Week 8 (Concussion) :(

Hey Everyone!

This week will definitely be one of my most remembered. Full of good and hard experiences. The best parts of this week were definitely the lessons we gave. So we have two people we are teaching (Sister Pat and Brother Lucky).  Our teachers act as real people they taught on their missions in Thailand. Our lessons with Sister Pat have struggled. We struggle to give effective lessons that resonate with her.  I think that we over think our lessons and maybe started off wrong. Anyways, Sister Pat hadn't progressed at all and still hadn't prayed. But we learned some new things about how to teach and our last lesson was awesome. In that lesson we finished the Plan of Salvation and taught about faith. But we made it perfect!  Through simple teaching, a concise video and some perfect scriptures out of Alma 33, we helped her see how what we had to teach could bless her life as a single mother. And we gave her the tools to learn  more for herself. Then she prayed at the end of our lessons!!! :) My companion and I were so thrilled and couldn't have been happier to see her progress!  Then we one-upped  that. Our lessons with B. Lucky have been consecutively perfect and have connected so well. At the end of the lesson our teacher evaluates us and he is always just like " Wow, that was amazing" So anyways our last lesson was on Faith Repentance and Baptism! That week, we had him read 2 Nephi 31-32. Those chapters talk about Christ's baptism and how we must pray to learn truth through the Holy Ghost. In this lessons we read from Alma 33 again and helped Brother Lucky realize that he had shown, and exercised his faith by praying, reading the scriptures, and by coming to church. . We taught that learning the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true is important because it is through the gospel (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end) we can become clean, gain more happiness in this life, and ultimately live with God again. We taught more about repentance and baptism and showed a video of Christ being baptized.  We asked if he had faith in the things we taught and he said he did. Then I had the opportunity to ask if he would follow the example of the Jesus Christ by being baptized by someone who holds the priesthood of God. He accepted!! He said he had a feeling it was a good thing. He told us he would continue to try to prepare to be baptized by a certain date.  I know these lessons aren't real, but we all felt the Spirit and it has gotten me so excited to go to Thailand.

Now for some lame/embarrassing news. Back on the 13th, I was walking out of my room and thought I'd try to swing from the door frame and see how far forward I could throw myself. Well, at the peak of the swing, I slipped and landed on my head. I thought I was okay but my headaches never stopped. So, that Tuesday I went to the doctor. He told me I had a minor concussion and that I shouldn't study. It didn't get any better throughout the week. On Saturday, my companion and another Elder from our zone needed to see a doctor, but the 2 places by the MTC were closed, so they shuttled us to the hospital. The doctor was for them but we all went together so I was able to ask about my concussion. He just said rest and mentioned a concussion place if I needed expert advice. The fun part of that trip was the shuttle driver took us to McDonald's and we bought food through the drive through. The MTC knew about my concussion and scheduled a follow-up appt. for yesterday. That doctor told me I had to stop going to class and wanted to send me to this concussion place. I have an appt. for tomorrow. The scary thing is I am supposed to leave for Thailand on the 29th. So there are three possibilities. I'll heal and be ready to leave on Monday. They will extend my MTC stay to heal, or I'll be sent home to recover. And I don't know when they could fly me out next. As you could imagine I was pretty bummed to hear this. Not to mention how embarrassed I feel that something as silly as swinging from a door frame could postpone my departure date for Thailand. Now I am just sitting in my residence with the lights out praying I will be ready by Monday. But I understand that my will might not be the Lord's will. In the long run I know to me there isn't that big of a difference but maybe to the Lord and the people in Thailand there is a purpose for it. I know the Gospel is true. I know that God loves His children.  Don't do dumb things...

Love Elder Shill

 

ps. I'll send pictures next week