Well, we seem to be through the worst of it. The fire’s smoldering, the jump is landed, the bell has rung, and you can all go home. Which is precisely where we are. Home. Mom. Josh. Kent. Alnetta. Michelle. And all the rest who never went to the hospital in the first place. We’ve all survived, there will be no tolling of the bells or lowering of the great big somber boxes. You’ll have to save your dirt to throw for another day. We are in our perspective houses and are very much inclined never to set foot in a hospital again. Or at least not for a very long time.
But we’ve learned some amazing things. We’ve learned that the mission’s trip doesn’t have to end once you step off the airplane and back onto home turf. We’ve learned that there is power and community in the children of God coming together to pray. In Haiti and in good, old Nebraska. We’ve learned how to serve one another. We’ve learned the importance of bathing in Deet (*note to next year’s trip). I am also proud to say that our group is now able to give a very distinguished, comprehensive lecture on the causes, signs, and effects of dengue fever. We also ought to be able to give a very comprehensive lecture on grace. We’ve seen a lot of it.
Twenty-five healthy, robust (more or less) Americans grabbed our passports and sat down on a plane which was meeting another plane which was meeting another plane which was flying to Haiti. All 25 of us made it back. No broken bones. Ten of us got sick after making it back. All ten had dengue fever. Which is not contagious. Which is mild the first time around and worse the second. Did you know there’s actually four forms of dengue fever, and all ten of us got the weakest form? Did you know none of us had any internal bleeding? And of the random ten chosen, no two were from the same family. We had husbands taking care of their wives, wives taking care of their husbands, and mothers scurrying around everywhere.
Dengue fever isn’t that awful. (Eh-hem. Perhaps you ought to qualify that statement. It is made by a healthy, non-dengue-fever survivor.) But this statement is not qualified: God is gracious. It could have been worse. A lot worse.
But we serve a God who even instructs the feverish, irritating mosquitos which missionary to bite and which one to leave alone. Who says He didn’t know what He was doing? Who says it was just random chance? I know differently. We all do. The way it happened, we get to brag on what God has done. This way we couldn’t forget, even if we wanted to. This way the adventure that we thought was going to last a week got tripled in time. (We get our money’s worth, see?) This way we get cool T-shirts: “We went to Haiti and brought back the FEVER!”
