Laura--That Time I Threw Up in The Village

Yep, you read that title correctly. This week I threw up in a fishing village. I wouldn't call it one of my best moments. In fact, it was kind of embarrassing at the time. Now, after the fact I can laugh at it because I must of looked ridiculous. You're probably wondering why I would talk about throwing up...yeah, I thought it was pretty gross to talk about too, but then I got to thinking and I've learned a few things from this not-so-lovely-time.

Here's how it began:
I woke up Wednesday not feeling the best. I prayed, "Dear Lord, Please let me throw up. I want to feel better so I can better serve You." I thought I could shake the feeling with a cup of coffee because coffee always makes me feel better. However, for the first time in my life coffee sounded absolutely awful. That should have been a red flag. I never decline a cup of coffee. But whatever, I decided not let that stop me from going on with my day. When we got to the guy's house for our morning meeting, I really felt sick so Tiff pulled up the couch to the kitchen table so I could rest during our morning discussion. I was following along with the morning discussion and closed my eyes but was completely awake. But then something really weird happened...I saw a little girl appear in front of me and I started waving to her. I opened my eyes and my fingers were moving. It was such a weird, surreal moment. I was completely awake with my eyes closed and then a second later, I'm waving to some little girl who I think is in front of me. Great, I'm hallucinating.

We finished up the meeting and I decided I was still good to go out and talk to people. I didn't want to miss anything. We split up into groups. I was with Mika, Dannielle, and Kai. We decided to walk to the  little fishing village behind the rice paddies. When we got to the village, we were welcomed by several children screaming,"Bonjour vazaha!"We walked to the water where there was a group of women and children sitting and talking. We asked them if we could ask them a few questions and they invited us to sit with them. Mika introduced us and told them that we're learning about Malagasy culture. We started talking about fady (taboos) and they were talking about evil spirits and not eating pork. At this point, I started feeling really light-headed and I was praying "Ok Lord, I don't want to throw up now. Please don't let me throw up now. I don't want to ruin this moment!" The last thing I remember them talking about is that if you eat pork, you will not be able to get in the river or the ocean ever again. I remember all of a sudden I got up and turned around to find some place to get sick and there were houses. I panicked. I can't get sick on someone's house. So I turned around, passed everyone still talking and ran towards the water. I found a tree and just fell over. And I started coughing. Just coughing and heaving. And then I threw up. It was just downright awful. Miserable. To make things even better, a bunch of kids ran over to me and started pointing at me, saying "Vazaha! Vazaha!" Then, the fisherman started coming in with their daily catch. I couldn't have picked a better time to get sick. At this moment, I wished I could be transported elsewhere. What a pitiful sight: a vazaha hugging a tree by the water, coughing and throwing up. I finally got the strength to get up and return to the group. I felt completely awful. I was so embarrassed. I didn't want these people to think I got sick from coming to their village. It was so hard sitting back down and having to sit their until the conversation was finished.

When we finished, I headed on home in a daze. I don't remember too much about that walk, but I did make it home safely. And then I passed out for a very long time.

I couldn't help but think: "Why Lord? Why did I have to get sick in such a public manner? That always seems to happen to me." And then I remembered:

2 Corinthians 12:9 "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

And then I remembered praying and asking God to allow me to throw up. Bingo! I asked for something so simple and He provided. That's something we've been talking about lately. Don't put limits on God. He can do anything. Don't just pray for big things, pray for the small things too. During this time of sickness, I really clung to the Lord and just prayed. There's so much spiritual warfare going on around us and we must stay grounded in the Word and pray continually. It's in our times of weakness that we will find strength through the power of Christ.