Lessons learned on food, medicine, miracles

Editor's note: Stratton Tingle of Cape Girardeau has returned from eight months in Africa. He is spending May in Arizona to work on a film project before returning to Cape Girardeau for the summer.

Well, I'm back in the good, ol' U.S. I've given myself about a week to recover from the trip and get settled. I made the transition fairly easily, except for driving on the wrong side of the road a few times and talking about vomiting and other gruesome sicknesses in a crowded restaurant, not remembering that EVERYBODY speaks the same language as me!

I wasn't sure just how I would be able to handle it back here. I've gone to visit many of my friends, and most have asked me: "What's the one most important thing that you learned on the trip?"

There's no way I could pick out just one thing, but I've narrowed it down to two things.

The one thing that has made the most impact on my lifestyle is the diet that I was on and all of the natural remedy stuff that I learned about. I was mostly eating fresh vegetables and fruits and grains all year, and have continued that diet here. I did eat a doughnut the other day, but I acquired a terrible stomachache, so I guess doughnuts are out. I will try my best to stay off all of those "quick-fix" drugs that we have here. God gave us plenty of natural remedies to take care of the "cold, sore throat, stuffy nose" stuff and I've learned a lot about hydrotherapy treatments that work miracles. I know, because it worked miracles on me when I had malaria -- twice. I kind of wanted to keep that fact away from my parents (they were too worried for their own good), so I didn't write about it in the e-mails.

Of course, my relationship with God was greatly strengthened, as I had to rely on him all of the time for every little thing. Being forced to depend on him made his presence much more real to me.

The other thing that this trip did for me was open my eyes to the world. I now realize that the world does not mean America. We are unbelievably privileged in this country. I am convinced that you'll never realize just how well off we are until you visit a Third World country for an extended period of time. I can't believe that I can go to any grocery store in town and get everything from mangos to starfruit to lychees to dried seaweed! It's really wild.

I know that my letters tend to be on the long side, so I'll try to make this one a little more bearable.

Thanks to all of you who sent me letters, gum, money, Christmas cards, etc. It seriously made my day. I hope that everyone has gained a little broader view of the world and of what God can do in and through us if we let him. I don't care how old or young you are, I recommend taking a trip like mine. You can always afford to do God's work and find out who you really are in the process.

Thanks for all of your support.

With love,

Stratton

"But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully" --2 Corinthians 9:6