La Sonya

I love Christmas here. My famil goes all out. I’ll tell you about it soon. Just wanted to let everyone know that all is well here. I feel the Christmas spirit and it’s beautiful. My famil has been working for the last few days to prep for yesterday and today’s activities/feasts. They included a lamb, lettuce, peanut oil and lots of people. Hope that’s enough to wet your appittite for my upcoming blog about it all!! Just so you know I am heading out tomorrow after Liz and I work the night shift at the hospital. The 4 of us (Hans, Esther, Liz and me) are going on our big adventure to Camaroon. Yup, that’s right we are going international! Ohh, Ahhh, Ohhh!!! I know it’s exciting and new. Doesn’t get better than that! I will hopefully have internet so I will have some new blogs up and hopefully some new pics as well! Pray for us on our journey we’ll be back the 3rd –ish of 2000 and 8!!!. Thanks. Love you all!!

Is a blue heron clean or unclean?

Thanks Joe, Will, Kenny and the amazing Christine!!! My kids went nuts over it. It took them only a small amount of time to catch on, then it was like wild fire. We played it 5 times and I won all but one. Must be all the language study helping my brain. They all wanted to win so badly we ended up playing into the night by the glow of the moon! Luckily the cards are huge – the size of a Christmas greeting card. *champ = field Can I just state for the record that there are no starving student missionaries at my ut. It is such a huge battle to fight sometimes. They are a giving culture and fat is beautiful. So sometimes not only do I have my Ama telling me to eat the whole huge plate of rice, potatoes, beans, or whatever the meal might be sometimes the kids join in! Then I’ve got Nano saying, “Oh Sonya just a bit more” or Clarice telling me I haven’t eaten anything yet! Sometimes at breakfast Mature will talk to Ama way over by the kitchen hut and say – in French – that I don’t have much

Sometimes I’m a little scared. I feel God calling me to be a prayer warrior here. Constantly I see a need and feel a pull. The millions of kids that need to see Jesus and know true love. Those who work at the hospital, our plan for a VBS/FLAG (Fun Learning About God) camp in the spring, my kids and famil, Liz, Hans, Esther, where God is leading me here in Béré, and after. Not to mention all my friends at the hospital. Esrom—the first person I’ve ever given any form of Christian literature to all because He wanted something to occupy his time. He is now reading Steps to Christ in French and he loves it! All of the people I’m communicating with back home. I feel a huge fear because I don’t know how to do this. I’ve stopped getting up so early – well at least not at 4:45 anymore and the early mornings aren’t always regular. I know God can provide but prayer is a big deal. And sometimes well, a lot I’m afraid I won’t do it or I’ll just fail. Forgive me my self doubt. Give me strength. I do

I figured out why lots of meats taste like chicken – because chickens eat everything! They’ve eaten spaghetti, rice and a plethora of other things I have dropped from the table while I am eating. I’ve even seen them eat frogs too! Who knows what else they’ve eaten. Hense the reason lots of things taste like chicken. . . or is it chicken taste like lots of things and what we say taste like chicken doesn’t really taste like chicken but frog or something else. Thoughts to ponder from Africa. Our lives are changing again!! We’re turning into a real live mission hospital. If all continues to go as planned we will have a real live pilot and his family all complete with a real mission plane. Wendy and Gary (fellow comrade graduates from Southern) are moving here to start work on a mission plane program here in Africa, the same organization that David Gates started in South America. Their kids are so cute and sweet. Even more people here who speak English. We now have our own tribe of people,

I keep forgetting that next week is the week of Christmas! It seems to be just flying by us all. Soon it will be my big birthday the huge-O 25!! Yippie, start sending the over the hill cards now :O) I hope that during this time you are all able to take some time and turn off all the electricity, run down your computer batteries and sit by a fire with those you love and just be. It is the greatest thing in the world. I wish it for all of you. In that time of no electricity I also suggest that you talk about all the amazing things God has done for you in your year. Trust me there is a lot that He has done for you, just look. While I am celebrating my hot holiday here, dancing to my Topouri music I will think of all of you, and pray that one day we can all sit together in front of the fire and turn off the electricity and just be.

I know that with the holidays coming it is harder and harder to sit down at a computer to write. So to help us all out with communication I have created some ready made notes. All you have to do is cut and paste, fill in if needed and send to sreaves@southern.edu . If you want to make it even easier all you have to do is reply to this blog, just know that I can’t reply to you unless you leave your email address. Enjoy the holidays. Ready made note for those who have a little bit of time (cut and paste): My dearest Sonya, It has been _______ since I last saw you. I read your blog (once in a while/ never/ ALWAYS) _______ . It always makes me feel ________. I wanted to take a moment to let you know that _____________. And that I have a ________. I hope to see you again when you return. I love you (more than I love cheese/ like I love my brother/ truly madly deeply) ___________. Signed, forever your avid ________... Or for those of you who don’t have any time at all to write: Hey Sonya, S

Started an iv the other day. Found out today I can’t start them anymore, because I am not a trained nurse. Fine with me because less responsibility for me. Having a Christmas staff appreciation day for the staff – hence the title staff appreciation. We are going to show the nativity story in English because apparently the French in france could care less about organized religion. But we are going to read the story in French and nadjere before the movie starts. Swallowed a tiny pill last night before I went to bed with out water, not the first time i’ve done it and now it’s stuck in my throat. Ugg. It hurts. Don’t know how to get it out. Any ideas? I’ve been teaching Mowgli to shake, but I call it Lapia. Not to bad so far. I’m also working on sit and speak. But I don’t really know how to do that. Any ideas?

I love knowing that I am being prayed for. Do you know the feeling? It’s a deep love from people because they love you enough to ask God to help you. It’s a feeling of being remembered by those you think of often. It’s a sense of peace because you have lots of people petitioning God for you, the more the better. There is power in prayer. Thank you for taking the effort to pray for me. Know that you too are in my prayers from Africa.

Last Thursday Sarah (Appel) and I went to Lie (I have no idea how to spell it I just know it is said Lie) to get some more meds from the public med place. Two of the nurses came with us because they weren’t working and wanted to visit their family there. It was a nice little drive, just 30 min on the road going away from Kelo and N’djamena. Then you get to the river right on the outside of the village and you can pay to take the truck across or you can get out and take a canoe and just carry the stuff back, it’s not far to the market and pharmacy. So in order to save 3,000 CFA we took the canoe. The village is nice; it’s bigger than our little back in the bush, Béré. The market was open and we got to look at a bunch of material to make curtains for the new rooms. Then we ate some beef noodle pasta stuff at a restaurant. (I tell you I am turning more and more into a carnivore every day! Not that I like beef) we loaded up on all our supplies and headed back, as we got cozy in our canoe t

Long time no talk! We’ve been pretty busy here. Last Thursday Liz, Esther and I moved into the big American house! Our friend, Allison, who has been staying with Rich and Anne, needed a place to stay while Anne and Richard went up to N’djamena for some meetings. So we volunteered to stay with her in the house so she wouldn’t have to be along. Ahh, nuts all five of us getting to stay under one roof for a whole week . . . :o) Needless to say it wasn’t like pulling teeth. So we are now on Tuesday and we will go back to our respected huts on Thursday evening. Let’s get honest now. I have decided that the two places of living have their ups and downs. I will list them starting with the Hut: Hut + Speak French Not worry about cooking food Own living space I get to love a family I understand the culture much faster I am exposed to the culture Hut – Harder to see the others Feel guilty about not spending time with my hut fam. Pressure to eat all of the food Certain eating times N

Ramadan came back yesterday for his next dose of meds for TB. It was so nice to see him again. It’s amazing how much better he looks. I think if I was in the states right now I’d be mailing things all the time. I’d plant a garden, go camping, and participate in Sabbath School and Church. I’d clean and decorate my house. I’d live and love all those around me. I’d feed lots of people – always, I’d open my home to those in need and I’d give thanks everyday to God for His providing all of that.

I’ve been letting my mind wander lately about what I’ll be doing next year. It’s so amazing and exciting because I know God is guiding in my life. I’ve got camp to go back to – Praise God for camp Alamisco. But after that who knows?! I emailed Boston College about reapplying. We’ll see what he says. I could settle down again in Collegedale area and work, maybe Colorado is still calling my name to work as an adventure based counselor. Perhaps I’ll go west to California or East to New England. Really I’m willing to go wherever God leads. Because wherever He leads things are bound to happen. I’ve got not fear in Christ. Look at how He’s lead in the past – SAU for 5 years with hard times, Honduras for a year, my internships for school – all 3! Working at camp Alamisco and all the great friends I have from there. He’s led me here to Tchad. A place where He has taken me out to the wilderness so that he can speak tenderly to my heart and create me to be a true woman of God. By looking at all

Four months tomorrow. I can’t decide if that’s a long time or not :o) A day or so ago I watched the livestock network again. It was called Fowl Play. The chickens were everywhere. They were searching for food but in the process they would get angry at each other. The mother hen would cluck and peck at any other chick that came close to her chickens. The “teenage” chicks would pick random fights with each other. When they did they would circle each other then run at each other and chest butt/claw at each other then repeat. Chickens are strange yet tasty. . . I’ve had more poultry since being here than I think ever in my life –maybe. On Sunday I helped pluck a pentad- guinea fowl and watched Ama heat it to get all the feathers out – which are amazing to look at and see how they grow. Then I helped her cut it so she could prep it for the sauce. Not to bad tasting either.

We’ve gotten reports from the northern states of the USA that snow has already fallen in droves. Well I’ll have you know the mornings around 4:45am I’ve had to put on my hoodie, socks and pants most every day since Turkey Day. It’s gotten quite cold. A frigid 70F. I’m glad I brought my Alamisco hoodie other wise I’d freeze! Mock us if you must for being cold with 70F temp but we’ve embraced it for the winter temp it is. Besides when the sun isn’t there to warm you get cold. My only concern now is how am I ever going to survive in the AC? I remember the summer I came back from Honduras. I worked for FLAG (Fun Learning About God) camp on a traveling team and every Sunday when we drove I had to ware a long sleeve shirt in the van and take it off when we got out because my team wouldn’t let me turn the AC off, they kept saying something about it being hot in Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina in July . . . go figure.

That’s what my famil did last night. And I enjoyed every min of it. Nano wanted to listen to Topouri music last night on my cassette tape player. So we did and of course we listened to some good dancing music. They all said I danced well – so HA! SDA bad rhythm and white girl syndrome. They were joking and saying, “Oh, Sonya you’ve been to Fianga [their village]” and in translating the song Ama said it said, “Sonya dances well, welcome Sonya to Fianga”. I told them it was because I live with people from Fianga and I eat their food. We all laughed and danced some more. While I was dancing I thought about Adventist and how as a church they don’t encourage dancing. I’m not sure what our local church things but to me being there with my famil under the stars dancing to music on an old cassette tape by the glow of a lantern I knew Jesus would have done the exact same. At that time it was all about a relationship with them, about knocking down barriers there will be time for doctrine later.

Thanksgiving's come and gone! I can hardly believe it. It seems like I just got here but now it’s almost Christmas. Next month starts the down hill descent. It only picks up more speed from here on out! Quite often I have found my mind wondering to the future. What’ll I be doing? Where will I be living? Things like that. I hate how I never feel settled for more than a year because then the whole year I am always wondering and thinking about what I’ll be doing next year. Are we ever content with where we are? Monday, November 26, 2007 Why do I just want to crawl under a desk and hide so I can have a good cry? It’s right there waiting, always on the verge. I must need it because last week I dreamt that I was weeping and I woke up with tears streaming down my face and I just lay there and let them fall, and let myself slowly stop sobbing. I couldn’t communicate with a worker here, and it made me feel angry. I don’t think it would have been any easier if we bo

It’s like watching TV in the living room with it on mute and the same movie is on in the bedroom with the volume up a bit It’s like not being able to find the exact frequency on the radio so you listen to it with the funny shrill ringing It’s like you’ve eaten a green banana feeling on your tongue It’s moving your head so fast your eyes can’t keep up. So you feel dizzy It’s like taking a pill you know will take away your apittite but you have to take it with food or you’ll barf. And when you don’t feel like eating cause you feel sick you have to eat cause oddly enough it’ll help you not feel sick. It’s exausting It’s a nasty tasting It’s a pain to take 3 times a day It’s worse than malaria symptoms . . . (maybe)

Well. I know this is a while after thanksgiving but the stupid email has been down and so it wouldn’t have gone out till now anyway. . . so get over it :o) The day began not as I would have guessed. Liz and I had postponed our wed morning prayer walk to Thursday because of me being EXAUSTED with malaria and all. So it was a really nice way to start the day in all reality of it. Then once I was at the hospital Hans asked me if I could cover his English classes because he was going to drive Pierre to Lie for some meds. I was saddened that I wasn’t asked to go as well, but I told myself it’s not the end of the world and I got to go to Kelo the few days before. So I told Hans sure I’d teach. I couldn’t go down to Anne and Richards till after 1 pm anyway because of a meeting Hans and I had with Anatole. So after I gave out TB meds I started figuring out what I would teach. It had been almost 4 years since I taught English before! Not that I forgot any of the material

On Tuesday I decided that our packages needed to be gotten so that we could use the tasty ingredients inside Sarah/Esther’s boxes from home :o) Early Tuesday I loaded up the empty crate/box of Liz’s that we used last time and lugged it all the way to the market. We knew for a fact that there were 3 boxes – one for each girl SM. But with this group you can never tell how many there will be. So I secured my motto and we were off. It was so fun. I’ve always loved taking out our jet skis as a kid and just going fast. Feeling the wind and sun. So of course I love going anywhere on the mottos, even if they’re a bit dodgy. I find that it always seems to increase my prayer life. . . you know, things like, “dear Lord please help my motto to not fall apart before I get back to Béré”, or “Thank you Father that all those goats and pigs got out of the way before we crashed right into them!” I arrived in Kelo with out incident, which says a lot in comparison to our last trip into Kelo. S

Thanksgiving!!!!!! We are heading down to the other side of town to Anne and Richard’s house to have ourselves a Tchadian feast! Complete with chicken for the carnivores, and gluten for the veggies. As well as all sorts of pies and dressings! I can’t wait! I hope all of you back in America have a great holiday and take some time to really think about what you have to be thankful for (a homework project will be coming up soon for all of you about that). Enjoy being with friends and family, sitting inside where it’s warm and just laugh a lot. Laugh and be happy!! I’ll let you all know how things went later! Besides I’ll be half way done with my Turkey day festivities before yours even begin. Love you and I thank God everytime I think of you and what you are doing for me. Sonya

news update from the land of bucket showers to the land of porcelain toilets a.. Simba died b.. The sunsets are amazing c.. It's been raining a few times and it's not supposed to d.. Mowgli is great! e.. One of the baby sheep died f.. Mowgli gets to eat it g.. X-ray machine is working and I run it. h.. I'm going to kelo tomorrow i.. Malaria #4. yippie. j.. The car/Toyota truck is back and working! k.. We use it to go to the river! l.. Esther is on the Mend m.. I miss my family and friends in America!! n.. I got mail on Sunday and tomorrow I get a package! o.. Thanksgiving is here and that's great p.. It's already November! q.. Almost December!!!!!!!!!!!!!! r.. 3 ½ months here

I keep wanting to say Amish, but they're not they're Arabic/Muslim. And they're right outside my hut door, yup that's right, right outside my door. They got here Monday night because one of the women was discharged from the hospital and their village I guess is to far away. Anyway I thought they would only be here for a night but it's going on the 3rd night now and the Amish are still here :o) My Ama speaks Arabic so that's how come they are here. Strange part is the woman who was in the hospital was there for a C-section and her baby died. I had been inthere to help with circulation so she knew who I was. Wed morning Liz and I go for our prayer walk at 5:15ish and since they r right outside my door they know I left and when I got back they asked me (with are amazing African signlanguage) where I was. So I told them I went to pray to Allah, of course using my African sign language. A perk to having them here is I'm awake early because I hear them, outside m

Jenny had been in orbit Since breakfast time. From school she rushed off To a girl scouts meeting, A trampoline class, And then a pep rally. Jenny needs a sugarless, Energyless soft drink Like a Beatle needs A hairpiece. Two - four - six - eight, what Does she appreciate? Sugar It quenches fatigue Note to mothers How much energy does your child get from the synthetic sweetener in a bottle of diet soft drink? Exactly none. And who much energy does she need? You tell us - and ask yourself if you're doing her a favor when you stock the refrigerator with no-sugar soft drinks. She'll drink them - her thirst craves anything that's cold and wet. Bur if you want her to have the energy she needs, you'll bring home the kind with sugar. *Sugar's got what it takes. . . 18 calories per teaspoon-and it's all energy.* ~found this amazing add in an old Life magazine from the 60's that I brought to decorate with. Gotta love it :o)

Last night over at Anne and Richard’s house was so great. We were all realized and contend. Anne fixed some pizza with real cheese! James and Sarah had brought it with them from somewhere when they came back from Kosa, Cameroon. Richard then recounted his and Anne’s story :o) it’s a good one. But I loved how he was able to include God in it and I loved and agreed completely with text: Delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalms 37. That’s why a relationship with God is so important. Your hearts desires will be God’s desires if you have a good close relationship with God. I’ve found in Psalms 73 where it says, “Whom have I in heaven but You? I desire you more than anything on earth.” If we desire Him then His will for us will be come our will. On top of all the conversations about love’s beginnings and all I felt so content and at peace with where I am. I am happy being here in Tchad. I am very happy with who God is creating me to be right now. As I sat on

My brother’s name is Christopher Reaves. People say he is superman. Growing up I knew he was. He survived flipped car accidents (2) in high school, when he was born I think the cord was around his neck or something, he’s survived about a bagillion accidents with either stitches or staples and he could always win in our wrestling matches. But recently I’ve discovered he’s not the only one with super powers. I too have them. Yup, it must run in the family. Would you like to know what it is? (no Ben, it’s not the power to make any situation awkward or embarrassing) I have the x-ray vision. In fact on Thursday or Friday I used my powers and way that a man had a busted arm with a calcium growth on it! He was using his arm to carry stuff and had gone in to the Hospital in Kelo to find out what the big hard bump was in his arm. He must have busted it a long time ago and got it set by a local med/local healer and they didn’t set it right. So God gave me the task of x-ray vision here. It’s amaz

[I think Sonya wanted me to post this from an email she recently sent me when she discovered a music cd at the hospital that we sent the SMs a few years ago. --Andrea K.] First I saw the sm boxes in Brock Hall and wrote a message my freshman year. Then two years later I was in Honduras craving messages, notes anything from my friends at southern. So I said to myself when I get back I am going to help get notes out to the SMs serving. The year I came back I had a HUGE push for notes, there were thousands of notes sent out to 100 missionaries all over the world. The next year I helped again to make sure the notes were getting sent out as well as start putting together the book to send out to new SMs with random things in it. Then I passed on my office space but still helped with the SM stuff. Here I am now 6 years after I started sending things to SMs and I am receiving things that I started, things I never ever intended to receive in a packet, yet things I would have wanted when I was

The Austrailians, Lily and Paul, are heading back home. They’d been here almost as long as me and Liz. Cristinal, the Portuguese nurse from France, is also heading home to France. She’d been here for 5 weeks-but it seems like longer. The good news is we finally got our car back (see James blog from back in July to find out what happened to the car) and so at least they don’g have to take public transportation back up to N’Djamina. But Sarah’s dring with them up there to make sure everything goes alright. Which leaves me, Liz, Hans and James here all by our lonesome little selves, we’ll be the only ones at the house for the next few days. Esther is over at Anne and Richards—the missionaries who are here with some non-denominational ministry. They’ve been in Africa for years. They even speak Nandjere, which to me makes them really smart! They’re great. They’ve been back from their son’s wedding for about a month now. We’ve been over twice on Saturday night to eat and sing or play games.

Danny and I spent another late night over pancakes We talked about soccer and how every man's just the same We made speculations on whose and the when's of our futures and how everyone's lonely But still we just couldn't complain And how we just hate being alone Could I have missed my only chance? And now I'm just wasting my time By looking around But'cha know I know better I'm no going to worry about nothing Cause if the birds and the flowers survive Than I'll make it okay Given a chance and a rock See which one breaks a window and See which one keeps me up all night and into the day Because I'm so scared of being alone That I forgot which house I live in That it's not my job to wait by the phone For her to call This days been crazy but everything's happened on schedule From the rain and the cold to the drink that I spilled on my shirt Cause you knew how you'd save me Before I fell dead in the garden You knew this day long before you mad

We were opening our packages and Sarah still wasn’t feeling good. She had been feeling bad even before we left that morning so she was laying down on the couch in the living room. So back in the room Hans made a comment on how she wasn’t looking all that good. Then I was going out to get something and I see she had passed out in the hall and Dr Audrey was holding her. So I peak my head back in the room and tell the other two. While we were all sitting there helping her in the hall, getting her IV in and liquids down her it hit me—I love my family here—My SM family. I didn’t know all that was going on then. It was the start of more than 24 hours of crazy time. Over that time I grew very scared. When Dr Greg, an American certified surgeon, came in around 1 or 2ish Sat am to examine her stomach, because that is where she had been having pain all day and now night, the thought of Appendicitis hit me and I was scared. What would we do” It was al scary for many reasons. I love Sarah—one of

I don’t know how many of you have been reading the other two girl’s blogs but I highly recommend it. Those of you who know already about Sarah/Esther’s ordeal, here’s my take on the whole deal. For those of you who don’t know about it here it is. . . I have no idea where to start . . . why does it seem like I am always starting out a blog this way? Here’s a bullet format of the events: * Friday the girls didn’t work so we decided we would go to Kelo to get the mail as we all know Liz always has about a billion packages and the rest of us a letter or so :o) * 2 moto bikes—we’ve learned where to ask for a ride into Kelo and where not to. Liz and I on one and Sarah and the empty box on the other * Flat tire for me and Liz—2 hours waiting! Broken bike for Sarah and box—3 hours waiting! Problem was we didn’t know that each other was broken. We figured that the other one was already at the post office that closes at Noon. * Arrive Kelo—40 min till noon. Took the

I am well on my way to my wrangler-hood! Sarah, the daughter of the visiting Doctors from Cameroon, and I have been ridding a lot more, going in the afternoon on Wednesday and early morning on Saturday. She has been ridding Bob, the horse that broke his hip at a very young age and I rode Pepper, the horse of the same age who has only two speeds—fast and then beaucoup fast. When we went for our ride last Wednesday it was great fun. We took the Australian couple most of the way ridding double to the market, and then we took off the other way. On the way we decided to see if we could get them to trot some. Off course they wanted too, the only problem was Pepper thought that we were headed home . . . which we weren’t. Since I haven’t ridden him a whole bunch we aren’t too used to working together, and he wanted to go home—fast. I don’t like it when he chooses the speed, so I tried to stop him which is hard at times. He didn’t stop and all of the sudden he turns right, which I wasn’t expect

Do you know for sure if your rinse cycle really rinses?? How often do you check your spin cycle?? How gentle is your gentle cycle?? Here in Africa Liz and me know each and every step of the process. This last Sunday we carefully watched how it was done. We so carefully observed the process that lasted all morning. It started at 7:30 and ended around 11:30. We made sure the soap was properly applied to each and every article of clothing as well as making sure each article was getting the proper attention it required for difficult spots. We made sure the water was always warm, not hot, and not cold. We even paid special attention to see if it needed to be rinsed extra. How many people back in the states know for sure if their clothes have been properly rinsed? Ours took several rounds to make sure. We even took notice of properly drying each article making sure not to shrink burn or over heat them. Shoot, how many people take that much care with their clothing? I sure never thought I w

Today I wanted to cry again. Why? Because I ate the very last guava off the tree next to my hut. It’ll be the last fresh guava I may ever eat here in Tchad. And I love guavas from the tree next to my hut, they are extra sweet! I guess co-existing with my series of new things is a series of lasts. My last guava. But don’t be sad, the mango tree is starting to bloom! :o)

I arrived at home ready to eat. After watering my flowers I plop down in my regular wooden folding chair and start to eat my yummy black-eyed peas cooked in tasty peanut oil. As I was eating I decided to watch some TV. So turning on my High Definition TV with surround sound, I flipped between my two favorite networks—Modern Bible times and the livestock network. Today I decided to settle on the livestock network, after all I am from Texas and I am wearing my pretty, pink sparkly Texas girl shirt (thanks mom!) So on the livestock network they are vaccinating the sheep. Using anywhere from 3-10 kids, some regulars on the show and others from nearby, to keep the sheep inside the compound/court yard as well as grabbing the sheep to gently lay them on their sides so the injection could be given in their back hips. This whole show without commercials! One of the sheep was really funny because he acted really funny afterwards, he walked funny and talked a lot and kept trying to lie down then

At 5amish on October 22, 2007 we had two new arrivals to my hut famil. Our mamma sheep gave birth to two healthy little babies, one girl and one boy. They are so cute, they look just like baby sheep, imagine that. There little cords haven't fallen off yet and they are all wobbly when they walk. It only takes 5 months for the little guys to develop inside the mamma sheep. Then poof you've got baby sheep! We have another little sheep that is now 6 months old, same mamma, it only takes 1 month till you can have another batch, it also takes only a year till that baby sheep can now be an adult and have sheep. I've learned a lot about sheep! And I'm not sheepish about that either! Hehe.

Anyone out there who knows me knows that I love to celebrate life. One way I have found to celebrate is by celebrating half birthdays. My half birthday was yesterday, October 22. Six months exactly until April 22 the day of my birth. So in typical Sonya fashion we celebrated. Liz and Ester had worked the night shift so they had the day time off. Around 1ish we started making some what was going to be yummy granola. We cut up guava, almonds, and mixed it up with some dry milk, honey, oats, Uncle Sam's cereal, seedy things from the market, peanut flour, peanuts and peanut oil (they are popular here). Things were going great with the mixture until we tasted the first round of finished granola . . . then we realized NO this was not good. We didn't ever finish it, we hoped that someone else would like it and finish it, we were too dejected to finish. But never fear the festivities were not over, they continued into the afternoon. We four SM's were going to hang out at Hans'

I've realized yet again that we are never far from home. We were sitting in worship the other day (actually on a regular basis) at the hospital and there was a nifty little jingle, someone's phone. Ahhh, what a gentle annoying reminder that technology is very present in my Bible land of Tchad. There is also the world wide titti-twister for the male gender. I saw some boys giving each other one reminds me of being at camp with the silly boy staff. We also have our fair share of fart-ers. Sometimes when I am playing with the kids at home, Swari, the littlest will just fart. Then all the other kids will bust out laughing. Then sometimes we'll be sitting on the mat and out another one will come. It's true you are never all that far from home. The best of them all is when Hans and I were coming home from the capital last month one of the passengers in the van with us was wearing jeans, and on his jeans they said, " Welcome to the Hood". See I'm in the hood, I

I've seen quite a few feet recently. Whenever I help out in the bloc (OR) I usually stand at the foot of the patient. Sometimes I look down at the feet of out patient and I think about them. Their feet show a lot. Just by looking at them I can tell if they work out in the champ, field, or if they wear closed toed shoes or not. I look at the bottoms and wow! They are thick skinned they have gone their whole lives without really wearing shoes. Their toes are thick on the bottom as well from all the walking over hot sand, rice, water and who knows all the different types of roads. The toe-nails are quite thick as well, they don't really trim them. They are often crackly and thick. There are a few, a rare few whose feet don't look like that. I wonder what kind of life they live, they aren't the ones who are in for a hernia, they are usually in for a lobotomy, a bowl obstruction usually. Either way, I've seen my fair share of feet. But that's okay I've always lik

Being here is teaching me about prayer. I feel like prayer is becoming more real to me. How often when I was at Southern was I able to pray so hard for someone like I did for that woman? I was so real-raw, I cried out-I wanted to literally, but instead I talked silently and moved my lips under my mask and cried with my eyes. I know that God's not some magical spell that can be turned on and off to do my bidding. But come on! God's sent us-Yes, each and every one of us the Holy Spirit. We've been given the power to set people free. We should be able to have such a relationship with God that we would do His bidding. Like when you've been friends with someone so long you just know what they want. I want that! I want to be able to say-honestly that I desire You (God) more than anything on earth-Psalms 73. I long to see someone set free not by medicine but by pure power of God covering our shortcomings with Christ's blood. Oh to see that power at work here in Beré.

I wanted the power of the Holy Spirit today so bad. I prayed, I did I prayed to God. I claimed His love and sacrifice for this woman. I prayed that He not look at me because I am very unclean but with the blood of Jesus He look at this woman and heal because I know He wanted to. He answered Job, Peter, John, Paul so many people. I want that kind of relationship with God. So I can so very boldly approach the throne of God and call on His power to heal. By no medical means-straight up power of our Heavenly Father. This beautiful woman shouldn't have died. There was absolutely nothing medically I could do. In fact the only reason I was in there for as long as I was the simple fact that I didn't know how to do anything so I could hold the IV fluid. Because I couldn't do anything medical I called on my Heavenly Father. I called and called. I know He heard me, He hears all of His children. Just for some reason He couldn't bring her out of the code. Why? I don't

I just got back from "visiting" as they put it. I went with Mature (which I found out means Mathew in French) to visit people. We go every now and then, always after we have eaten. I didn't really want to go tonight because I was tired and had a headache. But I don't really feel like I can say no to going and doing the cultural thing and visiting. Besides how often do some of these people get to see a real live Nasara, Arabic for white person, in there house. We went to this one guy's house first. Didn't know him but guess Mature did. Anyway turns out he's been sick for the last two days with some itchy thing in his armpit and two on his butt. I asked him if he had been to the hospital yet and he said no. I sure hope he goes. We didn't stay long there. As we were leaving the house we saw one of his kids on the mat, they said he was the sick one, the handicapped one. He had a large growth on his back. I don't understand why they haven't taken hi

Okay for those of you who are ADD and can't sit still to read all of this here's the bio. New Doctor-Sonya helps visiting doctor. Visiting Doctor gets Sonya to help in the OR. Social worker Sonya gets sterile compresses/gauze for the surgeon as well as helping to tie into their gowns, open sterile things and all sorts of stuff. Sonya see's and helps with a bi-lateral hernia, hydrocile, mastectomy, c-section birth, stab wound, regular and strangulated hernias, double mastectomy and bone scrape and much much more.

Liz was on the schedule for the night so I had secretly planned on coming back to work with her the night to keep her company and to get a better idea of what they have to go through as the work. So I came back after eating a bit at home. I was only home for a bit because the surgeries took sooooo long and I finished after 4pm. I had been back with Liz for a bit (around 7:30 pm) when we had to go over to get Dr. Bond for him to look a patient. Come to find out there was a woman who needed to have a cesarean section birth that night. So since I had already been in the bloc all day they let me help in the OR again! It was my first birth, the baby was great, very healthy and all. Right away even as they were suturing up the woman we started the baby breast feeding. It was a whole new situation for me. A birth. A miracle of life. I helped move the woman after the C-section to her bed and making sure the family knew to breast feed the baby and not give him water but breast milk, everyone kn

Bi-lateral hernia wasn't to bad. It takes a while but not too long. It was nice to have the air-conditioned on me :o) we use it in the OR because of all the lights and long gowns and heat. With this patient there were no complications or anything dodgy. Just get in on the right side right above the groin area, then switch to the left side and do the same. Second man down was for a hydrosol, an enlarged testicle filled with fluid. Sometimes they get so large the man can't walk because his testicle is so large! I mean bigger than a bowling ball!!! Sometimes they think it's manly. . . Anyway he was down on the table and we were opening his testicle and Dr Bond said it wasn't a hydrosol after all, it was a bad hernia that had gone down into his testicle and so we ended up operating on him for a hernia, cutting just above his groin and pulling his intestines back up into the correct abdominal area. Things went smoothly and I wasn't board yet. There is so much to watch an

Dr Bond-surgeon Abel-assisting Simion-Anastasia Me-circulator -meaning I get compresses (gauze) out with sterile tongs and put them very carefully with out touching anything on the table. I also help tie up the doctor and assistant in their gowns as well as make sure they have the right size gloves. If they want anything during the surgery from around the room or outside I also get it for them. Basically I am their dirty hands, their sterile and can't touch anything, so I do it for them.

Dressed in my scrubs I head to work. Quickly give my TB meds so I and suit up to help in the blog while of course trying to look like I do this all the time and I'm not terrified. By the time I get there to help they've already got the first patient on the table and they're getting ready to administer the Anastasia. The first guy in the line up of the day is a bi-lateral hernia; we had seen him yesterday in consultations. I've got my Viagra surgery hat on and my re-used facial mask. Luckily I've found Liz's surgical mask so at lest I knew it wasn't too old. (Just one of the many things we reuse at the hospital.) I've also taken off my crocs to put on the crocs specifically set aside for the bloc; it's those shoes or no shoes in there.

On wed the 3rd of October we were going to have our evening Bible study and it was taking forever to get started mainly because I was very aware of the time as I was waiting for Andrea to call me from the land of porcelain toilets. One of the interruptions was the arrival of another last min short term volunteer, Dr Bond, Dr James Bond. Clearly not his real mane-who would name there child that? It's just a name he chooses to go by, you'd understand if you met him. Well with the arrival of the short term surgeon things changed. On Thursday after I did my TM med rounds I headed over to the house to try and work on the programming. I was met b Dr Bond and soon drafted into the army of medicine. He wanted me to go with him to do consultations at the hospital to see if any of the patients in the waiting room were surgery cases and if they were we put them on the schedule for the following day. Should have known then I'd be busy. I saw more patients then I really have in the enti

I don't know if I am so tired because of working 11 hours yesterday or from the third round of malaria. Sorry I haven't written in a few days the phone company, Tigo is currently a Nogo company. Word on the street is there's a tower down or something. Anyway email comes and goes like the wind theses days. Sometimes one of us 4, SMs check it can receive but by the time we've written something we can't send because the "wind" has shifted again so once again we must wait till we can send again. So much has happened to me in the last 5 days. I'll try to remember it all as I start at the beginning.

the stupid tigo phone company is currently a nogo company. the generator is on the blink. hope to make contact someday again soon. i am still alive. don't stop praying, amazing things are happening here. more later. pray and send email. thank you.

When I got to the hospital for worship at 7am, little Ramadan, one of my little TB guys sat with me for worship, and he and I had a lot of fun I received the full amount of personal contact for the day. We looked at our hands, veins in our hands and tried not to giggle to loudly when we tickled each other. In the afternoon I didn’t worry about working on our math skills like I normally do. Normally I sit with my peds boys and we go over math stuff. We play a round of Uno and then work on numbers. With Climont, I work on going over basic numbers and recognizing them and then with Kumabus, I help him with multiplying and simple addition, which he is good at. With Ramada I go over addition. But yesterday I gave it all a break and we colored pictures. We just sat there and I sang and let them color whatever they wanted to. There was a nice breeze and a bag fluttered over to me so I took it and made it into a kite. I just sat there with the kids and tried to fly my kite. Soon it was time fo

Once upon a time in a land just outside of my hut there was a place that had lions and giraffes roaming the forests, there was a forest stuffed full of all sorts of African animals. Finally at one point in time the people of this land decided they would rather try and make things to live with using the wood from this lovely forest. So down went the trees, down went all the animals living in the tree. Once all the trees were gone, the people decided to put in fields of rice so that they could eat more. Once all the fields of rice came and the lions were killed so that they wouldn’t attack people working in the fields of rice people felt safer. They killed the giraffes so that they wouldn’t feel small and tiny. Now in a time much more recent, people can walk millions of kilometers to a river during the afternoon and return in the evening and not have any fears about being attacked by a stalking lion or a crazed giraffe. Once upon a time in a land far away there was a girl who walked safe

Have you ever seen it? It’s really just dirt. It’s kinda funny because worms eat dirt and so they just poop dirt, it doesn’t even stink or look funny. It is just little organized chunks of dirt. But yet somehow I can’t bring myself to touch it, simply because I know its poo. It’s funny to put water on because it gets bigger, like just add water to make dirt. It’s funny to step on, I step on it all the time because I think they like to poo right in front of my hut door. So next time you go fishing take the time to put out the worm out and feed him a lot of mud so he can poo and you can see it to!

Simba. I know, I know, that’s not even one of the suggestions. But come on, I’m in Africa what better a name. Plus, he does look a bit like a lion cub. I think that it fits nicely. He kinda stalks like a lion too. So Sorry Ben, Thomas, and Andrew—Simba wins.

We are the body of Christ. That was the topic of my sermon I preached on Saturday. Yup, I preached a sermon. I was asked during the song service between SS and church to pray for church service; so I went back to the back room to prep with the rest. While we were back there it became obvious that the person who was going to preach wasn’t there. I looked around me and thought rather impulsively, I’ll preach. I really was afraid that if someone else did it would be a long boring scattered sermon. So in reality the offer to preach was a selfish one. After I realized that I had offered to preach in front of my new church family, I got nervous. Shoot, God, did I run ahead of you again? Well no backing out of this now, so what will I preach on? I opened my Bible and thought about the love chapter in 1 Cor, but didn’t know how to present it then I guess God opened my eyes to chap 12. Practically a sermon ready to go. So that’s how I chose it. I had quickly come up with an outline back in the

On Friday nights I usually get to bed later because we have the missionary group vespers at the house that ends with the generator being turned off around 8ish. By the time I get back to my hut and all settled it it’s later than my normal 8:30pm bed time. This week it was even later because the big generator (that gives the house and hospital power) wasn’t on so we went longer than normal in worship. When I did get back to my hut I wanted to read a bit so I ended up in bed at 10:30pm, and as I went to bed I heard the generator on at the hospital and as I drifted off to sleep my thoughts were prayers being sent up to God for James and whoever else must have been working on the surgery. Then the next thing I knew was I heard Liz calling to me and a bright light coming in my door. It was Liz dressed up in surgery gear coming to get me. They needed me to give blood to the woman who was in the surgery. I was up in a flash trying to find something to put on to go to the hospital

Hey all. Just a little reminder to check out Liz's blog as well as James' they are both great. I will also be posting the link to Sara/Esthers blog as soon as I get it. Blessings.

I got my puppy! I am so excited. I can’t wait to train him (tips are welcome cause I have no idea how to train) and I can’t wait to cuddle with him and have him run to me and for him to just love me. First things first. I need to name him. Suggestions are welcome. I prefer a Bible name because that is always a good tool to start a story about God. But I am not limiting the choices to Bible names. I need to name him soon because he needs to learn his name. So hurry and submit the names. Here’s what I’ve thought of so far: Ranger, Goliath, David, Spunky and Sampson. (Although Sampson was my birds name and he died this week.) He is a bit feisty as he likes to try and play with the sheep we have, and he is light brown with white stockings on his front paws and white sock on his back paws. He’s about 3 months old and his ears and feet are still too big for him. He’s really scared of us right now and it will take some time for him to realize we are good and want to just love on him. He’s a g

Have you ever been sick and it feels like you have been sick for days on end? Well that’s how I feel right now. I have contracted what already three others in my famil have had: a Tchadian bird flu. I got it officially on Tuesday and was quite miserable on Wednesday. I’ve had a fever and more sweat than a monkey on the sun. It would just run down my face. And it didn’t help that the last few days have been really extra hot, so I’ve been told because I was hot anyway. So I’ve felt like the last few weeks I’ve really not been much use to anyone except the tissue makers and the malaria pill makers. Since I went to the capital, whenever that was, I’ve been sick. First with malaria, again, then with this. While in all actuality it might only be 1 week it doesn’t matter because time to me is nothing. I am now on what I believe to be the homeward bound stretch. Only a runny nose now, unless I take one of the few sinus pills I brought with me that makes me really sleepy. At least I am really a

I had a pet bird. His name was Sampson. I made a cage for him and everything. He was a brilliant bright red. He was one of the first things Liz and I saw on our way down from the capital almost two months ago. On our way down Liz said we have to get a picture of one of those. Louis caught him by hitting him with a homemade round marble and a slingshot. They were going to kill him and eat him but I was so excited by him that they gave him to me. I was very excited to have a pet, as there was no dog available for me yet. He lived quite happily I think, in his little upside-down basket turned bird house in the guava tree next to my hut. He ate millet, the round seeds in American bought bird seed. And he even had a few friends for awhile, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abendigo, till they tragically met there end. . . and were eaten by Swari, the littlest. Well one day as we were climbing the beautiful guava tree eating of it’s beautiful fruit, Louis told me that Sampson looked sick and wasn’t doi

Here is the scoop on my communication abilities. I can email. I can snail mail, but I don’t get the mail but every 2 or 3 weeks. I can’t IM or anything like that. I might be able to get online, but it’s a bit expensive. I can talk on the phone! Here’s how you can call me! *net2phone.com Phone cards for .36 cents a min. *voipbuster.com This uses the internet to talk on the phone and its .13 cents a min *Skype This is the same as voipbusters. I would call you but it cost me about .75 cents a min to talk. So if you want to talk, email me the time and we can brush up on English! Remember there is a 6 or 7 hour time difference so that will need to be taken into account! My number is: 964-3799. There aren’t any area codes because there aren’t that many phones. And I am not sure on the country code, but you can look it up online. Hope this helps all of you who are just dying to talk to me :o)

1. On Monday I was talking to Solomon, the American house cook, and we were chatting about the food he was making and I was learning how to make it. As Hans (who speaks both Spanish and French fluently because he graduated with them as his major) was leaving he overheard me talking and Hans told me that my French is getting good! Praise God, I’ve been praying everyday that the Holy Spirit would bless me with the ability to communicate with French and He has! That evening even Clarice (oldest girl in famil) said something along the lines of either I am speaking well or that I am just speaking a lot of French that day. Praise God for the gift of languages. 2. Sarah (now Esther) Liz and I decided we needed to find a way to hang out because we don’t get to see each other very much at work now-a-days. So on the same Monday as above, they came over to my hut in the evening to watch a ‘classic’ African sunset. As we were sitting on my mat right by the compound entrance Ama came out and ask

So the meds I took for malaria 3 weeks ago weren’t strong enough or the mosquitoes are crazy bad this year. Could be both. I started feeling funny again when I was in the capital. I thought it might be something but waited to see. Then I thought it might be because I ate too many guavas’ one day, and then I figured I’d better get tested. And guess what! .05% paludisma. Yup, got the ole bug again. This time I’m on quianane, James says that should get’er done. I just hate the stuff, it makes your ears ring, head light and I still feel sick. (I would like to apologise to Christine because I didn’t believe it was this weird. But it is.) I need to eat right before I take it or it will make me sick so I get to snack in the evenings and mornings. But never fear, as I write this I have been taking it for almost 5 days and I feel great, just a little ringing. The malaria is almost gone and I don’t feel bad—anymore. Malaria just makes me really tired and my stomach gross, hot/cold flashes (like

Okay, I really don’t know what to think right now. But I know that my heart is happy. Why? You say. Well because I know I am being prayed for and I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that God hears those prayers. After I shared with you my low day, God woke me up at my early time, 4:40am and we had some time together. He is soo good to me. Thank you for lifting me up to Him in prayer. Don’t stop!! I also pray for you so that it’s a big circle of prayer. (I feel like Paul must have when he was writing the churches back home :o) Something else really exciting is I had a slow week this week, and had sort of come to a stand still with my projects that I was working on. So I hung out a lot with the boys in peds and played tic-tac-toe with them (I taught them) and I also played Uno with them (which Hans and I taught them). It turned out to be good too that I didn’t work much on the projects because two of the boys were discharged from the hospital at the end of the week and those extra games w