15

Let me describe to you the majority of this week: 

I had such a bad head cold my face felt like it was going to explode. 

Here's basically what happened. 

Sunday, we talk to a girl in the ward who said she wasn't feeling too good. 

Then without thinking I hugged her. 

And it all went downhill from there. 

I woke up Tuesday morning with a sore throat, so I chugged some Emergen-C in the vain hopes of it working out. 

Wednesday I woke up and I couldn't breathe out of my nose. 

Thursday I ended up sleeping until 11:30, then woke up and felt like my head was going to explode. The good thing was our Sister Training Leader was spending three days with us, so Sister H and our Sister Training Leader went out, and a ward member stayed with me while I slept the world away. 

Friday I went out teaching and sat there like a bump on a log while Sister S and Sister H did all the teaching, and I focused on trying to breathe out of my mouth, even though the person we were teaching was smoking. 

It made things complicated. 

Later that day, the member we had dinner with gave me a bunch of medication. She kept opening her medicine cabinet, handing me something, then turning back and saying, "Let's see.....what ELSE can we give you?" 

Finally her husband had to hold the cabinet shut and say, "Honey. Stop." 

Saturday I was functionable....kind of.....but I COMPLETELY lost my voice during a lesson. I tried to speak like, three different times but all that came out was this horrendous sounding squeaking noise. Like a bad doggy toy. And by then our Sister Training Leader was gone so I just kind of prayed that Sister H would do all of the talking.

That night, the Elders showed up to give us our August Ensign magazine. (About time.) I stared at them with a snotty nose, two clogged ears, and said in my manly low voice, "Guys.....can I get a priesthood blessing tomorrow? I'm like....super sick."

They agreed, and I went inside and took two NyQuil. 

Then I woke up at 3 in the morning with a bloody nose. 

And got dizzy when I saw all the blood everywhere. 

Seriously what's up with me and blood?! 

Sunday came, and I was doing okay. The ward member who gave me all the medication hugged me ("No, no! don't hug me! you'll get sick!" "Ooooh I'm not going to worry about that.") and asked how I was doing, and offered me more medicine if I needed it. 

I shook my ward mission leader’s hand and said hello. 

"Are you sick?" 

"Yes." 

"Do you have vitamins?" 

"Yeah, some vitamin D. I'll buy some C tomorrow." 

"No. Come by my house, and I'll give you some tonight. Okay?" 

The dude is from the Czechoslovakia. He used to be in the army. His arms are the size of a baby’s head. I am NOT about to oppose him. 

"Okay." 

After church, the elders gave me a blessing, and guys. It was seriously a really, really cool experience. 

I don't want to go into too much detail about it, but it was one of the most spiritual blessings I've received, and afterwards, I could feel that I had more energy. 

We went on throughout the day, and my energy level remained high. We taught a lesson to our amazing investigator (the one who was previously drunk), and he has set the goal of being completely sober starting.....hey! today, actually! I didn't lose my voice at all, either :) 

By the end of the night, my throat wasn't sore anymore, my ears were clear, and my nose was only a tiny bit stuffy. 

It was seriously incredible. 

I found myself wishing that everyone knew that this really is the true gospel, so that they could have experiences as amazing as this. 

Because, seriously. No other power but God's power could've healed me. 

And I really, really wish everyone could understand how true this gospel is. 

I am seriously so grateful for the atonement of Christ and His priesthood power :)

Things are going well here in Elmira. We've been able to hit our missionary standards the last 3 weeks! We hope to keep finding new people to teach, though. 

I love you all so much! It's crazy to me that I've been out 15 months. It doesn't feel like that long at all. 

Loves!

Hurrah for Israel!

Sista' Stimpson