First of all, thank you SO so so much for the packages! I love that I just write a big ol' list of things I need and they show up at my mail room mere days later. I really appreciate it. I have SO many dinosaur stickers right now that I'm basically bursting forth with joy and gladness. That does NOT mean to stop sending them to me. I could never have enough. With my kitten stickers too, the possibilites are truly endless. :) You know me too well.
It will be fun to have Vancey [Melissa's Uncle Vance, who is coming for the BYU football game this weekend] and crew over this weekend! Let's hope the Cougs don't suck as bad as they did this PAST week. Geez. Speaking of that, Sis. Tofete and I dressed up in blue and white - very matchy - in support of the Y on Saturday. I have more school spirit here in the MTC than I ever did when I was actually going to school. What does that say about me? Anyway, I guess showing my cougar pride was NOT helpful to them because yes, I did hear the score, and yes, I was disappointed. Geez, Jake Heaps! Just kidding. I don't know if it's his fault, that's just the only football player's name I know. Unless Fui Vakapuna is still there. That's the other one.
So, this past week I got a sinus infection. And oh MAN was it a bad one. But you know what, I'm choosing to look at all the blessings. It showed up Thursday afternoon. Very rapidly and severely. I had the worst sore throat I've ever had, but no congestion, so I thought it must be strep. I went to the health clinic first thing Friday morning, and got an appointment for 2:40 that afternoon. By that time the sore throat had lessened, but I had MAJOR conjestion, headache, teethpain, the works. So it was my classic sinus infection, just a really bad version. The strep test came back negative, thank goodness, so I didn't have to worry about spreading that to my companions and other roommates! The Doctor said that because the air is so dry here in all the buildings (because they crank up the ventilation to try to not spread airborn sicknesses so much) it makes people more susceptible to sinus infections and the like. So that might explain why it was so bad.The clinic isn't open on Saturdays, so if it hadn't hit so suddenly, I probably would have just tried to wait it out, and then it would have been really bad on Saturday/Sunday. So as it is, I have already been on my abx for 4 days! I'm glad it happened this way, and I really do know that that's a blessing. I asked the Doctor, with tears running down my face, if this would delay my flight out on Wednesday, and he said that as long as it doesn't get worse, and I don't develop a fever, I should be just fine.
So Friday night I slept terribly. Let me rephrase that. Friday night, I didn't sleep, and it was terrible. I was in so much pain, and I was coughing really badly and couldn't breathe. Even Sudafed and Tylenol weren't cutting it. I also woke up with really painful sneezing fits. Who has ever heard of those? No one. I swear they're not real, but they happened to me. Anyway, Saturday day was pretty miserable too. And Saturday night was even worse than Friday. I was definitely feeling worse. So Sunday morning I asked Elder Morrill and his companion (Elder Escobar) for a Priesthood blessing. They were kind enough to oblige, and I've been feeling much better. Between the abx kicking in and the blessing, I'm able to feel almost 100% as long as I stay up on my sudafed and tylenol dosing. In the blessing, I was promised that this sickness would NOT delay me getting to Boston. So that was a huge relief. I feel so lucky to be surrounded by worthy Priesthood holders here at the MTC.
Going without MJ [Michael Jackson - for those of you who read this blog but haven't actually every MET Melissa! :-)] has not been as bad as I thought it would be. I'm trying to REALLY love the hymns. I hum hymns every night in the shower and I often get awkward compliments through the curtain :) What would REALLY make my day would be if Jim Croce had a CD of hymns. Man, I really miss that guy's voice. I had another really cool experience with a hymn, though, this week. We sang "There is Sunshine in my Soul Today" and I choked up at the line "Jesus, listening, can hear the songs I cannot sing!" because I usually CAN'T sing when I get too emotional! I love that thought.
Something I've come to love here at the MTC is that I get so much comfort and joy out of being able to say, "You don't have to take my word for it!" when I'm teaching a lesson. I feel like LeVar Burton in the Reading Rainbow. But really, that's one HUGE advantage to being a missionary for this church! I just have to teach, and I have perfect faith that God will convert these people through the Holy Ghost, if they're willing to listen. How great is it, that we can KNOW things for ourselves? I'm convinced that that's really one of the biggest blessings He gives us.
I love love LOVE being here. Even though I'm by no means sick of the MTC, I AM excited to get out to the field. It will be more real, and in some ways it will be easier not being in Provo, so that I'm not constantly reminded of how close I am to my old life.
I'll leave you with a couple new definitions for faitht that I learned this past week at Sacrament Meeting.
"Faith is not believing that God can, it's knowing that He WILL."
and
"Faith is not about everything turning out okay, it's about being okay no matter how everything turns out."
I love to think of it that way.
Love,
Sister Melissa Brownielocks* Broekhuijsen
*Brownielocks is Melissa's dad's nickname for her from when she was little. He starts out his letters to her now, "Dear Sister Brownielocks."
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