December 2, 2011

Hey Hey Hey!

Hark how the lights, cold, frigid nights, all seem to say Christmas is here, thousands and thousands of people coming, thousands and thousands of people coming! yadda yadda yadda you get it. But oh my gosh my poor, tired, 80-year-old missionary body is about to die from exhaustion. We are so wonderfully busy! We are out till 10 p.m. every night and who knew that that precious time from 9-10 helped us rest for the next day. So, needless to say, everyone here is tired yet happy for the season. It is like conference, except every night. We used to have set assignments out at the reflection pool for a few hours, then contacting outside for a few hours but Sister Tahi thankfully has an allergy to the cold. Don't believe it? Neither did I until we were outside for 40 minutes and HUGE itchy bumps exploded all over her face. Needless to say we spent an hour downstairs waiting for them to go away. I have never been so grateful for an allergy in my life. So we have many indoor assignments. The Square looks beautiful and it is only going to get even busier as it gets closer to Christmas. Bring it on.

Other than nighttime we have had some really good success this week with our investigators. One of them, Vincent from Ghana, got baptized last week! We taught him a while ago but found out he was Muslim so we couldn't call him. I felt like we needed to just call and see how he was doing and he told us he got baptized! He was the guy who found a Book of Mormon on the ground and, after reading and praying, knew it was true and searched for the Church. He was so happy and we were internally screaming. Now to get all the rest of our people to the missionaries!

So I have a story that proves that 1) prayer works and 2) miracles still happen. So Sister Tahi and I were making our lunch in the kitchen on Temple Square and I sliced my thumb on the can. Right when it happened I knew that I needed stitches but I was just hoping that maybe if I applied pressure and elevated my hand all would be well. But two huge bloody napkins and a half hour later I decided maybe I should at least go find a band-aid. I spoke to Sister Holmes who took one look at my finger with the subcutaneous fat visible and told me to go to Instacare immediately. Fine. So we went and waited for about an hour to see someone. Good thing it was just my thumb, I would have died otherwise. But I saw the nurse and she took one look at my thumb (still bleeding by the way) and said, "Oh yeah, you need stitches" She got everything all prepared and left to get the doctor. Now earlier I prayed and asked for my thumb to be healed then felt silly for even asking for that. But when the doctor walked in 20 minutes later (again I would have died if it was anything else more serious than my thumb) and looking at it said, "Wow, you don't need stitches at all!" I looked at my thumb and the wound had closed up completely and stopped bleeding. Yay! All the doctors and I were friends by the time we left, probably since I made a huge deal out of the whole thing in the office.

That was my week - more spiritual stories next week I promise.