I went to bed last night with my belly all distended. I felt like diarrhea was coming but it wasn’t happening. Finally about 10PM I drifted off after flopping around in bed. The night before there must have been a mosquito under our net as Audrey and I had bites in the morning. I fall asleep with the buzzing sound, not knowing whether they are outside or inside the net. About midnight I wake up with abdominal cramping and go quickly to the bathroom…diarrhea. I fall back asleep and wake up at 4AM as I turn over and my belly makes a huge gurgling sound. I cant fall back to sleep. Guess the time change is still affecting me after a few days here. I go to the bathroom and squirt some more. Guess I’ll stay up now and write you all. I am tired but can’t seem to go back to sleep.
Yesterday was a special Sabbath day. We had the usual church service. A Sabbath school, followed by a church service. That consisted of choir groups singing and a sermon. This was a special Sabbath because it was a baptism day. Outlying churches walked many miles to come to the communal church today and bring their candidates for baptism. They slowly showed up during the whole service. At the end of the service, the fundamentals of following Christ and wanting to be a part of this church were read, with the candidates verbally agreeing after each statement with a “halaow”. The service ended and a water immersion baptism ensued. Each was given a white robe over the cloths they wanted to keep on. The baptismal water is a concrete structure built into the ground outside. It is filled with water. They enter four at a time with the pastor and elders performing the baptism, four at a time. It took a while for about 120 people to be baptized.
Many people greeted us after all was finished. Each stated they were happy to see us shaking our hands, asking how our families were, how our parents were, how our siblings are. We in turn asked the same questions of them. Nearly each stated their desire for us to come back.
In the evening we ate some spaghetti with home made sauce and as I went to bed early, I felt bloated all over my abdomen. Suspecting diarrhea would be coming, I went to bed. I lay there tossing and turning, thinking about my patients, and finally convinced myself that I am not in charge here and was able to fall asleep. It’s easy to fall back into the same thoughts and feelings as before. G