Surgery??? What???

September 30, 2013

Hey everyone!

So this was a bit of an interesting week for me, but I learned a cool truth; that is, the Lord always provides. On Tuesday, we were riding our bikes back home from a lesson... aaaand I crashed in our apartment complex... I felt pretty foolish, but then I looked at my right hand because it was hurting quite a bit, and saw a very bent out of shape ring finger. I thought "Oh flip. I hope I just dislocated it or something and didn't break it." So I pulled it out and back into a straight shape, but it felt a but crunchy when I did that. I was like "Oh great, I totally broke it. Hopefully it was a clean break at least." So we called Sister Gerber (The mission president's wife) and told her what happened. She gets clearance, and finds an urgent care for me to go to. So we do, and they get me checked out and x-rayed, and after a bit, the doctor comes in very serious and says I broke my finger "very badly" and that I am going to need to see a hand specialist as soon as possible. Then they put my finger in a splint and sent me on my way. So the next day rolls around, and we go to district meeting, then to an appointment we had with a less active, then we stop by at a now new investigator's house and teach her. This

was in the farthest corner of our area, and by the time we get back to the apartment, it's like 4:30. So we start making a zillion calls to doctors offices and Sister Gerber, but nobody is accepting my insurance, and everything is taking forever. But something I didn't think about, is that most doctors offices close at 5:00... So now I have to wait for the next day to even try to get an appointment set to see a hand specialist. While this is going on, I'm getting a little frustrated and wondering why nothing is working out. I mean, I put off trying to get my finger fixed to do missionary work, and now I have to wait even longer to find a hand specialist that will even accept my insurance? Well that doesn't make sense. Shouldn't the Lord be providing and helping me out with this? So I'm praying for help and stuff, but I'm still feeling pretty confused and frustrated that things aren't working out very well. After a while though, I notice a reoccurring thought that I am having, and that is to give my Ward Mission Leader a call. I'm not sure exactly what he does, but he oversees different medical practices. So I call him and tell him the situation, and he says "I know the perfect doctor to fix your finger". I was like "Oh awesome! But I don't know if he"ll accept my insurance", and Brother Budd is like "Don't worry, we'll get you in". I was like, Yayy!! The next morning I get a call from someone at a doctor's practice to set up an appointment for me to come in that same day! And all of the sudden, there were no issues with my insurance or anything! So we go in and talk with doctor Ottoni, he looks at the x-ray and talks me through what's messed up and what he'll have to do to fix it. Basically, surgery and three screws. And on Saturday, I went under the knife! They put me under, so I don't remember a lot that happened at the hospital, but now my finger is in one piece! And I'm not in hardly any pain! Even without pain pills! It was also really cool, because several people just raved about how awesome doctor Ottoni is, and that he is the best hand doctor around and stuff. So yeah, the Lord ALWAYS provides, even if it is not in the way or the timing that you would like. Like without me knowing, the Lord set me up with the best Hand doctor in this area! Yay!

Otherwise, the rest of the week went pretty normal. We did put a super golden investigator on date though, so that's pretty stinking awesome!

I got a new cast today, and took a picture of my finger for your enjoyment ;)

BTW, typing with just your left hand takes FOREVER!!

Prayers Please

September 27, 2013,

Just a note: We got a call from leadership in Elder Roderer's mission to let us know that he has been in a

bike accident and broke the 4th finger on his right hand in several places. He will be going in for surgery tomorrow. As far as we know he is doing just fine. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!

Pro-ball, Trios, and Ninjas

September 23, 2013

Hey guys!

So about this week. We found some new investigators, and picked up a former that we decided to stop by. The former is a pretty cool lady, but has some funny ideas about doctrine. She actually has read the whole Book of Mormon. She said she read the whole thing in 5 days. Of course, she didn't read it with the purpose of wanting to know if it is true scripture (ie. With no real intent) so she didn't get the answer that it IS true scripture. We'll see what comes from meeting with her a few more times. Hopefully she will allow the Spirit to soften her heart.

We have been biking a TON this week. It's actually a lot of fun. I'm glad I bought the bike that I did, because it is durable. Ask me how I know.. Okay, I'll tell you. So this week, I messed up a wheely for the first time and fell off the bike.. I didn't even get a scratch, but the pavement tagged my bike seat and my back fender. The rest of the bike would have been just fine had it not fallen in front of another Elder that we were on exchanges with.. He kind of ran over my bike and broke the front fender. That made me sad. But otherwise, my bike is totally okay! So props to Trek for making a baller bike! But wait, there's more! After we got reassembled, like 100 yards down the same street, the Elder that we were on exchanges with accidentally cut Elder Burton off and caused my companion to crash. But he did like a sweet ninja roll so he didn't eat the pavement with his face. The Elder we were with has only been out in the field for like 2 weeks, so we forgave him pretty quickly ;) It was fun day. ;)

Speaking of destruction, we were doing a service project a little bit ago, and after we were almost done, I stepped up onto a platform that we had build... and shredded my jeans. I don't think I have to tell you where.

Anyways, ;)

We as missionaries have been assigned by Brother Budd who is our Ward Mission Leader to go around to all of the auxiliary leaders and discuss some talking points that he has come up with, to help prepare the leadership to help update the Ward Mission Plan. It has been (for the most part) really neat going around to all of the leaders in the Ward, and seeing their excitement and willingness to help the missionaries and the Ward work together better and become more unified. It's pretty great!

So cool story. Earlier on last transfer, we had an investigator lady who was in her 50's that had to move. So we of course helped her out. Her brother and sister there helping, but that was mostly it. So needless to say, we did most of the heavy lifting of glass cabinets and stuff. But what was cool was that our investigator's sister was SO grateful that we came and helped them, that she was like "I'll listed to anything you have to say!" (I think I talked about her in a previous email). So we gave the referral to the Elders (actually the ZL's) that covered her area, and we heard at the sweet Zone Conference we had this past week that she is doing awesome, and that she read like half of the Book of Mormon in 3 days! I was so excited!

Anyways, this is a pretty long email, so I'll stop now :)

September 16, 2013

Hey everyone!

So this week was straight up, a blast. I LOVE Elder Hall so much! He is probably my favorite companion that I've had so far. He is SO funny! We have been getting some awesome work done as a trio! It is sooo nice being able to go into single woman's houses. It makes doing the work so much easier. We have been biking quite a lot this week. Partially because we are running low on miles, and partially because cool things just happen when you are on bikes. Like sometimes people will wave us over to talk to them and stuff. I have been having a lot of fun biking, and I have been getting pretty good at doing wheelies too :)

This past week, the missionaries went on splits with some of the Elders in the Ward. It went pretty well! I found a new investigator with my "companion", so that was pretty sweet. 

We had a bunch of non-members come to church yesterday! We got an investigator family there (a single father with his two kids) plus a couple others that showed up! Woo!

Anyways, that's about all for this week! 

TTYL

September 9, 2013

Hello everyone!

This week was pretty good! 

We were planning to go to the temple, but it was overbooked like a week in advance, and our district leader didn't call more than a week in advance... So we didn't get to go. That kind of stank, but I guess there are more opportunities to go. 

Elder Burton had a fun experience playing "pros-ball" with a couple of black dudes near a trailer park the other day! We saw these two guys playing, and we thought it would be a fun idea to ask them if we could play a game with them, and that if we won, we could teach them a lesson, but if we lost, then we would just go on our merry way. We asked them this, and they were like "sure", so we played them.... We got stomped (probably 'cause they were black), but one of the guys said "since you took the time to play, I'll listen to your message". We were like....Cool! So we taught him and gave him a Book of Mormon! So loosing works sometimes! :) 

We found out that both of us are staying, but that we're getting a third companion tomorrow! That should be fun to see how that works out. This apartment is a lot bigger than the one in Warren, so it shouldn't be a squishy as when I was in a trio in Warren.

Anyways, I have to go, but I'll give some more updates next week! :)