My Infirmary

     The last two weeks, i was in Tennessee! During those two weeks i was on two different teams. The first week i was there i was on the 'Ignite PREP team'! The second week i was there, i was on the 'Ignite RSA team'. There was such great guest speakers and labs. It was an amazing two weeks! I am extremely grateful for the time i had there. I made some amazing friends and the fact that i wasn't occupied with school, i was able to rest in God. I had a fabulous time! But I'm here to talk mostly about the first week.

     As i said i was on the 'Ignite PREP team'. 'PREP' is an acronym. It stands for Pursuing Responsibility and Excellence Purposefully. We arrived at the ICC training center on January 7th. To give a little bit of context i was leaving a house FULL of sick people with the flu. I was very glad to be leaving, but i was also scared that i would be taking the sickness with me. Turns out, I DID! When i was on the plane, i thought it was just fatigue. But after i arrived and i was with everyone hanging out, i knew was sick. I had a migraine, not much of an appetite, i was extremely weak and achy everywhere, I had a really bad cough and i was just plain tired. That night i was not able to sleep. For lack of bedding my bed was the floor, i didn't mind it, but the flatness did not help anything. I was coughing a lot and just sitting there. I was afraid i was keeping the others up so i kind of just chilled in the bathroom coughing, listening to my iPod and sucking on a cough drop i conveniently had in my backpack.

     The next day i called my mom to see what she thought and i had the same exact symptoms as my family....i had the flu. I then asked one of the girls to go get our leader because i didn't have the energy to get up. She came, and i told her that i thought i had the flu. She allowed me to stay in what we call the "blue room", got me some medicine, and made me eat some fruit. That day i stayed there watching movies, sleeping whenever i could, and memorizing every crack, crease and line in the "blue room". That night, one of the girls had a stomach bug. She threw up a couple of times and told our leader that she'd probably throw up more that night and asked if the other girls would evacuate the "blue room". So I finally had company! YAY! no. I did not want anyone else sick. I genuinely was sad that she was sick. But yes the next day i did have company in my infirmary. We surprisingly had a lovely time. We talked about anything we could think of, took naps, purposefully watched and critiqued a stupid TV show, and watched a couple of movies. It was refreshing to have someone there. 

     But i do have a point to all of this! I normally don't share my sick adventures, most people don't find them even remotely interesting. During the first day (when i was all alone) I wanted to be in my own bed, i wanted to be where my mom could make me nice warm gumbo and take me to the doctor to get prescribed medicine. I wanted to be where i had actual Internet connection so i could have countless selections of movies online. I just wanted to be home. But i couldn't! I was in Tennessee and that wasn't going to change. I was aware of the fact that it wasn't going to change, but that did not stop the longing and wishing. One of the things my leader told me to do was to drink LOTS of water. So, fill in the blank. You drink water, it has to exit. The more you drink the more often you have to let it leave. I was going to the bathroom a lot! And pleasantly *sarcasm present* on the mirror someone wrote "you are exactly where God wants you to be"....well crap. NOW i knew i had to stop wanting to be home, and i now i was aware that my yearning was sinful. yaaaaayy...... I had to except that i was where i needed to be. 

     The next day my sick-mate did recover, as they thought would happen. But i was not fully recovered. I was able though to exit the infirmary, but not for long i still took naps and went back into the blue room most of the day. It was a total of two days stuck in there and one day not completely stuck but still stuck. Then Saturday came and i felt a LOT better. I still was weak, and not allowed to do much, but i was able to go with only one nap. Sunday i recovered mostly, I say "mostly" because I STILL have a cough. But the point is. I learned a hard lesson. It was made clear to me that i needed to be there, even though i did not want to be there. The next few days i was able to enjoy myself and get to know my teammates more. I had a wonderful time and i am glad that i went. So the next time you feel like you aren't where you're supposed to be and wanting to be somewhere else, take a step back. Pray to God to see if you are actually where He needs you to be. 

Ignite PREP team (L to R: Morgan, Bethany, Michelle, Me, Nicolas)