Hello hello Family!
Wow, what a week it's been. First off, down to business. I'm sure everybody wants to hear about whether I'm still sick or not. Well, here's the nitty gritty. Mom, first off, the sleeping thing is not from anxiety or anything. I don't have any of that, trust me. I'm just tired all the time for some reason. I am starting to sleep better at night now though. I keep finding myself with different symptoms and seem to have caught several sorts of things, but I think we're finally on the up and up *fingers are crossed*. Mom, when I went to the Doctor the first time, she didn't even tell me what I had. All she said was, "It's not that bad," and gave me some medicine for a sore throat and a few other things. Anyway, my sore throat got better, but I progressed into a bit of a cold. When I woke up on Thursday, I somehow misplaced my voice. After a thorough search of the house, we decided it was time to call Sister Nielson, because I was obviously not getting any better. She sent us to the doctor (again), and after a visit with a normal doctor, then a throat specialist, we discovered the cause of all this commotion. As it turns out, I had laryngitis, which was a bit of a shock to me. She told me that I had somehow contracted a bacteria and it hadn't been cleaned out of my system. I guess I just didn't slow down enough to totally kill it early on in the process (go figure huh? Sounds just like me, right?). It wasn't down to my lungs yet, so I don't have pneumonia, but it did give me laryngitis. So, what all this means is that I couldn't speak for two days. As in, I was commanded by the doctor not to. So, Elder Bokinsky and I had a grand 'ol time with a on-going game of charades for two days. This is all during preparations for the baptism, and while I'm on a three-day anti-biotic that is supposed to wipe me out pretty hard core (I was maybe commanded to rest by the doctor during such a time period, but with a baptism coming up, we just couldn't do it [but we did rest as much as we could, worry not mother! {I'm going overboard on parentheses today, and trying to make this as humorous as possible, so you know that I'm still in a good mood, even with everything that has happened... is it working?}]). Not to mention that President and Sister Nielson were coming down for the baptism on Saturday and President was doing interviews with all the missionaries on Sunday. Well, anyway, I woke up on Saturday with a voice, which was a big step in my recovery. We weren't told by the doctor exactly how long I couldn't speak, so I tried to speak as little as possible because my voice wasn't that strong yet, but it was back and strong enough to do my interview with President Nielson and speak Polish to all the members during the baptism and at church (can you imagine if Elder Bokinsky had to play charades during that episode? Yikes. Nightmare.) I gotta tell you about my interview with President, because it was awesome. I told him about how being sick was driving me nuts because I haven't been able to get out and do much. I told him I was never injured badly enough to miss a game in any sport in high school, and now that this sickness has just had me beat up and tired all the time, it was making me go a little insane. Well, he shared a story with me about how we have to trust in the Lord's timing. He was a big athlete back in his day (at the college level even), and he ended up suffering a fractured ankle that got him out on his mission. I gotta believe there's a reason I've been sick for so long and that the Lord has a plan for me through all this. He also encouraged me to share my testimony with you guys when I write home, because this is in all likelihood the only time I will have power and authority from the Lord to specifically be a representative of Him and be able to bear that testimony with such power. Cool, huh? I hadn't ever thought of it that way and what kind of an impact that could have on you guys. Needless to say, it was a great chance to talk to President and be comforted about all the humbo-jumbo I've been dealing with the past couple of weeks.
In any case, we had a busy end of the week, but we did succeed in having a baptism! Make that two actually! D and P were baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. It was an incredible service. I tell you what, the Spirit there was almost like the Temple. We had two brothers, A and P, do the baptizing. A baptized D, and P baptized P. It was incredible. P is 22 and is getting married at the end of this month, and A is 20 and is actually putting in his mission papers in a month or two. They're both super strong in the gospel. The confirmations were super awesome too. I don't even know how to describe it. Basically, I'm at a loss for words. Spiritual things do that sometimes though. They just can't be described in words. I apologize, I don't have any pictures to send of the baptism, but there are pictures of it on Sister Nielson's blog. They wouldn't let us take out our cameras or anything, but she took pictures for us. I feel so blessed to have helped P and D along their journey to this gospel. I know the Lord placed them in our path for a reason. They are incredible and have such strong faith. They are rock solid already. Ah, I could go on forever, but I'm actually running out of time.
I apologize, with the whole voice issue I didn't make a voice recording either, but I will send some next week for sure.
I'm also not sure about Christmas phone calls, but I should have information soon.
I love you all. I know this is the Lord's work. He is at the helm. His timing is what's best. That is a lesson I'm learning immensely here on my mission. The Book of Mormon is true and there is real power in reading from it. It was the biggest tool in D's conversion and the reason why we met with her so often. Joseph Smith really did see God, the Father, and his son, Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove. That's why I'm here, because a 14 year old boy unlocked the road for us to take advantage of all the blessings of the atonement on a spring morning in 1820.
Once again, I love you all and pray for you. Keep the faith.
Elder Vernon
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