Down in the Mumps

Did you know that even if you are vaccinated for the mumps in America that you could still get them while living in another country - say like Japan? Well, I didn't. And a lot of my fellow AETs/foreigners here didn't know that either.
It turns out that the Japanese strain of mumps is different than the American one, so if you aren't vaccinated for the Japanese one, you can get them. Guess what? None of us gajin are vaccinated for the Japanese strain! Well, two of the girls I went to Thailand with came down with the mumps about a week after we returned from our trip, and I believe it was spread to the missionary at our church and his son (they have puffy cheeks and fevers).
So please pray for Marianne, Holly, Chris, and little Heath. The mumps are painful, antibiotics won't get rid of them (it's a virus, so your body has to take care of it naturally), and they are quaranteened in their apartments for a week.
So we are all checking our cheeks daily and praying we don't get them too. Us gajin spend a lot of time together outside of school doing church activities and just hanging out, so a bunch of us could have contracted it and still be in the incubation period. It's pretty contagious too (from sneezing, coughing, any form of saliva exchange).
So please keep us in your prayers.
Don't know much about mumps? I didn't until people I knew started getting them (you don't worry about what you've been vaccinated for as a child). Check out this link to learn more.