Wasquitoes, mosquitoes, and malaria

Dear friends and family,
Well, this is it! We have one more day until graduating the DTS school! I’ve been waiting for this day for three months. Although I never wanted to skip the three months, I’m glad that they are finally over. We are all exhausted in every way. I thank God that we’ve finished and that we’ve finished well.
I also thank God that he is faithful. He has been so faithful to me through every hardship. Even when I would fall and “forget” to lean on Him, He would still carry me through the hard times. I thank him that through all the times that I’ve been sick He has healed me and that even now He is going to heal me.
Yesterday I went to the hospital and they said that I have malaria AGAIN. Yep. Third time in six months. It can get really discouraging if you lose focus on the reason why God brought you here. Yesterday I did just that. I went to the hospital to get checked for malaria, but I thought for sure that I didn’t have it again. I was SHOCKED when they said that I have it again. I was thinking to myself, “I can’t live in Africa. I can’t. I just want to go home where there’s not all these sicknesses and life is easier. I understand the culture, the language, the people, etc.” But God brought me back to reality pretty quickly. He told me “Jess, I brought you here for a reason and that reason is bigger and more important than being sick.” It took me some time to say, “Okay, God, I’m going to be okay, and you’re going to heal me.” But he slowly worked on me. That’s one thing that I love about my God. He’s gentle. He doesn’t force you to do what he says, he gently tells you what he wants.
And the really good thing is that I’ve been sick so much here that there’s no way I can be sick in America. And even if I’m sick in America, it’s not near as bad as being sick here. My body is so strong that no sickness can get me now. Maybe that’s what God’s doing. Building my immune system into a missionary immune system. Plus, my employers in America will love me because I’ll never have sick days. When you’re sick in Africa, you keep pushing through the day. They’re not like us where they immediately go to the hospital. That can be dangerous for me sometimes because I can easily fall into not going to the hospital. Even yesterday I was convinced to go to the hospital. I didn’t want to go. I’m so tired of spending money on doctor bills and medicine. But that is what hospitals are there for. That is why God put them in this world: to use them.
Anyways, please pray for my health again. I have five more days until my medicine is finished. Please pray for me that God will strengthen me and that His Almighty Hand will be upon every part of my body and heal me quickly, even quicker than me being done with the medicine.
Thanks for the prayers. May God Bless You in your faithfulness in praying for me. He will reward you for your faithfulness and bless you for it.
Love, Jess