Monday, April 20, 2009
What Does Grandpa Do All Day?
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Pull Down the Powers of Heaven
I started praying as I have never prayed before. Please, Please, get some help there. I did not have a number I could call for help. There is no 911 system here. This was an area not covered by our ambulance service. How can they possibly get him in a taxi. He is a huge Elder. I just kept praying and pleading.
45 minutes later a call came. They had uncovered a phone book in their apartment. Had reached an ambulance. They had come, started iv's, given some medication. He was still unconscious. At 0500am, he was conscious, doing much better. My prayers had been answered. There is a God watching over these missionaries.
A Fish and a Loaf of Bread
A FISH AND A LOAF OF BREAD
It's Easter Sunday. Church was full of talk of "la Pasquas", Easter.
The members bore their testimonies of how special this day was, and the spirit was strong, even though we could only understand parts and bits of their testimonies. We had fasted in preparation and we were blessed with understanding in our hearts.
After Church we came home to prepare our Easter feast. Grilled fresh salmon, scalloped potatoes made with our last packet of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese sauce that Tracy had sent us, a tossed green salad even with avocado and Thousand Island dressing, and cooked fresh zucchini. Then for dessert, a chocolate mousse torte. Well, dinner was ready. The table was set for the two of us. In the middle were our huge chocolate Easter eggs. I dished up the salmon; it filled almost half the plate. Steve commented, "This is a feast for a king!"
We sat down, and the phone rang. My first thought was that, "Oh, no, someone is sick on Easter." It was Elder Sullivan, one of the office elders. His question: "I noticed there was some chocolate candy on your desk, do think me and my companion could have some? We are starving and we haven't eaten anything, and we don't have a lunch appointment." I immediately answered. Yes, you can have the candy, but you get yourselves over here for Easter Dinner.
We immediately started dividing the salad, the fish, and the zucchini squash. This would work. There is plenty of potatoes and everything. The phone rang again. "This is Elder Sullivan again. Actually there are 4 of us." I looked, was there enough for 6 people. Of course there was. The answer was , "Yes, all 4 of you come, just bring 2 more chairs." We looked at each other, started dividing the salad once more, added a bit more lettuce, tomato, and the rest of the avocado. Divided those pieces of fish again, quickly micro waved another zucchini, and there it was-dinner for two, expanded into dinner for 6.
The Elders came and it was the best Easter dinner. The spirit is indescribable when you have the missionaries in your home. We had a great time. I must say, every scrap of food was eaten. Not even a crumb left.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
A Roll of Toilet Paper and a Light Bulb!
This past Monday, one of our missionaries became very sick and was admitted to the hospital in a little town of Tumayan. Actually a fairly good size town in the farming area outside of Mendoza. There was the possibility that it was appendicitis. I kept getting the feeling that I should go out to this hospital to check on things. So just at dusk we drove there. A very pretty drive. We arrived at the hospital. From the outside it looked ok, not fancy, but ok. The Zone leader had assured me this was quite a big hospital and was quite good.
We found our Elder, and he was in a room all by himself, the other bed was not occupied. It was siple, old, quite worn, but appeared clean. He was lying in a bed with an IV running in his arm-normal saline. He was NPO because of his condition and possible surgery. The nurse came in and talked to me. I asked if he had been started on antibiotics, she said yes, we have given him this and this. She named the meds, but none were antibiotics. He had received medication for pain and fever. OK? She said he was scheduled for an ultrasound in the morning, but actually not tomorrow, but the next day, as the MD's were going on strike tomorrow. WHAT? How can we have our missionary here where he might need surgery and no doctors?
I attempted to lower the lights over his bed and turn on the ones over the empty bed, so the light wouldn't be in his eyes. Whoops! No light bulb. They don't put light bulbs above the empty beds as they would be stolen. HUMMM! Then our Missionary had to use the bathroom. THERE WAS NO TOILET PAPER! Oh this is normal. You bring your own. They don't supply it as it would just be stolen! So his companion had to run across the street to a store, buy a roll of toilet paper, before he could go to the bathroom.
We did make the decision to transport him into Mendoza to a more modern, closer hospital, but . . .I felt totally humble, extremely blessed, and amazed at how spoiled we are with our health care in the States. I will never take for granted a roll of toilet paper and a light bulb ever again.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
It's Worth it!
We really know it is worth it. The garden can wait, our little house will be there when we return, and our families will love us no matter where we are. But our place right now is to be here, serving the Lord. Yes it is worth everybit of it.