill though out the night but finally got some sleep in the morning.  That afternoon was our pioneer meeting and day one of our CO visit.  I mustered up a smile and a nice dress and got through it.  I did the same for the rest of the week not stopping to rest  until after the visit.  After about two weeks I felt better though still abit tired.  This continued on for months...violently ill one week then fine for 2 or 3.  Even when I was "better" I could never quite get my energy up.  I had to stop doing our overnight trips in the mountains and give myself extra walking time in local territories.  FINALLY, one day in May, I woke up not feeling great but not horrible.  I got dressed for the meeting and hopped in the back of the pickup to head to the hall.  In the truck I was noticeably quiet as I felt my strength waning quickly and I struggled to hold on in the truck.  Again all I could really say is I just didn't feel well.  Once we got to the hall, I decided to get in line for the outhouse even though the meeting had started.  As I stood there waiting, I went from bad to worse at lightning speed.  I kept trying to focus my eyes but I couldn't.  I started seeing spots and realized OH NO I'M ABOUT TO FAINT!!!  I tried to move so that I wasn't in eye shot of everyone in the hall but I couldn't move with out collapsing.  The last thing I remember is trying to say a quick prayer not to faint in front of everyone (talk about EMBARRASSING!!!!).  Just as I was fading, the sister came out of the outhouse and I half way got the word "help" out in Spanish when I passed out in her arms.  Like I said it was in front of the hall so EVERYBODY saw (ugh).  As the meeting continued half the congregation was in the parking lot with me.  I was now on my knees in the grass in my prettiest dress (it was our first meeting after our renovations so I wanted to look nice).  There I was, shivering and seeing nothing but feet around me as I threw up.  Nice.  As I struggled to keep conscious, I agreed to see a doctor.  They drove me to the nearest doctor which was a couple of towns away.  He was actually just a pharmacist.  I couldn't get out of the truck and he didn't bother to come see me.  He just asked the brothers what my symptoms were and prescribed a bunch of shots and medicine.  They are really big on injections.  I resisted since they couldn't really tell me what it was an injection of.  I finally gave in and accepted it all.  (I later found that in spite of my telling him I was allergic to sulpha, he gave me an injection with sulfa, DOH!).  Unfortunately, the medicine didn't work but I was able to find a really good private doctor in another town.  He finally found that it was a kidney infection.  Unfortunately, after several medicines it got worse instead of better and I had to really look at returning to the States.  The last medicine started clearing it up but I still was a little sick.  In all this, I had still been getting to all of my meetings and walking to all of my studies--miles away although with increasing difficulty.  In the final week or two I couldn't even get out of bed and realized I wasn't helping so I had might as well go home and get better.  The brothers and sisters piled into the back of the pickup and drove two hours at 3AM to see me off.  They still call and text me every few days to see how I am.  I had one study who walked to the next community over to borrow a cell phone and got enough money to talk to me for two minutes just to know I was ok and to tell me not to worry because she and her mom are still making the long walk to the meetings and still commenting!  They know me well because I was concerned although I was constantly reminding myself that Jehovah would care for them better than I ever could.
 So, here I am trying to get good and strong.  The first couple of weeks all I did was stay in bed and eat all my moms yummy cooking (that's enough to cure ANY ailment!).  I had to pace my self with service doing alot of letter writing and eventually getting out.  Then of course in the last couple of weeks I figured I was miraculously "cured" so I was going full force in service only for my health to knock me back down and remind me I'm not OK.  Talk about frustrating!  Kudos to all of you serving with health problems!!  So I continue to try and work on modesty (will I ever get it??!!) and do my best to get better.  I'm sitting here doing a detox now hoping that will help until my doctor's appointment comes up.  I'm also checking on another condition I had before going to Nica to see if I will need surgery *gasp*  I find out Friday what the answer is to that.  So....will I be able to return to my assignment in December like I hope?  Not sure.  I'm just going to make it a matter of prayer to get better soon and that Jehovah use me in some capacity, somewhere :-)

I'll try to put some other posts up as to fun things that have been happening in the last months soon :-)
Nica/Atlanta Chica ;-)

PS- I put an email address in my profile if you have any questions, comments or concerns that you don't want to post for the world!