I've had another "first-time" experience this past week: my first bout of malaria! Although I take the recommended precautions (anti-malarials, mosquito
nets, repellent), they cannot prevent malaria 100% of the time.
Perhaps if you are like me and read a few too many "jungle adventure" stories as a child, malaria conjures up images of someone lying on a bed deathly sick and burning with fever. In fact, while malaria can be serious if left untreated, it wasn't nearly that dramatic for me. It was more like a stomach flu which just wouldn't go away. But one of my housemates is a medical doctor, and there is a dispensary right down the road from my house. Sure enough, I tested positive for malaria, but after a round of treatments I have now fully recovered and am back to normal activities again.
On another topic, the weather is heating up, as we are now getting close to "hot season" - late dry season, which is the hottest time of the year in Chad. Daytime temperatures are already often over 40° C / 104° F, and nights are sometimes very warm as well. I am told that April will be even hotter. We don't have air conditioning, but we will do what we can to stay cool.
In closing, please pray for my coworker, Dr Joy Hart, as she is about to leave on furlough, and will begin her journey back to the USA tomorrow morning. She will be in the States until November or December. Pray for safe traveling, and a refreshing time with family and friends during her furlough.
February Prayer Letter
Note: I have not been able to get onto my blog for a little while, so this letter is a little old. But here it is for those of you who may not have received it by email.
February 19, 2013
I wrote my last letter with a view through the window of tall apartment buildings and a gray European winter sky. Since then, the scenery has changed a bit! Now when I look out my windows, I see mango, guava, and palm trees, and the bright blue sky and yellowish grass of the African dry season. I have now been in Chad for a little over a month and a half, and though I have so much yet to learn about the life and work here, there is nowhere else in the world that I’d rather be. Thank you all for your prayers and support that have brought me here!
Settling In
Thank you for praying for my journey to Chad! I arrived safely and right on schedule on December 31, along with all my luggage. I am now settling into life in the village of Balimba with my two housemates, missionaries Susan Hossack and Joy Hart. Many things are still new and strange to me, but I am learning to get used to them. Thanks for your continued prayers for me as I adjust. Here are just a few things that I have found different about life here in Balimba:
- Producing our own electricity and running water (thanks to solar panels, a generator, and a water tower);
- Sharing the road with cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, dogs, chickens, and other animals, as well as oxcarts, donkey carts, people on horseback, pedestrians of all ages, bicycles and motorcycles … and some trucks and buses and the occasional car;
- Eating Chadian food when at a home or meeting with Chadians: usually “boule”, a kind of mush made of ground grain, with a sauce of vegetables and/or meat, and traditionally eaten with the fingers out of a common bowl;
- Discovering that a temperature around 70°F / 20°C really does feel very cold in this hot climate;
- Using only filtered water for drinking, cooking, and brushing teeth;
- Sleeping under a mosquito net;
- Greeting everyone individually when entering or leaving a meeting or church service.
In the first half of February, we enjoyed hosting five guests, two of which were translation consultants from Bibles International who came to conduct translation checking workshops, where a portion of the translated text was checked and edited. I participated in two workshops, leading a portion of each one with the guidance of a senior consultant. We checked the book of 2 Samuel in the Sara Kaba Dem language and 2 Kings in the Sara Kaba Naa language. We are thankful for the progress we made during these workshops, but there is still so much to be done before the full Bible can be printed in these languages. Please keep praying that the Lord will give wisdom to the translators and and consultants as they work, and that good progress will be made in each translation.
Pray also that as the Scriptures forth in Chad through Bible translation, preaching, and teaching, that the Lord will use His Word toward the spiritual growth of the Chadian people. Pray that the Chadian believers, especially those in church leadership, will have a desire to glorify the Lord with their lives.
In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell
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