God really wants me
to remember my time
here
because he is giving me
very long lasting
souvenirs:
scars.
Not t-shirts
or towels
or things that may eventually
be tossed.
Instead
a scar (or 4ish)
that will forever
carry the story
of my time here in Samoa.
You may have seen
my post about the dog bite.
It still hasn't healed
entirely
(things heal very slowly here).
But it has
scabbed over.
My neighbor,
the nurse,
thinks it will almost certainly
scar.
My newest injury
though,
will undoubtedly scar.
Pretty gross, right?
Not only did I
take a big ole gash
out of my knee:
I also
lost most of
one toenail
and another one
may come off
as well:
And,
I managed
to get a couple gashes
in my other toe too:
What exactly did I do??????????
I wish I could say
I had a fight
with another dog
but won this time.
Or
that I saved
a Samoan child.
Or
gashed it while hiking
one of these mostly untouched mountains.
But, in reality, I fell.
Yep.
I just fell.
Sarah.Grace.Strikes.Again.
Maybe,
here in Samoa,
in the other hemisphere,
my balance is off
worse than usual...?
It was during recreation
for one of our VBSes
and the game
was Volleyball.
This was my one chance
to be possibly decent
during recreation time
because I can actually
play that sport
sort-of
and I serve fairly well.
I wish I could say
I tore myself up
that bad
by scoring the winning point
or making some awesome play,
but, no.
I had been on the court
all of 2 minutes.
I was just retrieving the ball
from the sidelines
(which is where I shall stay
for the duration
of my time
in Samoa).
The concrete was slick
with mold.
Or water?
I just tripped
on thin air
as far as I can tell.
It didn't even hurt,
at first.
Then I felt the blood
trickle down my leg.
I looked
And freaked out,
Especially at my missing toenail.
No glorious story,
just klutsy Sarah Grace.
And a runaway volleyball.
And slick concrete.
I swear
there had to have been
a stick
or rock
or piece of glass
though,
the way my knee was sliced up.
But when I looked
later,
this was all I found:
I know that was the spot
because of the two red lines
in the bottom right corner
which is where
my toe-nail polish
left a mark.
I really have
no idea
how I fell
or how it did the damage it did.
My only guess
is that,
since I was sharing
the message that night,
it must have been really good
'cause the devil
was trying to stop me
from giving it.
I almost didn't
give it
after I nearly fainted
(seriously)
when Sam was cleaning
my cuts.
Hydrogen Peroxide
hurts
and stings.
One girl
described my knee
as hamburger meat.
Ewww.
But accurate.
And all that open skin
has been getting
infected.
Please pray for
a quick healing.
But, as one of
the other missionaries
prayed:
God has a plan,
even in this.
Time I spend sitting out
of recreation
Or when others go swimming
(the water is too dirty
here
for me to get in)
May open up
time
for me to
rest
or share
a conversation
or company
or Christ
with someone
who needs it.
So I shall try
to embracewhat else God
has for me
and my bum knee
and toes.
Regardless,
as I said,
I shall leave Samoa
with scars
as souvenirs.
And they will
hopefully
lead to conversation
for me to remember
and share
what God
allowed me
to do here.
PS - thank you to Bekah Shearin for the inspiration of the writing style for this blogpost :) Her blog is great if you want to check it out!
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