3-12-2018 and 3-19-2018 (Weeks 24 and 25 or 25 and 26, Eli and I are confused!)

3-19-2018

So this has been a pretty interesting week; out of nowhere, we got a ton of new investors. One of them is an exchange student from China. One of them is an ex-officer, now a schoolteacher, whose wife and kids are members. And the last one we got is a nurse who usually works on Sundays but had the other day off and nowhere to go to church, so she came to our service, and made a lot of friends there. So, that was all pretty cool.

So, there's a member of our ward named E– H–. A few years back E– shattered his ankle. He had to have metal rods put in his leg to fix it. Well, over time his ankle and foot got infected because of the rods. For those of you who don't want to read the nasty medical details, you can be sufficed to know that he got his leg amputated this week.

Nasty Medical Details

E–‘s foot had been bothering him for a long time. Because of the infection, it was swollen up to a size 18 wide. The doctors had been planning an operation to fix it by removing the metal rods. If that didn't work, they were going to remove the foot. 

One night E– came home and his foot hurt so bad that he had his friend take him to the hospital. They ended up doing an emergency operation to remove the rods and infection. They learned in the operation that all the bone marrow in his lower leg had been eaten away by the infection. Not only that, but the two rods were pointing in opposite directions out of his leg. The doctors said he shouldn't have been able to walk on it. They also said that there was more liquid infection in his ankle, leg, and foot then they have ever seen. 

Unfortunately, they ended up having to remove his leg right below his knee. After the amputation of his leg, his diabetes was virtually gone and his white blood cell count is leveling out. And just looking at him you can tell that he's happy and healthier than ever. Also, he can already lift his stub. Which is putting him a month ahead of where he's expected to be.

Conclusion

So E­­– is doing great. Unfortunately, he's leaving the area for rehab now, and I probably won’t be seeing him anymore. Keep E– H­­– in your prayers. 

Stay safe and watch out for traps. 

From me - Eli

3-12-2018

"Derped" stoplight

Hi guys,

So after last week's windstorm, we've been seeing a lot of the aftermath. Such as fallen trees, broken street, and derped stoplights.

So on Sunday one of the speakers that they called for sacrament meeting got the flu. So, as usual, the bishopric asked the full-time missionaries to be the last minute replacements. So Elder Roper and I each gave five-minute talks on the atonement and what it means to us. I used the story of Alma the Younger from the Book of Mormon as an example of the atonement of Jesus Christ. If you'd like to read the story on your own it can be found in the Book of Mormon, Mosiah, chapter 27 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/27?lang=eng.

If you don't have a copy of the Book of Mormon or you can't be bothered to get up, I’ve included a handy link.

Fallen trees, and car the trees evidently fell on!

One of the classes we had on Sunday was on the priesthood, or the authority to work in God's name. They specifically had a discussion on how with the priesthood we can give a blessing of health to people. One of the family’s we're working with had us over the night after to give one of them a blessing. I was the one who gave the blessing. One of the really interesting things about giving blessings, especially blessings of health, is that afterward you feel physically drained. And I was already tired because of daylight savings, and it was the last thing we did that night, so I was so tired afterward that all I could do was put one foot in front of the other. 

Stay safe and drink 8 cups of water a day.

From the invisible monster that's eating all of your leftover cupcakes - Eli