Dear Saints,

Merry Christmas!! We are certainly missing our family and friends this holiday season. You are all loved! Christmas certainly is not the same without you, though I will admit that experiencing the sufficiency of Christ without all the fun celebrations, craziness of gift buying, beautiful decorations, cold weather, Christmas cards, etc. has been amazing. Let’s just say that with less than 1% Christians in Thailand there is not much in the arena of celebrating the birth of Christ. When everything is stripped down to the bare naked you are left with the opportunity to experience the true reason for His birth, He came to give you Himself. All who receive the gift of His life are placed in an intimate relationship with Him that never ends. How exciting! In this bare naked place we have experienced and have expressed the results of an intimate relationship with an Amazing God. Of course, you don’t have to be stripped down to the bare naked to experience the gift of His life. Saints, you can experience and express our Lord in all things (Romans 5:1-5) by His grace, power, and love even in the crazy Christmas season where things don’t seem to slow down. Yes, I know I’m a few days late with my Christmas greeting but things here have been crazy in a different way. So let me catch you up to speed.

As I’ve mentioned before my digestive system has been struggling since being in Thailand. Normally identifying the food sources that are contaminated with my food intolerances helps heal my stomach. This normally takes time, is tedious, and frustrating. As I’ve been trying to chase down the major contributors things in last three weeks things are having been getting much worse. It seems that each change brings about new problems with my food intolerances.

After three months of being here I made the new discovery of having an intolerance to eggs whites. Then I found out that Thai’s use MSG in most of the food they cook which of course is another food intolerance of mine. We started cooking at home to avoid such irritants, only to discover that we would have to cook all of our veggies instead of just washing and peeling them to avoid parasite infections because we are in a tropical environment… Rookie Move! Truth be known I just wrote veggies because I could not remember how to spell vegetables. (Mental note: after finding the correct spelling there is no reason to out oneself. Ha!) Since eating at home I’ve had to depend on a lot more meat in my diet because of the limited variety of vegetables I can eat here. My digestive system is sensitive to pesticides and GMOs causing me to have to eat as much organic produce as possible which is costly.  There is a lot less organic produce here and when you find it most of the time its not as nutrient dense.

I’ve seen a total of six doctors in the last three or four months. Why so many? Great question…. plain and simple language barrier. The first few helped to identify a few new food intolerances as well as other food contaminations through blood test and process of elimination. The last four doctors have been in the last month as things have progressively gotten worse. In the end I found an older gentleman who has been very helpful. In fact, Dr. Chaao was the one that diagnosed Ethan with Dengue Fever. He is a very kind and wise man. I enjoy that when I tell him how good his English is he likes to brag about how much better his French is as he did his medical studies in France. Yesterday after looking over my medical history with recent blood and stool test his diagnoses is that I have IBS. That is funny considering after about two months of being here I told Christy that it seemed like my leaky gut issues were progressing into IBS. This is something I have been able to manage much easier in the States because the abundance of organic foods and grain free meats. The doctor  believes that my body is struggling to deal with the different foods here and the tropical changes (mainly germs and parasites). He also stated that has become much more common with many people who travel to different countries. I found this to be consistent with the many internet testimonies. Where were all of those when I did my intense research on-line before leaving?

Of course, I talked to the doctor about what my chances of getting a handle on this while staying in Thailand and what concerns I should have if it persist. Other than being really uncomfortable and causing soft and/or watery stool IBS is not known to do any real damage or have any medical threats… other than that fun effect it has on your life by controlling your bowel movements. I’ve had to canceled one opportunity to teach already due to a flare up. My major concern is that my blood work still shows signs that my body is still dealing with the food intolerances due to leaky gut and/or parasite infection. When I discovered my leaky gut three years ago my lymph-nodes got seriously overloaded due to the same intolerances which caused them to swell to visible sight. At that time I did not know the signs of an oncoming infection. This time I can see it coming. Also, how can I get past IBS if my body is still overloaded with food intolerances and possibly a parasite infection? I am convinced that I have the Giardia parasite. The symptoms are really similar to IBS. I have had two stool test that were about two weeks apart without an sign of a parasite yet. In America many believe that it is not likely to detect a parasite from just one test. The best is to have three consecutive stool test because of the life cycle of parasites. We had two other family members get hit with diarrhea one week after I did. They recovered in about a week. I think my other stomach issues keep me from improving. Doctors here really don’t seem to care about the three stool rule.

As far as adjusting here, Dr. Chaao said that some people adjust to the new environment/food eventually getting past IBS while others never adjust. There really is no way to know what the turnout will be. We have found many personal testimonies to this online. A very few people don’t improve even after going home.

For the last week or so Christy and I have started to talk and pray about what was best for our futures if we could not get my body under control soon. We have decided that it is best that we return to the States. We have exhausted our personal savings on doctors and starting a new life here, I’m not getting better, and I can’t help but wonder if the Lord is not trying to get us out of here as the country is on the edge of plunging into civil war. I will post the latest link below if you would like to read up on it. While the doctor nor I have any reason to suspect anything worse is going on at this point if by some chance there is something more I would rather have the support of friends close by especially for my family. We will more than likely be making the trip home within the next couple of weeks. Our hearts are filled with disappointment and joy just as when we left Dallas. One of our supporters said, “I think it would be awesome if you have to come home and tell everyone forever the cause was chronic diarrhea.” I love this. By the way I blame all of this on those of you who kept saying, “You don’t have to go” before we left.  Especially those who said you were praying that we would somehow stay (of which Andi is the foremost.) Haha! I love you all!  (Get our favorite seats ready in Joshua Tree, bump those other suckers out. Johnsons, we are fully expecting another awesome kicked-out party this time a rejected-from-Thailand party!  Tylers, we are so pleased you bought a bigger house, get our rooms ready.)

Please forgive me for dropping all of this at once. In the last three weeks as things have gotten worse I have had some really adverse reactions to the meds they are put me through. The antibiotic messed with my head, the parasite meds drained me and cause my occasional soft or watery stool to become chronic diarrhea. IBS medication has caused sleeplessness, irritability, and nervousness. I have tried to write many times but have had trouble keeping my mind focused. The food intolerances and IBS have been a joy in comparison to the meds. No kidding! In fact the antibiotics and parasite meds are what sent the IBS from mild to over the top. Please keep this in mind if you have written me and last few weeks and I have not gotten back with you. I feel like I’m coming out of the mental fog right now. My inbox is full. I will try and get back with each of you.

While our emotions and minds have experienced major highs and lows of turbulent winds from this storm our spirits have remained much like the eye of a hurricane… calm.  A few years ago I was in the physical shape of a pro-athlete. I praised the Lord for being so. Today far from being in the shape of a pro-athlete by His grace through faith I still praise the Lord. This is His provision for our lives. We don’t have to understand it or like but I do respect the Lord of Lords! Thank you Jesus! The realness of Who you are is evident in the hearts of this family. As a family we are all united to Jesus and as a result we beat as one. You are amazing and worthy to be praised in all things!

PS Ross, I fully expect you to read ALL of this in front of the class with special emphasis on my bowel movements.

My life is not my own,
Wes

Links:
Boycott of Elections
Cash donation for protest leader
Possible Coup