Let me preface this with I’m totally
fine now. (That’s a terrifying way for her to start her
letter, but we were glad to get the happy ending before the bad news! Saved Mom
some tears…)
This Tuesday we were out knocking,
following up on people who had previously invited us back to teach them, when,
as we were walking out the door to the parking lot, I had sudden onset vertigo.
The world started to spin pretty aggressively, and I couldn’t stay standing. So
after stumbling, I ended up on my butt in the snow. But I couldn’t really stay
upright because the world was continuing to spin, so I ended up lying down in
the snow. Very cold. My companion started spazzing out because I essentially
crumpled. She was hunting for the phone, called like half the Mission getting
permission to drive (since I’m the designated driver, for lack of a better
term), trying to get a hold of the Mission Nurse, etc. Once I was steady enough
to get upright, we toddled over to the Sullivan’s (a member and previous Branch
President – the church leader over a small congregation)
law firm so I could get a blessing (more about Priesthood Blessings).
I could hardly walk, and was pretty nauseous (though you know me- if I insist
I’m fine long enough, maybe everyone will let me alone. No dice. GOOD!), but we more or less dragged me in onto his
couch while he called half the branch in search of a worthy Priesthood holder (worthy male who has been given the authority to call down the Powers of Heaven for healing, in this case) who wasn’t working that could drive out to help him give me a blessing (remember that she is in a very rural area). After a
while he tracked one down, he anointed, and Pres. Sullivan sealed the anointing
and blessed me. Wow. What a trip.
Good blessing. I was still relatively weak/nauseous, so I was ordered home by
Sister Jensen (the Mission President’s wife) and I slept for 4 hours. The
mission nurse did get back to me and essentially said she had no idea what
caused it since there weren’t enough other symptoms to work with. So give her a
call if anything else crazy happens. Kay. Well, at least the blessing essentially
promised healing, so I’m pretty confident that I’m good. That night we drove
the like… 50 miles to Cedar Rapids for exchanges the following day (each of two companionships exchange one person to the other
companionship – to change it up a little). Exchanges were good. I started driving again.
But we got back okay.... Then it was
in the negatives temps the rest of the week. We'd knock for about an hour then
sit and thaw in our car for about 15 minutes. It’s ridiculous. The wind chill makes
it really, really cold, so we're going to get grounded from time to time, since
it’s simply not safe for us to be out for the hours of knocking we have in this
area. (Dad wrote
back to her, concerned that her Vertigo sounded like Carbon Monoxide poisoning,
possible from warming themselves in the car or maybe in their apt. She promised to be more careful about fresh
air in the car and at home.) All this week is
supposed to be in the negatives, with the wind chill factor.
But to make things just that much more
fun, my companion has been having hard core nausea for the last several days,
so we didn't go out at all yesterday. I don't know that she's getting better. If this keeps up too much longer I might insist on a hospital visit.
We'll see. (We daily pray for her success as well as her
well-being. We’re glad that there were
people around to help!)
The day after was New Year’s Zone Conference. So we did skits - ours was Star Wars themed, super cool with choreographed fight scene… Only problem was we got into the fight and I apparently was being too rough on the knock-off light sabers we were using because I snapped my companion’s saber in half. Which was problem because she was supposed to kill me. Whoops. So at that point all of us are laughing too much to really get our lines out… But everyone said it was good up until that point anyway. (Glad they had some downtime and some fun!)
Love, Christine
Tuesday 1/12/16 8*/4*
cloudy, 18 mph winds
Wednesday 1/13/16 31*/23*
cloudy, 9 mph winds
Thursday 1/14/16 43*/26*
sunny, 11 mph winds
Friday 1/15/16 33*/17*
cloud (20% rain), 15 mph winds
...also could be dehydration from the symptoms. Drink water sweetie.
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