I've had an odd week.
You see, on Monday I went to a barbeque thing with the zone Maipu, which was fun (even though it took forever to start the fire). There was this last piece, after all was eaten, and since I hadn't eaten very much, I decided to eat it. The coals had been going out, fact unknown to me, so the cooking had been somewhat substandard. I bit a few times, but on perhaps the fifth, pure blood came out of the middle. I stopped there, of course. I went through that whole day fine. I got up the next day, ate breakfast, went to my meetings, went to lunch, then went to get some blankets we needed from the store... and then everything went bad. I don't want to be really graphic, but I think I will just say diarrhea with the adjective "extreme" and leave the rest to your imagination.
I had just ferried another missionary to the emergency room a few days earlier for dehydration incident to the same problem, so I did what I could to drink. I came back to the office feeling rather bad. I was struck by terrible chills on the way home. I came back, found a space heater, and sat in front of it between bathroom trips about from six to ten that night (tuesday). I had the whole works - sweating beads while still cold, shakes, kidney pain, headache, urge to vomit, etc. It was the most intense I can remember those symptoms. Toward the end of the day I was on the border on consciousness several times. I had the sense to drink, which saved me. I woke the next day pretty much in the same situation. That entire day was fitful rest (wednesday) due to the kidney pain, which had worsened. I don't remember the day too well. The next day I got up at ten and basically worked, but couldn't stand for a long time.
But now we're on Saturday, and I'm just like I was last Saturday, except two kilos lighter. I don't know what the purpose of that whole thing was. I guess I'll avoid beef for a while. I probably won't tell the missionaries who cooked that day anything...
The other highlight (there are actually three, this is number two) is how I think I have ended up with the fix-stuff bug from Dad. Yesterday Elder Wheelwright and I went out and replaced a bathroom faucet and that plastic tower thing in a toilet that decides how much water to put in. It was hairy, in reality, because there's no way to get to the assembly that holds the sink on without ripping the whole thing off the wall, including ripping out some rusted wall anchors and silicone. So we redid the wall anchors, switched out the faucet, put it back on, screwed it in, put on new silicone, etc. That was fine, what was strange was how satisfying it was! I had recently unclogged the drain in the same sink, so I just watched the perfect new faucet run at full speed and the drain drain too. Awesome. It's like, "I did this."
Of course I got my summer pants and shirt rather filthy without noticing, but hey - it's supposed to be cold soon, so I won't ever need them again. I'm going to need a lot of bleach.
(Side note: How much of my clothes should I be keeping when I come back? The bodega(clothing warehouse for poor missionaries) here can really use it, and I could fit more Chile in for every thing I don't bring back.)
Third highlight of the week - tonight we have a movie night with our ward. We are expecting some sixty people, because this ward is cool and has lots of youth that are up for anything. We'll be watching the new Joseph Smith one that no one has seen here on a projector. That´ll be good, I think.
Also, I did my visa, because I was illegal. I am now not illegal. It was fun, though, because all the people I knew in the MTC were there because we all went illegal at the same time, so I saw them.
This week was basically a dream because I was only really conscious for three days this week. That's all I have to report. If you've not read Drawing on the Powers of Heaven, I'd recommend it. Elder Wheelwright let me borrow it. It's essentially about how there's a big gap between our personal righteousness and our blessings, or rather, we should have more blessings for how good we are in most members' cases. It's worth a shot.
I would actually like to ask for a copy from you if you are sending anything in the next few months.
Thanks,
Love,
Elder A Conrad Crist
No comments:
Post a Comment