Sorry Everyone, this letter
came during last October
Well folks, I will officially be forever changed by my mission! Last Preparation was pretty intense. Every Preparation Day we have a Zone Activity with all of the missionaries in the surrounding area. It's really nice because out here, the other missionaries are our support system so we get pretty close. It makes me really grateful that I get along so well with my companion Sister Hendertilo, because a lot of other missionaries have problems in their companionships. Anyways, we normally do something physical because the Elders like to blow off a little steam. It started off with playing Gatorball, and it was a lot of fun to play in a team setting again! I may or may not have accidentally clothes-lined my Zone Leader, Elder Fishchetti, but he didn't get hurt so it's all good.
After two hours we switched to Dodgeball, and that was a lot of fun too, but ya, I broke my pinky. It was kind of a freak accident too. I was just holding one of the soft balls, and then an Elder threw a soccer ball at my hand, and Pop! There goes my pinky. I have hurt my fingers before in sports before, so I did not really think anything of it at the time, and just kept on playing. After about thirty minutes though, I was like, 'Huh, this still hurts pretty bad". And that night it just kept on getting more swollen and black and blue. So I went in to an orthopedic surgeon, and did some X-Rays. Turns out that my finger had been hyper-extended, and in such a way that it caused a lot of stress on this connective tissue on the side of my right pinky finger. Normally when this happens, the tissue will disconnect from the bone, and the only way to reattach it is through surgery. If a missionary needs any sort of surgery, even on a pinky finger, they get sent home. This is what I think is kind of a miracle- instead of the tissue disconnecting from the bone, it kept a hold of the bone, and the bone actually separated from itself, causing a clean break, and no need for surgery. So yes, it hurts because a chunk of bone popped off, but it will heal nicely because it is back in place. Also, a huge blessing is that if I would need to get surgery, I would probably not get full use of my pinky finger back, but since it is the bone, after it heals I can still sign and play the piano! What a blessing! Oh my goodness I was so grateful. All I can really do it tape it, (no splints because it would heal weird), and so I will just have tape on my fingers for the next two months.
I cannot really write, but at least I can type!
So here is another blessing of having a broken pinky finger- we were able to go visit the people in our ward that are in the hospital. A kid in one of our wards has bacterial meningitis, and so we were able to go see her and her mom. Also, a HUGE blessing, involves one of my investigators, Felicia. Her husband is a less-active, and Felicia's baptismal date was this Saturday. Her husband is really, really sick, and was in the hospital the day of my doctor's appointment. We were able to go in to see him, and give him some comfort while he was there. Felicia could not be there the whole day because she had to work, so he enjoyed the company. There was a lot of drama involving this couple throughout the rest of the week too, and even though Felicia wants to be baptized, she did not go through with it on Saturday because they found a blood clot in Craig, her husband's, lung. If you guys want to pray or fast for someone, I would really appreciate it if you did it for Felicia and Craig, they need it!
Even though Felicia did not get baptized, this Saturday we had two other baptisms. Shealynn, is 9, and her dad Brad have been taking the discussions since a week before I got here, and then I have been able to help teach the majority of the lessons. It is so cool to see someone you care about so much to accept an invitation to be baptized and receive that saving ordinance. Everything went well, and we had a little surprise too. After they were baptized, normally the pianist will just play songs until the people are changed and come back out. I found out however that we, their missionaries, are supposed to teach the Restoration while we wait for them. We were just sitting there, listening to the music, when all of the sudden our Zone Leader came up and told us! I was caught a bit off guard, but was able to collect myself enough to be able to teach and bear my testimony of Joseph Smith. I love how testifying of what I know to be true just brings in the Spirit, and it really calms me. I had been kind of fidgety, trying to remember the exact wording to the First Vision, but as soon as I just started to tell them what I know, my whole demeanor changed. I was more relaxed, confident, and was able to talk to them with conviction.
I love being here in Idaho, and I just love being on a mission!
No comments:
Post a Comment