This week was crazy! Time flies way too fast. I can't believe it is Monday again! We spent so much time at the church between activities and preparing for our open house! Yeah, we had an open house on Saturday. It was awesome! We were praying super hard that it would not rain. And it didn't! It was so good. Lots of people (a ton of new people whose first time it was at the church), lots of friends and family of the members. It was a great fellowshipping opportunity! I love meeting the family and friends of people who are already members - it is the most precious kind of contacts we receive. It really does add that much more to the central theme of our open house: Families can be together forever. I know they can! It takes a lot of effort, but it is a goal that can be achieved. We should always have our sights set on the Holy Temple of the Lord. Through introducing these eternal principles of the Gospel, we received several referrals and are hoping for them to be our baptisms for his coming up month! :)
Sunday - I felt like it wasn't even Sunday since we were at the church literally all day Saturday. But it was good! We got a walk in at church and also some more referrals! I love this ward so much.
Sunday was also interesting because I finally decided to stop procrastinating and just go to the hospital. My stomach pain came back and everyone was freaking out because they thought I had appendicitis and if I kept waiting I could die. So I just went to the really nice hospital. It took them a while to figure out what was wrong. They took me to like 3 different areas and specialists. Finally, they just gave me a CT scan. Good news: my appendix is normal! No surgery, no death. Wonderful. So the actual results are "unremarkable" as it says on the paper. (Not really sure what that means besides the fact that they don't really know what's causing it).
Turns out, the pain all this time is being caused overall by a gastrointestinal infection. So the pain is actually coming from enlarged and swollen lymph nodes on my small intestine. I think I had all the doctors stumped. If only they understood how long I had actually been having this problem! I had been stuck with too many needles, and I was really glad to be getting out. Since it was late at night on a Sunday by the time we were getting ready to leave (we'd been there like 5 hours), I was like the only one left (yet I still had to wait a long time for everything? not really sure how that works) so everyone was paying attention to me. They were all like "We're taking this needle out now. We don't even know why it was still here in the first place. She's ready to go home! She hasn't even eaten dinner and she's been here for like 5 hours! Leave her alone! Are you okay to walk? Can we get you a wheelchair?" It was great - it wasn't even that bad. I guess they had nothing better to do, except to watch "Thailand's got talent". After seeing snipets of it, I might argue that it wasn't even talent, rather just who is the best entertainer, and who can wear the most outrageous outfits.
The last doctor I saw prescribed me an antibiotic (since they don't even know where the problem is, they just know the outward result of it: pain) and said "We hope to never see you again!" I definitely return those feelings tenfold.
Overall this week, besides all the craziness happening, I really got to dive into my study of the most recent General Conference. I read President Monson's address "Love - the Essence of the Gospel" this morning. It really impressed me how he talks about us on our mortal journey, and how EVERY DAY we have the opportunity placed before us to serve and to show love - whether it be to family, friends, or to a complete stranger. God wants us to help His children! Everyone that we see every day is placed in our path for a reason - and we have the potential to serve each one of them.
It is amazing to me that God knows exactly why we are where we are right now. We may have our other reasons or thoughts as to why we are where we are. Like me: I know why I decided to serve a mission. But there are more reasons than that that God has sent me here at this specific time. It surpasses our ability as mortals to see or comprehend all that God has in store for us. He knows the eternal scheme of things, and He knows that what we are doing now will help prepare us for that time. So I have resolved to never miss a chance to love and serve someone, and also to never miss a chance to learn from whatever comes our way. God will prepare the way for us in all things, we only have to give Him our willing hearts and our willing hands to contribute to His work in accomplishing His eternal purposes. I invite you all to do the same! Don't be afraid to lose yourself in the light of His love and in service to Him.
Love,
Sister Norrell
Pictures:
Selfie arms. (Technical name: Unipod.) You may look stupid using them. I wasn't converted until a Recent Convert gave me one for free. It makes taking group pictures so much easier! Look it up. They're the best!
Us making the gifts for the open house...I love these members!
Ice cream! Mine was on sandwich bread. Whole new meaning to ice cream sandwich.
Another fun perk of selfie arms: the longer you are taking pictures, the more people you have to join in the picture taking, and the longer you have to extend your selfie arm! Greatest Asian invention ever.
Someone invited the choppers to the open house. And a indie singer actor guy named Starbucks came. Really interesting crowd!
There was a replica someone built of the Salt Lake Temple.
And someone donated free t-shirts for the open house! :)
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