Tongan Update 22, January 2008, Another Wild Week- Elder Sanchez and Dengue Fever
We received a phone call from a member of the Church in the village of Houma. She was concerned about one of the missionaries in the area. “He doesn’t look healthy,” she said. Elder Thompson and I drove the half hour to Houma, and sure enough, Elder Sanchez looked white and had a huge boil on his foot. His flip-flop wouldn’t even fit because his foot was so swollen, and he was complaining about aching joints, dizziness, and headaches. Now, Nurse Thompson went into gear. “This could be the flu. Take a Tylenol, and if you’re not better in the morning, call me.” NO PHONE CALL, at least not from the Elder! We did receive a phone call from a different member of the ward, and she also said, “Elder Sanchez doesn’t look good.” We sent the Office Elders out to retrieve him and take him to the local doctor, Doctor Ana (I don’t know her last name). It turns out that he has Dengue Fever which is caused by a mosquito bite so he has been recuperating at the office complex the whole week…and his darn boil has been draining all over the carpet. (So much for Nurse Thompson—what does she know?) I find it a frightening thought that I’m supposed to be the medical expert for the missionaries. What do you do? My strategy is to give the Elders two of my home-made remedies, then, if that doesn’t work, I send them to Dr. Ana. A real nurse from the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake is coming to my rescue soon! That is good news for everyone!
When we went to Houma to check Elder Sanchez, a sweet member of the Church gave us not one, but three 3-foot ufi’s. These are huge sweet potatoes. I pulled out my potato peeler, but it wouldn’t make a dent in the tough covering of the ufi. (Dusty, now we need that machete of yours!) So what do we do with 3 ufi’s? We gave one to Pele, the office complex cleaner. We’re giving one to the neighbors. Don’t tell me we have to eat the last one! Maybe one of the Tongan missionaries will help us cut the thing up.
Every Monday we have Family Home Evening with the other senior missionaries. We usually have lessons from out of the book “Preach My Gospel”. This Monday the couple (Embleys) in charge of the evening decided to show a video. It turns out that there have been quite a few videos left on the island as senior missionaries return home and do not want to take the movies with them. We watched “Joseph and His Brothers”. I can guarantee that none of you have seen it. It was filmed in Italy in about 1945. The English had been dubbed in. What surprised me is that we sat through the entire movie, and the actors didn’t sing a single song!
Elder Thompson is excited. He learned today that the three new mission boats have been manufactured and should be delivered within thirty days! Yahoo! He has been asked to train the drivers so we will be flying to Ha’apai. We’ll schedule missionary housing inspections at the same time so we will travel to the surrounding islands in the new boat. John is anxious to see if my stomach is stronger than those people who went with him last time. You know, they all got sick while he stood in the front of the boat singing, “Yo ho, Yo ho, a pirate’s life for me!” Great?!?
Hope your week was a fun one too! We love the Lord, and the gospel is true!
‘Ofa ‘atu, John and Diane
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