Hola family! Sorry for emailing a day late! I will explain why later!
First off, by way of lessons and progressing investigators not much happened this week, so I'll tell you the one thing that did happen that was cool.
So this Tuesday we taught La'Cote and her entire family for the first time, which was a little scary to be honest because of how much rode on how well the lesson went, but it turned out amazing. We taught them the Plan of Salvation first and they loved everything that we said and they said they agreed with the doctrine, the Spirit was very strong for the whole lesson. The problem was, since we started with the Plan of Salvation it was very hard to extend a baptismal invitation because they're Catholics and don't understand the Restoration yet, so when we invited them they were just confused and told us that they had already been baptized and we couldn't really explain everything sufficiently in that lesson, but I think that when they understand the Restoration there's actually good hope that they'll accept the message. They're a great family and have a lot of potential, so we really hope that they accept the Restored Gospel.
SO about the rest of the week. This week was really hard, I'd actually be surprised if I ever have a week harder than this one in my mission. I got very, very, very sick. Easily sicker than I've ever been in my life. As a missionary you find joy in helping and serving and thinking in others, when you're unable to do any of those things and can really only think self-centerdly things get really hard, especially when you're in agony in a foreign country very far from home and living 2 hours away from the nearest hospital. But the good news is that I'm on a good deal of drugs right now so I can keep working until whatever I have passes.
SO! The story. I don't want to go into too many details about what was happening, so I'll just say that I couldn't eat anything, drink anything (not even coke), I couldn't sleep more than a half an hour at a time day or night due to pain and other things, and I was passing in and out of sheer agony every 15 minutes or so. In addition to that there were some other symptoms that were terrible and worried me a little bit that I don't really want to go into. So it wasn't very good, at all. Luckily, it was only so bad that I couldn't drink anything for two of the days, but I was having all the other symptoms for about 4 days before the mission nurse told me that I should travel to Talca and go to the hospital. We left Monday morning for Talca, and it's a 2 hour bus ride from Conti to Talca. That wasn't a very fun trip, but surprisingly when I got to Talca I actually felt pretty good which was a big relief. There on the way to the hospital we saw Elder Edwards and his comp again which is always fun, they were on their way to a p-day activity so we stopped and talked a bit. Then we went into the hospital, and that was nuts. Chilean hospitals are nuts, if I can help it I don't really ever want to go to one again. Despite my agony we waited three hours just to see someone, who did nothing but ask about my symptoms, then we waited for another hour sitting outside in the hall while she did some other things, then she came back and hooked me up to an IV and gave me something for my stomach and pain-killer, which was amazing. I kind of felt like Brian Reagan (I'm an 8 again!.... Guess who's an 8?! Happy 8 day!!.... Do you want some 8?) because for the first time in days I wasn't in pain and was just feeling normal, which was so unbelievably relieving. She also gave me a lot of water through the IV because I was really really dehydrated, then we waited another 2 hours (yes, we did a lot of waiting) for her to come back to us in the waiting room where she told us that she thinks that I just have a virus then filled out some prescriptions to help with my stomach and relieve the pain until I pass it. Although I was really greatful for the blessed drugs and my final relief from pain, I was kind of ticked that she came to the verdict she did without doing any tests of any kind, and that she was just ''pretty sure'' that it's a virus. But, luckily, the medicine she prescribed me actually works extremely well so I feel good enough to start working again, which is all I really wanted. Also, she felt my appendix so there's no chance it could be appendicitis, so regardless of what I have I don't think it can be anything serious. I think she's right and it is just a virus and I'll be normal in a few days, but if you could all pray for my health still I'd really appreciate it. Because of the pain-killers in the IV (and the pills I bought later at a pharmacy in Conti) I slept all the way home on the bus and I slept through the night last night. It was wonderful. I can also drink and eat a little bit, so I've been eating crackers and drinking a good amount of bottled water and gatorade, so even though I can tell I still have the virus (or whatever it is) due to the drugs I feel pretty much normal, and that's something to be extremely greatful for.
SO I couldn't write yesterday because we spent 6 hours in the hospital then we had to wait for a bus home, do a little shopping real quick, then just go home.
Sometimes when we have trials like this we are really tempted to ask ''Why?'' Especially when it's an illness or something physical. I got a blessing with consecrated oil a few days into my sickness from Elder Hadlock and he said something that was fairly similar to D&C 121: Something to the effect of ''This is only but a small moment. Everything will be alright in the end, and God will be with you. You are blessed with strength to endure this trial until it's end.'' There was nothing in the blessing about the sickness being relieved or my pain taken away immediately, rather it was simply an assurance of hope and the blessing of the ability to endure. It made me wonder why I had to go through what I was going through, and what exactly God wanted me to learn from it. I realized then that I wasn't going to get relief until I learned a lesson, so I got busy humbling myself and trying to learn. Sometimes when we have a trial it's hard to see what we can possibly learn, or what we can possibly gain from the experience. But, no matter what, there is always something. I had an important thing I needed to learn, and now looking back on it the spiritual development I went through as a result of my sickness was very important, even crucial. Sometimes God puts us through the refiners fire in order to shape us, and at times that fire can actually be something very physical and very painful. No matter what the affliction or the trial, if we turn to God and put our trust in Him it will turn out for our benefit. We won't always understand why things happen, in fact we will probably rarely understand why things happen. We need to have trust that God is directing our lives, and that he's shaping us, even when we don't feel like we're changing or feel like there's anything to learn. We need to remember that we are just clay in the potter's hands, and it's not the clay's concern or choice when the potter takes certain steps or what he does to shape it. We just need to center ourselves on Christ, and He will take care of the rest. As humans we merit absolutely nothing unto ourselves, without Christ we are no more than an articulate arrangement of proteins and lipids and carbohydrates, but with Christ we are much, much more. With our own strength we can but leave our small print on the world and eventually become nothing more than dust, but with Christ we can become gods. We just need to let Him, and we especially need to trust Him. I want to share my conviction of the reality of the Savior, of His love for us, of His atoning sacrifice and death, something for which I'll forever be greatful. I know that He lives, and I love Him.
''When the waves and trials of life make you feel like you're drowning, don't worry. Your Lifegaurd walks on water.'' - Unknown
So until next week family! Hopefully this week will be a little more productive and I'll recover completely from whatever it is that I have. I love you all!
Elder Fox
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