Crazy!

This weekend has been crazy including Thursday. Yikes! Let's go through day by day, it's just easier...

Thursday:
NuSkin Japan and NuSkin Korea came to SAFI to check everything out and see how SAFI is doing. It was really exciting to see some of them that we already got to see when we went with them to the Vitameal plant. Emily presented to them the solar dryer and the research that we are doing with it. It was pretty great. She did a really good job. Then I did my workout for the night and packed because we were leaving early Friday morning to join NuSkin Japan and NuSkin Korea again for the day.

Friday:
Woke up at 4:40 so that we would leave on time at five in the morning. It was a fun road trip early though! We were with NuSkin Korea in the beginning of the day and we loved it! We went to a village that is a part of the Brighter Future Initiative and we got to see the daycare and such. We were all welcomed with dancing and singing! How lovely! It was really fun and especially fun to see the Koreans getting into the dancing. They were so fun and sweet! The Malawians loved it. After visiting with them and giving the little children the Vitameal porridge, we were off! They danced with us as we left and a couple of the women were standing in front of me trying to teach me the feet movements of the dance. I thought I was doing okay, but I guess I needed some extra help. It was really fun! They would laugh when I messed up, but we just kept at it! I even got to sign the visitor book of the village! I felt really special. Then as we were heading to lunch, the NuSkin Korea van pulled over and gave us cold water! YES! It was amazing! They are so nice to us. We had a delicious lunch. It was some of the best food, yet again, that I have had from being in Malawi. We had a mini meat pot pie, salad, apples, a vegetable bean salad, cabbage, egg rolls, etc. Just delicious! For the rest of the afternoon, we went with NuSkin Japan to an orphanage. The kids were so sweet! The children would just come up to you and would be your best friend for the time you were there. The young girl that came up to me was named Martha. She was very sweet and wants to be a doctor. The kids had a little performance for us after we toured the orphanage. When we had gone with NuSkin Korea, they gave the village gifts and toys, and NuSkin Japan gave the orphanage gifts and toys as well. The kids at the orphanage also eat Vitameal. It was very exciting to see the kids who were once very skinny and unwell that are now healthy from the Vitameal.
After all that excitement we sad goodbye to our NuSkin friends and the orphans and went to our hostel, Mabuya Camp. I decided to just read until I went to bed. Renee and I were going to stay in a tent this time because it is less expensive. As we were talking and laughing, Renee's rash was getting worse and worse and her face and lips were swelling quite a bit! So, I told her we should try and find Emily. We told Emily and decided that Renee should stay at Korea Garden Lodge because for some reason she always breaks out in the rash especially at Mabuya. So we walked to Korea Garden Lodge because we didn't have access to the van and brought all of our things because Renee wasn't going to stay there by herself, so I went along with her. We checked in, showered and got ready for bed. At around 10:00, and then 12:00, and then 2:00 Renee woke up and threw up. She was not feeling well at all. Somehow, every time, I woke up too and was somehow alert enough to ask her questions about how she was feeling and I told her to drink more water so that it wouldn't be as acidic if she threw up again among other things that I said that I just really don't remember. We survived the night, but I kept waking up even if she wasn't waking up too because I felt like I would miss her if she did wake up sick again. So we didn't get much sleep that night.

Saturday:
It's Malawi's Independence Day! We woke up and went to the complimentary breakfast and Renee had a piece of toast and some slices of an orange. She still wasn't feeling too great, and her rash was still pretty prominent, but it went away on her face. We ended up going to the hospital that day and stayed there for a good while in lines and getting her blood tested and whatnot. Finally she was given a bunch of medicines and they told her that she has a bacterial infection in her blood. Yikes! So off we went back to Korea Garden Lodge to have her rest and hopefully better! We grabbed some food on the way back so that she could eat before she had the pills since she had still been feeling nauseous all day. Since I was pretty tired too, I just chilled at Korea Garden Lodge with Renee. Renee fell asleep after eating a little bit of food and I just sat and read. Somehow, I just wasn't tired enough to fall asleep. That night we had more food and Renee took her pills. Later she ended up throwing up again, and some of the pills were bright pink, and she had lost some of those that night too. We just decided to just wait to take the other round in the morning. She was fine the rest of the night, but I kept waking up because of different noises around the hostel I guess, so then I would look over to see if she was okay. Needless to say, it was a rough night again for me.

Sunday:
Renee had some breakfast again, and was able to keep it all down! Yay! She had her pills and it's the afternoon now and she feels better already. Thank goodness! We went to Church. It was Fast Sunday so we had Testimony meeting. It was wonderful to hear the different testimonies of the saints here. They are so new to the church and have such a wonderful energy and testimony! I really feel like I belong in this Branch in Lilongwe now. Before I kind of felt like an outsider still and not very sure of myself with everyone around, but now, I feel like I belong. I feel like I am a part of the Branch and know the members much better. In the very beginning, the first week we went there, all of the members were so welcoming, it just took me time to get to know everyone's faces and names better for me to truly feel a part of the Branch. We headed back to SAFI for the day.

What an adventure we had. It was pretty incredible. And I thought it was going to be a boring weekend. No sir! Excitement galore! I wonder what this next week holds! You never know.