Medical Trip

About two weeks ago I had a small bump behind my ear. To me, it felt and looked like a boil was starting, so I didn’t think much of it. I've had a few before. I spent 4 days away from home as I was doing some research to the east. It bothered me a little, but I was able to still do my work without it slowing me down too much. The day that I came back the spot had grown in size, bigger than a quarter. We kept a very close eye on it here, and it looked like it was a huge boil that wasn’t going to drain itself. My supervisor said that it would be in my best interest to go to the capital city and have it lanced by a doctor.

So what does that mean? 12 hour drive to see the doc. The doctor tells me that it’s a cyst that got infected. The doctor drains it and tells me that she needs to see me again in about 5 days to check if the cyst can be and/or needs to be removed. So I had to stay in Dakar for a little bit longer than I thought. Since I was there, I went to the dentist and was able to do some other things that I could only do in Dakar. I spent the next five days just hanging out and relaxing.
I go back to the doctor 5 days later and the doctor tells me that it is healing nicely. She then tells me that the way that this it’s healing it could have been a boil or a cyst. The doctor tells me all the things that I need to look out for and tells me that I can go back home. So I take another 12 hr drive.

After almost a week of being away, it sure felt nice to come back and to see my friends again. But that also means getting back to work….I don’t think I’ve ever been so eager to get back to work before.

The worst road ever!!!

I just came back from a 4 day trip. It was a very productive trip where I was able to find tons of information that will be useful for churches and people like you that want to come and work with the Fulakunda. I was at one village talking to some people about the best way to get to a larger village to the south. One person told me to take the right road when it forks ahead, and the other dude told me to go stay straight because that way would be easier. Then the first person said that his way would be easier. So I asked which one would I see more villages (in case I get lost) and they told me to take the right.

After about 10 kilometers down this road I start to see some really deep sand. And a motorcycle is not the easiest thing to ride in sand. Over time I've gotten really good at riding in the sand and I've learned a lot from the 2 falls that I have had in the sand. But after this small patch of deep sand I look ahead…and I didn’t like what I saw. As far as I can see, deep sand!!! Oh it was fun, at times I had to crawl and when I did get some speed I had to struggle to keep the bike going straight as it wants to go sideways in the sand. And did I tell you that the sand was HOT?!?!?!! Depending on the way that you look at it, it was a fun 20 minutes or a long 3 miles!!!

Sometimes I get in to some rugged areas, and it takes a lot out of me to travel on them. But that makes me think even more about Africans that travel these roads regularly, and they do it by foot or by donkey cart. Africans are some tuff people and many of them are tuff to get to. But their need to hear the Gospel is the same as everyone else. Please pray that the Gospel spreads throughout Africa that it would not be hindered by a difficult road.