Monday through Wednesday several of the Bible school students and I worked on building more rabbit cages. Since I arrived we have built 15 cages and they had made 12 before I came. They had hoped to be able to build more but they are running out of materials. This should be enough for them to get start with anyways. I had misunderstood what the rabbits were for. They are raising them to be able to give to some of the orphans so they can raise their own and have some income from them and have some to eat for themselves.
Here are the cages we built with their first four rabbits.
Stephen is one of the students that I worked with.
Wednesday afternoon we finished working on the rabbit cages a little sooner then normal. I came back to my room and felt more tired then normal so I slept for about an hour before supper. Later that evening when I was going to bed I had a fever, the sweats, the chills and my joints were starting to ache. I hadn't every had Malaria but I had heard many people talk about it. I was pretty sure that is what I had. I didn't get much sleep that night. Thursday morning at breakfast I told Mat and Heni that I thought I had Malaria, so they had me start taking medicine for it right away. I was planning to take the boat back to Moz on Friday, so they said that it would be best if I would rest all day Thursday to allow my body as much time as possible to fight this. I slept a good part of the day and I was also able to get packed and ready to go on Friday. Thursday night wasn't much different then Wednesday night. Friday I still felt quite weak. We checked my temperature and it was 103 I was standing for the five minutes or so that I had the thermometer under my tongue. By the time it was done I was almost ready to faint my vision was going blurry and I was losing my balance. I went and took a shower and I felt a bit better. Mat and Heni kept asking me if I thought I should be traveling like this. I said that I thought I can make it. I had called the missionaries in Moz and they were going to meet me where I would get off the boat.
The boat was supposed to come into Chipoka around two and leave by 4. Mat drove me down to the port and we sat there for about half and hour and then he went to buy a couple of pops and saw a notice that the boat would not be coming do to mechanical failures. Mat called the manager of the company and he said that the engine that steers the boat has burned up and they have to find another one. He said that he wasn't even sure if it would be running in a week. After having heard this news I knew I would have to find another way to get back to Moz. We drove back to the base and Heni was glad that I hadn't gone, because she didn't think that I was well enough to be traveling. Mat made some phone calls to see if I could take a bus to Moz but there aren't any buses that go to that part of Moz, so it looks like I will take minibuses. This just means it will be a little more crowded and I will have to make more connections, but I can still make it. Lord willing I will leave on Monday and it will be about a two day journey I think. In my last email I had asked for prayer for my trip back to Moz because I said that there can always be surprises. Some people asked what those could be and now you know.
Friday evening I slept quite well I don't think I had a fever and I didn't have the chills. Today I am feeling quite good, but this is something about Malaria as well that at certain times of the day you can feel very good or you can have a good day and then a not so good one. I hope that by Monday I will be well enough to make the trip back to Moz and again I would appreciate prayer for this.
I have been feeling that the Lord has some things for me to learn through getting Malaria. I haven't been one to handle sickness very well. I have had it easy for quite sometime and the Lord has been teaching me a lot. Now it is time for me to put some of that into practice. Worshipping when maybe sometimes I just don't feel like it. Some nights as I lay in bed unable to sleep because I was sweating too much or whatever I would just start to sing songs. Thanking the Lord that He was letting me go through this, I know it doesn't really make sense in away, but we know that the Lord only takes us through difficult times to bring us out stronger on the other side. I hope this might be an encouragement to some of you who are going through difficult times right now. Father never allows anything to come into our lives that cannot make us better if we are willing to let it.
Yours Brother in Christ,
Andrew
This is a picture from last Sunday when we went out to some of the Orphan Rescue Units.
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