1 March 2015
Hardly know where to begin.
This last week was the biggest and most chaotic transfer ever -- a
perfect storm of problems. 31
missionaries going home and 16 coming in.
A lot of preparation goes into transfers. Unfortunately not everything can be done in
advance. For us Monday through Friday of
transfer week is so busy that we often work 10+ hour days. Our Mission Office is responsible for all
travel arrangements getting the new missionaries to Iowa City to meet their new
companions and for the departing back to the Mission Home in Des Moines ---
luggage and totes. Here they are fed a great meal, have a testimony meeting,
interviews with the President, and special video made up from all the pictures
sent in from the missionaries, and dessert.
They are given a special departing packet with their travel itinerary,
list of their assignment history, a letter from the President, map of Iowa,
odds and ends from their personal file, CD of their letters to the Mission
President and a list of all the missionaries in the mission for the past two
years and copy of the special DVD video.
Everybody is so busy. Everything
has to work perfectly for it all to go smoothly. Usually there are only little hiccups that
come up, but not this time. So much went
awry.
First, the Sister who
prepares and oversees the meals in the Mission Home got very sick, and her
mother (who helps in our office once a week) was in the hospital. So the Mission President's wife, Sister
Jensen was scurrying around trying to find someone else to help out for 2 days
of meals. That is a lot of work to feed
missionaries during the transfers.
Second, the Sister who helps make the DVD video had big troubles
with her computer and was late getting it to us to review and copy.
Then, I was somewhat stressed having given the lesson in
Relief Society that Sunday before. I
felt like I was in a dream and couldn't focus.
Monday, I was not feeling well but couldn't put a finger on why.....just
blamed it on stress. That is the day of
our biggest Staff Meeting to prepare and go over final details.....always lasts
half the day. I stayed late to get as
much done as I could. Tuesday, I knew
something wasn't quite right. My heart
rate was racing and pounding and I felt so dizzy and light headed. Even though we were so busy, I felt prompted
to call the doctor and get an appointment that day. Good thing!
She did an EKG and did some blood work and then came back and told me
she was sending me to the Emergency Room.
I guess my Hgb had dropped from 13.3 to 6.6 from the week before. I was losing blood somewhere and they
suspected one of my gastric varices.
They treat that very seriously so the ER was waiting for me when I
arrived. The next 6 hours are a blurr. My
Hgb was still dropping. I guess I didn't have all the usual symptoms
of someone with GI bleed. No...I never
felt nausea or vomited up blood. Was
asked 100's of questions. One question I remember vividly was if my
heart stopped would I want them to give me compressions!! "Well, yeah!" An
endoscopy was done to see if the medication to stop the bleeding worked. It did.
So many different doctors and nurses coming and going. I never once felt a dooming feeling like I
wasn't going to make it. But, after
awhile your logical thinking starts to take over. I am a nurse and I know what all this could
mean.
Well, so much for all the office work to be done. I was in the hospital until Thursday
night. So much for the CDs and the
special DVDs to give to all the missionaries.
One copy was made so they could show it after their testimony meeting. We usually go over to the Mission Home, do
our training and help with the meals. Elder
Stringham spent the first day pretty much at the hospital with me. He left late, went back to the office to
prepare MSF cards for the missionaries (their debit cards) and also their
medical cards. The Shelleys are busy
with getting missionaries to and from transfers and they had their hands full
this transfer. Still she managed to do
my training. Elder Stringham got the
departing packets to the Mission Home.
The necessary stuff got done....the fluff did not. So we will be mailing out the CDs and the
DVDs.
At the airport....Des Moines airport is not very big....they
struggled getting all these missionaries checked in and luggage weighed and
paid for. The airline employees seemed
overwhelmed and a little uptight. 24 missionaries
were on the same flight to Salt Lake
City. That must have been a fun flight! They barely had enough time to get checked in
before their departure....despite being there 3 hours early. Sister Jensen was almost in tears because she
did not get to even hug them good-bye.
She loves and mothers them all for 2 years and waits until the very end
where she is allowed to give one big hug to the Elders.
To make things worse during all this we got more snow on
transfer day. The transfer meeting in
Iowa City was late getting started because of snow and ice. So here we have a little snow storm with
Elders and Sisters driving cars, big vans with missionaries and trucks with
loaded trailers. That was a little nerve
wracking. Me....I am sitting in a hospital bed watching
the snow come down, thinking about all that is going on in the mission, trying
to distract myself with TV cooking shows (while being on a clear liquid diet)
and feeling so useless!!!!
And I have to mention that during all this chaos President
and Sister Jensen found time to come visit me in the hospital and see that food
from the Mission Home meals was saved for us.
We had enough for 3 meals. I am
in awe that they do so much and care so much for their missionaries.
Friday I went back to work thinking I would just work a half
a day. Not to be. Too many things to do and problems to
solve. Still quite anemic, but it will
improve over time.
Been thinking about the blessings of all this! I will have to get back to you on this one. I'm sure there is something to be learned and
in time I will understand. I hate to
fall through on my responsibilities! I
hate it more when it disrupts other people's schedules and causes them more
worry and they have to do my work! I am
feeling humble...after all I survived a medical emergency. Once I get caught up on everything life will
get back to normal...."missionary life normal" that is.
Here is a bittersweet story!
3 months ago we received a new missionary with mega medical
problems and food allergies. He had been sent for a "trial" mission
in another state for 3 months first to see if he could handle it. He so wanted to be a missionary!! He did well so he was sent here to Iowa. He was enthusiastic, hardworking and fun to
have around. The President felt
impressed to send him to a certain area with a certain trainer. In this new area was a Sister who had similar
food allergies and in her gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, etc. kitchen she
made him bread (a recipe from this Elder's mom) and a special dish each week
that he could eat for several meals.
This Sister and her husband had fond feelings for this Elder because he
reminded them so much of their son who had been killed 9 months ago in Afghanistan. Sadly,
the Elder's health deteriorated, both physically and mentally. He was struggling. This past transfer he was released and sent
home. He lives with his mother only
because his father is deceased. All of
us in the office, the APs, President and Sister Jensen and many elders who knew
this Elder were heartbroken. We all knew
how hard he tried and how much he wanted to be a missionary. The Brother and Sister in his area felt sad
but made sure this Elder knew he had not failed. Today at church we learned that the couple
will be having their son sealed to them in May in Utah. They have asked the Elder to stand in for
their son when he is sealed to them.
They love him so much and took such great care of him while he was
here. They felt that this missionary was
sent to them because this helped them in their grief. This is a testimony to me that the Lord had a
hand in where this Elder was sent -- both to this mission and to the area. This young Elder will always have a friend
here!! And since this couple also have
family in Utah, I bet they see him each time they visit Utah. I truly believe that the Lord cares more
about the intent and desire of the heart and not just how much we accomplish.
Well, we still know that what we are doing is important!
Love you all!
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