October 15, 2010

Hello family!

Well it has been a crazy week (like every week) but I feel like I have been able to communicate with you a lot, so not a ton is new :) Ah, but I have GREAT news, I got my travel plans!!!! I will be leaving Monday morning 6 am, and flying to Chicago, London, and then POLAND! It finally seems real. My whole district is bursting with excitement. We are definitely ready to leave the MTC. I will miss them though, we really became a family. Apparently we can call during layovers, should I just get a phone card? I still have to get cleared on Thursday by the doctor to leave.

Speaking of doctors, surgery went well, it was fine that you weren't there; I was out of it the whole time anyways. It definitely wasn't worth you staying home from the trip. It sounds like you had a great time! Thank you so much for the letters, flowers, and treats. (I definitely got a ton of junior high 'oohs' and teasing 'ahs' when flowers were sent to me, asking what boy had sent them) Recovering from the surgery isn't what I thought it would be. I have stopped taking all of the pain pills except for the antibiotic and some ibuprofen because the side effects were so bad. However, I still am really nauseous, bloated, and feel like I'm going to pass out. I thought this might have been the Lortab, but two days later it is still lingering... I feel the pain a lot, especially at night, but at least I have a bit more of my mental capacities than when I was on the drugs. I am feeling a bit better today though, and hopefully everything will be back to normal by the end of this week. I don't like not being able to function!! I just am trying to make sure that the things I am experiencing is normal for after surgery, and to avoid having to deal with complications in Poland. Thank you for your prayers, I have definitely felt them. :D

On Thursday after surgery I slept all day (in a place in the health clinic called "sick bay"-- 100% it reminded me of the Space Center. Zach, you should work there :D ), but then was able to teach in the TRC that night. It was awesome. I could recall everything I had studied, answer the questions of the investigator, and for the first time, I was able to teach with the spirit in Polish, instead of just reciting my memorized lines. It makes me very excited to teach real people and actually get started on the work.

Now that I'm not on the Lortab it is really hard to sleep at night (I got 3 hours last night :( ) but when I was on it, I had CRAZY dreams. In one of them, our whole Twin Lakes family was in it! Which reminds me, I see Elder Hunt here all the time and we talk about Twin Lakes. He's way jealous that I'm only going to miss 1 year of it.

On Tuesday we had a devotional by Bishop Richard C Edgley, he is a very good speaker and teacher. He talked about being a successful missionary and how we are a peculiar people. One of the quotes that he said that I really enjoyed was "Faith is the power, obedience is the price, love is the motive, the Spirit is the key, and Christ is the reason" (from Pres Faust). On Sunday Susan Tanner spoke to us in Relief Society (she was in the old YW general presidency) She gave a great history of Relief Society and how Joseph Smith said it was a restored organization, not a new one. She spoke a lot about Charity and our role as women of the church. I also watch Music and the Spoken Word every Sunday. I think of you kids getting ready for church watching it. I liked the phrase "Great achievements are made up of hundreds of mundane acts", talking about Louis and Clark this past week.

Well I love you, here are your Polish phrases of the week:

"Wiem ze mozes to zrobic' " which means "I know you can do it!" Sister Steadman and Marshall and I say it to e/o ALL the time. I think it will continue to be a phrase of the mission.

z byka spadl/es', czy co? --> did you fall off a bull or what? it is a Polish saying which means are you crazy or something? I thoroughly enjoy saying it.

Heath Count:

18 visits to the health clinic and 20 outside visits to different doctors. No joke, we have kept tally.

I love you family, I think about you all the time! Thank you for your prayers and letters, siblings, you will get letters soon!

-Siostra Stay

PS I cleared Physical Therapy for my shoulder, and I’m not worried about it being a problem in Poland.

Sister Stay's Medical Issues

Sister Stay asked me to clarify what she's been dealing with medically, so all of you wouldn't worry.

There's a tube that goes from the kidney to the bladder, and it was partially blocked and causing infections. Sister Stay had outpatient surgery on 10/14 to clear the obstruction. She had a few days of nausea, but has since recovered very well.

She has also had some shoulder pain, and has been working with a physical therapist, and that seems to have helped.

Sister Stay is still planning to leave on Monday for Poland.

October 5, 2010

Dad, thanks for the email :) And thank you for the medical information! It has been extremely helpful!

I'll address the fun stuff first. I have an appointment to see the urologist on Friday, but apparently there is a uro/gynocologist that works at the hospital who is amazing. It would be sweet to see him since I have a cyst+ ureterocele and he would know if things influence e/o etc. His name is Dr Justin Lee, and when the MTC health clinic called they didn't have an appointment until Dec, but the health clinic doesn't try hard at all to make things work out. If you think it would be much more beneficial to see him instead of a regular urologist, then try to get an appt and I think you or Dr Johnson would have a lot more success.

I am working really hard on not getting frustrated by the number of doctors’ appointments I am going to. My companions are a huge help to that. They are both so supportive and cheerful about the whole ordeal. Sister Steadman and I have had tons of adventures and studying together waiting for shuttles/appointments, and Sister Marshall stays in class with the Elders and teaches us what we've missed. I guess this is what I get for complaining about lack of adventures. :) I have felt the Lord help me SO much this week with the language even though I have missed a ton of class. Words and phrases stick easier then they ever have before, and I can speak and say what I want to say.

We taught the first lesson together 100% po polsku (in Polish), and it went great! My companions both were also more fluid and confident in the language. They’ve improved by leaps and bounds compared to any other week. I can't express how amazing it is to see God taking your limited abilities and making them work to serve his purpose. We were watching the RS broadcast on Sat night and it reminded me of that same thing. We all were just singing the melody, and in the last verse, the choir joined in with harmonies, descants, and the organ filled out the sound. That's exactly what I feel happening, it is incredible. As I give everything I have to sing my simple melody; it is taken and filled and made more powerful. I truly am learning about the enabling power of the Holy Ghost.

Last night as we were going to bed the fire alarm went off and all of the sisters had to evacuate our Residence Hall. My companions and I are good missionaries though; we stopped and looked around to make sure we had our nametags before we left. I felt like we should have been a little more urgent about leaving when I smelled the smoke in the hall. It turns out that one of the Sisters had burnt popcorn and set off the fire alarm. The poor sisters in the shower! We were kept up all night w/ instructions of opening and closing windows and doors to get the smoke out of the building.

I have been reading Jesus the Christ and looking up all of the references to things I find interesting. I have been learning so much! I also have been working on gratitude (especially with frustrations dealing with the MTC health clinic) and it has made a huge difference. My companions and I always share our tender mercy of the day as we walk home from class. It makes the day much more positive as I focus on the small or amusing things that went well. I am constantly reminded of the Bible study group that I would go to in Delhi. Marium was so aware of God's hand in her life in the smallest ways, even living in poverty. She shared a story about how her son had injured his finger, and they were really worried b/c they didn't know how he cut and injured it (with no tetanus shots and high risk of infection, even small cuts must be such a big deal!) She said that they prayed really hard that Abhi's finger would heal well, and she knew that thanks to the love of God it was all right.

On Wed I had the ultrasound. It was an awesome adventure. I woke up at 5:30 to drink the 40 oz of water they said I needed to drink (on an empty stomach) 1 1/2 hrs before my appointment. The shuttle driver was late, and paperwork took a long time, so it was 8:30/9 by the time I actually had my ultrasound. I was going to die. I was positive that my bladder was going to explode; even going up the elevator seemed like a dangerous thing to do. I told the radiologist that I needed to use the bathroom some or I else I wouldn't make it through the appointment. As she was doing the ultrasound (which was WAY cool to see all of the organs of my body) she said she was impressed at how much water I could hold.

Well, I love you, I need to go. Thank you, Savannah for the scriptures. I loved them. I think of you every day!!

-Siostra Stay