Monday, September 29, 2014
Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,
Wait. In general conference, those of a foreign language get to speak in their language? Where did you hear that? I have heard nothing of that and it is probably too late to ask where you heard that. That honestly sounds exciting. That will be great. (Speakers spoke in several languages including Cantonese, Portuguese, and Spanish.)
About my back (pinched nerve), I guess you got some information from my letter to Mom, which I am glad that you did receive. I will reiterate it here as well. Honestly, I am a bit panicked about it, but not too much. It is quite obvious that God is aware of my plight. Like I wrote to Mom, after talking to the medical officer and hearing that I was managing (and I am), I felt confused whether or not I should see a doctor. I made up my mind with the medical officer that I would; however, I was still confused and if I was just rushing into it due to my emotions. Through prayer, I received my answer that I should see a doctor. Rather call right away, I took a nap for an hour until I was woken up by the phone. I ignored it until I thought it might have been important. Sure enough, it was the medical officer. She told me that Missionary Medical, the secondary insurance (it is not insurance but will pay any balance owed while a serving as a missionary only) I do have for the duration of the mission a green light for me to see a doctor. (She gave me a number to call, which I did and it was the number the doctor gave me back in August.) I am allowed to receive an MRI, which is to be covered by my primary and Missionary Medical. With a chiropractor, I understand that you would love me to see one, but we have to be sure of what it is, lest I have more damage. If you feel unsure, I recommend prayer for surely God will answer. (Regardless, I will ask the doctor if I should see a chiropractor.) I called the doctor and set up an appointment with Dr. Joseph S. Kim. (The people asked if my insurance wants me to see my primary care physician before I go see Dr. Kim and I was like, "I am unsure.") So, I have an appointment on October 17th at 9:00. It is a bit of a wait and I asked to be put on their cancellation list, wherein if someone cancels, I can take their spot. (I have not heard anything back on that.) From Monday, I have felt some kind of pressure on my spine that hurt. I did something I probably should not do, but I twisted my back in order to make it pop. That relieved the pressure and it was a blessing. It did not make anything worse. I have taken one of muscle relaxants thinking it would help. It did nothing, except make me dizzy and my mind fuzzy. I hate drugs that mess with my mind. I did stop taking ibuprofen for about a day on Thursday (in order to take the muscle relaxant so that I could be worry-free of mixing drugs and causing damage), in which case leg pain did return. And then, I fasted yesterday and I say this to make another point that God is watching over, not to be as the hypocrites. I knew that ibuprofen had been helping (at least in masking the pain) and if I wanted to take ibuprofen, I had to eat and drink water. I understand that fasting is not foregoing food and drink for a duration of hours, but a principle of sacrifice. Yet, I wanted to fast. I am not going to let something such as pain get in my way. So, I prayed that my pain would be, if anything, lessened that I may fast. My pain was lessened until about dinner time. Surely, God is aware of my plight as He is aware of your worries. Thank you for giving me the information I needed. Now I know that we are switching to Blue Cross, which is something I needed. And I hope I gave you enough information to know what is going on. Oh and I have a bunch of forms emailed to me, which I am so not looking forward to doing. But, they will get done.
Monday, we had received another referral that we tried to contact. We were not able to do it. Not much happened on Monday.
Tuesday, we tried seeing one of our less actives that we set up an appointment. But, it did not work out. So, we saw another less active, the less active who is stuck in Virginia, now permanently, which she is okay with staying. We talked of the Atonement and told her what she needs to do. We had lunch, then we set off to see our hospital patient. It was our last visit at the health care center. We watched a missionary video with him, which he enjoyed. Well, on Thursday, the day he was supposed to get out, he got sent back to the hospital for a blood issue. On Sunday, he finally arrived at home. Back to Tuesday, we saw one of our returning members. He has been working on the piano and trying to get back into it. He says that he makes a lot of mistakes. I can hardly tell.
Wednesday, we did our routine tasks and then saw our home bound less active (home bound due to his father, who was in his old age and not wanting to go anywhere). We talked to him for a while. Our investigator that usually comes stopped coming and has not been coming to meet us to be fellowshipped by this less active. The less active was feeling sick, so he went to rest. We had correlation that night and were able to discuss a few things. The bishop says that there are a lot of new subdivisions in Dinwiddie County. We live in Colonial Heights and Dinwiddie is far from us. I always felt right in my decision with living in Colonial Heights, but I have yet to see why. I have been holding on and I continue to seek out why. Surely, there must be a reason.
Thursday, it was fairly nice day. We had district meeting in Lawrenceville and had a nice lunch with a member (who took us to Lawrenceville). We had to weekly plan afterwards, so we went to the church to do so. In that time of going home and driving to the church, we received three calls, all of which were a huge blow. One was our hospital patient who at that time was sent to the hospital. Another was the home bound less active. His father had just passed an hour before. There was another call of which I cannot explain as to what it pertained. We planned until dinner. It was an excellent dinner with one of the recent converts and his wife. Friday, we finished planning. We went out with the elders' quorum president to see the home bound less active. Then, we saw our permanently stuck here in Virginia less active. We started to read the Book of Mormon with her in order to get her started.
Saturday, we read to ourselves the Book of Mormon. We read individually. My companion listens to the audio CDs and I turn on the A/C to drown out the CDs, so that I can focus. I closed the blinds, because I can only focus on one thing at a time. I did not want to be distracted. By Sunday, I got to Moroni 7 by 10:30 that night. 10 pages to go. So, this morning, I finished. I bear witness that the Book of Mormon is true. I had a lot of concerns and questions. By reading and being receptive to the Spirit, I gained the answers that I needed. I learned principles and I realized many things. I say that the Book of Mormon will answer our questions. It will bring peace to a hungry soul. I know the story that is contained in the Book, but every time I read, I learn something new that is pertinent to me at that time. The Book of Mormon directs me to God. By it, I know that Jesus is the Christ, that He is Our Savior and Redeemer, wherein if we believe on Him, we can be saved as we repent. I know of God and His mercies to His children. I have gained a more stronger witness of the divinity and truthfulness therein of the Book of Mormon. I know that God does answer our prayers as I have seen this week and when I have prayed to know of the truth. Seeing as God has answered my prayers, then surely He will answer our prayers, even as Joseph Smith, the prophet, who received the record that we now call the Book of Mormon and that was translated through the power and grace of God. I know this to be true and I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Love,
Elder S. Todd
No comments:
Post a Comment