Saturday - December 23, 2006

We got up and were ready to leave at 7am. I was feeling terrible and wanted to stay in bed. Mrs. Hadley told me to get up but not to get dressed, because they would leave me at the pastor’s house where we were going to eat breakfast. We left at 7:15am and saw little bit of snow. We ate at the pastor’s house. Then they all left except the pastor’s wife and I.

The pastor instructed me to take a long hot bath which I did. Then the pastor’s wife gave me some tea and showed me where I could sleep. I drank the tea and fell right asleep. I woke up periodically, but always fell back asleep immediately. I was so thankful for this couple. I think God knew that I needed rest and He sent this couple to my rescue. People traveled for more than 15 hours just to attend the meetings and then the pastor’s wife, who lived nearby, opted to stay at home and nurse the American back to health.

Around 2pm, Nadya and the pastor came back. I got dressed and we ate lunch. It was very good. We had spaghetti, which I had been craving. Strange what things you crave in another country. They fed us a lot of honey, saying that honey was good for the sick.

We traveled to the church where the afternoon meetings were being held. The youth from that church washed the bus. I didn’t even recognize it since it had been so dirty. I went into the church and the whole team was excited to see me. When introductions began, I tried to stay in the pew, but they dragged me up front. The crowd was extremely pleased that God had enabled me to be back with them.

I helped Jarrod and Helen with the children that night. There were three holy terrors, which proves that children are the same around the world. What I really found amazing was that when I started to help Jarrod with the children, I was feeling very ill. However, in about 10 minutes, I had a lot more energy and was able to lead out in the program.

It reminded me of how Ellen White would be suffering from an illness and couldn’t function very well. Then when it was her turn to speak, she walked to the pulpit and had a clear voice and was able to spread the Word. When she was done preaching, she became ill again. That is how it was with me. When I needed to teach, God gave me the energy, but when I was done, I found the nearest chair and just sat down.

After the evening meeting, we had supper. Then we had a small good-bye party since Phoebe, Justin T, Dr. Ashworth, and I were leaving straight from the church to go to the airport. We got all of our suitcases and stuff out of the bus and loaded into a small car. We rode all night to get to the airport in time for our 6:45am flight.

The poor driver had a hard time staying awake. After he got us to the airport, he had to turn around and drive all the way back. There was black ice on the road, which made it even more dangerous.