It was so much fun having Bryan visit us. I was getting homesick for the family so seeing Bryan was a great blessing. His visit gave me the hope I needed to survive our final stretch of service here in Africa. Everywhere we went, people loved Bryan and wanted to talk to him. He took us on some wonderful adventures that we would not have otherwise been able to enjoy. I’m slow getting photos processed and experiences ready for posting because on the final leg of our adventure in the bush country, I was bitten on my legs by a flesh-eating spider and a giant African tick. I became deathly ill and required divine intervention to survive. I was fearful of being bitten by a malaria-carrying mosquito as I am a mosquito magnet, but was unsuspectingly devoured by one of the multitude of spiders we encountered. I was treated with Malaria medicine that seemed at times to exacerbate the symptoms. As I endured the darkest and most difficult night to hang onto life I heard these strains of music and the words went through my aching head.
“Abide with me, ‘tis eventide,
And lone will be the night
If I cannot commune with thee
Nor find in thee my light
The darkness of the world, I fear,
Would in my home abide.
O Savior stay this night with me;
Behold, ‘tis eventide.”
I felt a calming presence with me throughout the night. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” When the sun rose after the darkest night, I put my left hand across my right forearm and thought, “Hooray! I’m still clothed with mortality!" I was cool. My many days and nights of pain and fever had finally subsided and I was on the mend.
Thanks to prayers, priesthood blessings and ultimately the tender mercies of a loving Father in Heaven, I am finally well, though am still struggling to regain my full strength. I’m grateful, so grateful to have lived to tell about it. So I’ll be playing “catch up” for awhile regarding this leg of the journey here in magnificent Africa.
