Dear mission partners, friends, brothers and sisters in Christ. Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord. Many of you may have heard about the outbreak of the chikunguya virus that is transmitted through mosquitoes that is all over the Caribbean and has made its way to the United States. There are lots of mosquitoes here and many of our brothers and sisters in the churches here have contracted the virus. It causes a high fever, pain in the joints, headaches, and a rash. Some people get over it quickly but others have the symptoms for months.
Just a few days ago on Friday my wife began to feel ill. She began to get the rash and the fever kicked in. She wasn’t able to make it to church on Sunday. Saturday night I began to feel strange and get pain in my joints as well. It hurt to even walk. Sunday after I translated the message for Jared I had a headache and people noticed I had a rash too. By the time I got home I had a high fever and was not able to make it to the other two services. I was not able to get out of bed the rest of the day. When I got up I received a message from Jared saying he had pain in his joints too and a fever quickly came on. He has been in bed all day sick with fever too now. All three of us have come down with the chikunguya and have fever and pain.
There are a lot of mosquitoes in this country and the virus is spreading quickly. Although rarely fatal, it is a very painful disease. The churches have had low attendance lately because so many people are sick here. There cases reported have jumped from 77,000 to 90,000 in just one week here. Please pray for our recovery, but also pray for our children. We are using repellant and trying our best to keep them safe. Please also pray for the Duncan’s. Jared is infected and they have a four month old baby. The symptoms are supposed to be worse for babies and the elderly.
Please pray. Pray that we will get over this sickness quickly, pray for protection for our children and the Duncan’s children, and pray for all of our other brothers and sisters who are sick here too. Pray.
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.- 1 Thessalonians 5:18