Easter, parasites and being incarnational

This morning I've been thinking about the Incarnation. It's a word that's thrown around a lot in Christian circles, especially around Christmas time. This year, I'm thinking about it at Easter instead. In - well, you know what that means. Carn - flesh. So the Incarnation is literally the act of coming into the flesh. That's what happened when Jesus came to earth as a baby.
Similarly, incarnational is a word that is commonly used in missions circles. It describes a ministry or a person who is living "in the flesh", not in the way that it is often used of being sinful. But in the way that the person is able to relate to those around them in a way that is recognizable by those people and is approachable. This morning I've been thinking a lot about that word. Why? Because of parasites.
The last week and a half I've been having this stomachache/diarrhea thing. It's off and on, but it's there. It's not bad enough that it requires complete bedrest, but it's bad enough to be annoying. It's restricted my diet to mostly soup, bread, apples, bananas, apple juice, Sprite, water and tea. Beyond that, I run the risk of making my stomach unhappy. I got a test done looking for parasites and it came back negative. Thankfully, we have two doctors on our team, so I showed them the results. They said it's possible I could still have something they wouldn't have seen under a microscope, so they gave me medicine for giardia (a certain type of parasite). Who knows if it will do the trick or not, but I have to teach again on Monday and I'd rather be feeling better by then if possible. I have no idea where I picked up whatever I have. It could have been in any number of places.
As a single person here, without parents or other family members, I think people don't want to let you ever feel lonely. Thus, I am constantly eating at other people's houses. Today, for example, I have been invited to go to the houses of some of the families from my church to eat the traditional 12 plates (or at least some of them) that are served here on Easter week (I don't even know what all they are, but they are very famous and very traditional. Maybe that can be my next blog posting). The up side of eating at other people's houses is that I can be incarnational and get to know people in their homes and build relationships and learn Quechua and they get to feel comfortable with me (and I learn how to cook Peruvian food...at least a little bit). The down side is that being in more places obviously exposes me to more parasites, germs, etc. Getting sick from eating something is actually really common here, even among Peruvians. If you say your stomach doesn't feel well, one of the first questions people will ask you is "Where (or what) did you eat?" I've never had a problem with eating at other people's houses. But this morning, the "once burned, twice shy" concept entered my head. Now that I've gotten sick from something I ingested, wherever that may have been, the question entered my head "What do I do now?"
And then I thought about Jesus. Living in heaven for all eternity, Jesus never experienced hunger, sickness, cold, pain, discomfort, animal dung in the streets, etc. When he chose to take on flesh and become a man (Incarnation), he also chose to take onto himself the reality of being hungry, sick, cold, in pain, of walking in animal dung, of experiencing what we as humans experience, of eventually dying a horrible death. All because of His love for us, which is greater than His love of His own life. Thinking about Jesus, I realized I have two choices. I can sacrifice relationship for the sake of more sure health. Or I can love and live like Jesus did and trust God to keep me well (while using common sense), in the midst of fellowship, relationship and food. And yeah, sometimes I might get sick. But I also have a powerful God who can take care of that. I know what Jesus chose and I know what He'd say in this situation too.
So happy Easter and I'll see you when I get back from Huacarpay.

Exciting announcement and a very quick update

I am pleased to announce that we now have water in our house again, as of the other day, after 23 days of being waterless! Thank you Jesus! This morning I took a shower in my own house for the first time in almost 4 weeks. Aaaaaaah.
Things are going well at school. The kids are relaxing after the initial two weeks of novelty wore off. I continue to learn a lot about classroom management and about how to love my kids all the time and yet be strict and put into place the boundaries they need as well. Teaching is one of those things that I don't know if you ever really get "down". The fruit of the Spirit song continues to be very popular and I'm still wanting to take the fruits out of the song and put them more in my life. That's gotta be the work of the Holy Spirit. That's all I can say. School keeps me very busy. I always seem to have plenty to do.
We are getting ready for Easter here. I'm also excited to see my youngest brother and his junior class in a few weeks when they come down for a missions trip. So that's a little bit of what's up here. Blessings to you all!