In addition to learning about the events that happened in San Bernardino, Wednesday was a day filled with a lot of stress. We had appointments set up with several investigators, and literally every single one of them turned us away because one or more of their family members had a virus. It sounded like everyone had the same thing. It lasts about a week, and it sounded horrendous. It begins with a sore throat, and it moves up to your sinuses and makes your head all ouchie and full of pain. Then it works down to your chest where you cough up your lungs every single second of the day on top of hurting your already tender throat. Wow. We tried a few more homes, and near the end of the evening my throat began to itch. Surely it was just the dry air...
Hahahaha! Nope! By dinner time I could hardly speak and it hurt to swallow! The member we were eating with, Sister Foutz, noticed my miserable state and her Christ-like gear was flipped into overdrive. She gathered blankets to swaddle me in, raided her medicine cabinet to find vitamins for us to take home, and set me up to see a doctor the next morning. What?? I'm eternally grateful to her and her family for giving so much to me and my companion in our time of need!
The next morning, I felt like I had been hit by a truck. There is no better way to describe it. Honestly, I still feel like that. But that's neither here nor there. The doctor confirmed that I had that same virus that has afflicted the entirety of our teaching pool. There's not much that I could do, but tough it out.
I am so grateful for being sick. Though I haven't wished for death yet, my body still aches and I can't breathe out of my nose. But this has been such a blessing! It has been so tough for me to relax and let myself screw up every once in a while. Being bedridden was a reminder from Heavenly Father that HE is the one in control. I just need to put in the appropriate amount of effort, and He will sanctify it. I need to be doing my best; not being perfect. It's definitely put everything into perspective and I am so grateful to my Father. He knows me so well. I'm also thankful for my mother who send me a whole pack of Ricola and some cold medicine a few care packages ago. It's definitely come in handy:)
I've lost my voice for the third time on my mission, and this time the Sisters tell me I sound like the gingerbread cookie from Shrek, so it's pretty fun.
The first few days of being sick, I was still determined to do as much work as I could do, even though I was super ineffective. (Heavenly Father knows it takes me a while to learn my lesson!) We headed to Pep Boys to fix our car's tires and were held hostage for 3 hours. While we were there, I was kind of a dazed and confused mess, but we talked to a few people! Before we left, a worker came up to us and asked if we were Mormon. We said we were, and he said, "My mom is visiting from Mexico City and wants to know if there's a Spanish session of service!" We gave him the Hermanas' information, he thanked us, and we asked him if he wanted to go to church with her! I can't remember the rest. I was falling asleep standing. It's fine.
The last event of the week that I can remember was a great one! St Nick came and visited the apartment! He left us all delicious candy and Christmas ornaments that are almost on the tree (we are all very lazy)!
A quick shout out to Hermana Carlson in the Mexico MTC for writing the funniest email entry of all time: "I love you all and I love hearing from you! If you aren't a missionary and you haven't written me, you should go read Alma 60:6 and then write me haha."
If you need any Christmas uplift, please watch the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional on lds.org :)
Sister Turner
How many observe Christ's birthday! How few its precepts! - Benjamin Franklin