Love, Kristen - Week 7

Kamusta Lahatsa!

Well, this week definitely had it's ups and its downs. Thankfully more ups, but the down is pretty bad. I injured my left wrist playing volleyball this week and I'm waiting to see what the doctor says about how it's healing to know if I'm still going to be able to leave in two weeks or not. I'm frustrated because I was not doing anything stupid while playing--the ball was served and I went to bump it over with my arm, but couldn't get under it in time, and so ended up bumping it with my wrist instead (thankfully the ball went over and the other team didn't get it, so we got a point, but I'm hoping my sacrifice wasn't so great). When the impact was made on the wrist, it hurt, but it felt like something that I could just shake off. So I shook my wrist a little, and continued to play. The ball never came to me again, and after a few minutes I noticed the pain increasing, so I went upstairs to run around the track, figuring it wouldn't be a good idea to continue with volleyball.

I did some running on the track and then on the eliptical as well. The pain did not go away though, but continued to increase. I went downstairs to wear Sister Lyman was and told her I wanted to go see the athletic trainers and possibly the doctor as my wrist really hurt. We went to the trainers and they had me roll my wrist, and felt around, and finally decided to simply ice it for ten minutes and see what happened. I did not like that at all. The first half of icing is painful as your entire arm is being numbed up. Ugh. The last half was whatever, but I hated that first half. Anyways though, the pain was still there after the icing and so we visited the doctor. He guessed it was badly sprained but sent me to the health clinic the next morning to get it x-rayed to make sure. He also gave me a brace to rest my wrist in.

All day my wrist was throbbing and the next morning it was still hurting. I couldn't even write or grip anything without a lot of pain. The x-rays were taken though and when I visited the doctor later that day, he told me that he hadn't seen any fractures, and that the wrist was probably just badly sprained. I told him it hurt pretty badly in a certain area and showed him where it was swollen. He thought it might just be ligaments or something though and so told me that they were going to get me into physical therapy. I was releived that my wrist wasn't broken, but frustrated with the thought of having to take time out of my study/classes to go to physical therapy. I said I'd be fine with just going to the athletic trainers during gym, but he wanted me to go to a professional.

Later that day I was eating dinner when "the voice" (intercom system) came over the cafeteria and said, "Sister Kristen Danner please come to the front desk." It is an exciting thing to get your name called down, and so I punched my right arm in the air and said, "Ayos!" ("Great!) and Sister Lyman and I headed down to the front desk. They said the doctor wanted to speak to me, and called him, and then had me talk to him over the phone. He told me that the radiologist had taken a look at my x-rays and believes he saw a small fracture in the area where I complained of it hurting so bad. They want to send me to an orthopedic surgeon to be sure. So this morning, Monday. I headed over to the scheduling office and they made the appointment for Wednesday at 8:30.

The interesting thing is though, my wrist has not been hurting very badly these last 2 days. I've been able to move it without pain, unless I move it a certain way then there's pain in that one area, and can grip just fine now and write as well. I can type this email without any pain and don't even have the brace on (gets in the way). So in my mind I'm fine to go to the Philippines in two weeks. But we'll see what the orthopedic surgeon says. The doctor here thinks I'll be okay to go in two weeks, but worse case scenario I'll have to stay an extra week or two. So please if you wouldn't mind, keep me in your prayers. I really want my wrist to heal so that I can leave in two weeks. The MTC is wonderful, but I'm ready to go and start teaching.

Well, now that that's over, let me tell you some of the GOOD things that happend this week. The first is that Sister Kathy Christofferson (Elder D. Todd Christofferson's, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, wife) came to speak to us in Relief Society yesterday. She told us about Mary and the Savior and here's one thing that she said that really stuck out to me. Everything else was excellent too, but this really made me think: Jesus Christ was born in a stable, extraordinarly humble circumstances, especially for the Son of God. For Mary, the timing of his birth could probably not have come at a less convenient time. However, it needed to happen that way, for probably several reasons, but also because half way across the world a group of believers in the Americas were going to be put to death if the sign of his birth was not given THAT night. They needed him to come and He came. Mary could not have known about this, and perhaps it wasn't until she reached the other side of the veil when she realized why Christ needed to be born the very night that he was. It made me think about how sometimes I don't understand the big picture behind everything, why certain things happen at certain times, but that God does, and it may not be until I reach the other side of the veil that I completely understand the reasons for everything. And that's okay. Everything will work out just as it should.

After Relief Society, we were invited to go back and meet Sister Christofferson and so Sister Salway, Sister McDonald, Sister Lyman, and I all headed back to meet her. We waited in line for a little while, and then she greeted each of us with a hug and talked to us about where we were going. When we told her the Philippines, she expressed her excitement for us and told us that she had been to Manila before and what a beautiful place it was that we were going. She was so warm and friendly, and gave me an extra side hug before she said goodbye to us. She was just so nice and a wonderful lady and it was an honor to meet her.

Sister Lyman and I signed up for a "progressive investigator" this week in the T.E. so that we could experience what it may be like to prepare for a specific person, meeting with them consecutive times, and preparing them to come unto Christ through baptism. We wanted to do this in Tagalog, but unfortunately there's only one teacher in the T.E. who speaks Tagalog, and we could not meet with him enough (we do meet with him once a week to practice the lesson we'll be giving in the TRC though, as we do want to practice teaching in Tagalog as much as possible). So we're teaching in English, and we met with him for the first time on Friday. It was an amazing experience. I know that Brother Savage is not a real investigator, that he is already converted and in fact an RM, but the spirit was still there and so strong as we talked with Brother Savage, or "Kostiya" (Russian name...the investigator that he plays) and found out his needs and concerns and helped him better understand his relationship with God, as that is what he seemed to really stand in need of. The spirit was strong as we talked with him and as he talked with us, and by the end we committed him to simply pray to God and ask for help with his upcoming finals, and see if his mind wasn't a little more clear as he took them, and if he could feel that someone was truly listening. We told him that God really does care about him, and knows him, and is aware of him, as he is each of his children. By the end, Kostiya (and Brother Savage himself) seemed very touched and we hope that he'll follow through on his commitments so that we can teach him more when we come back. And I hope to have many real experiences like this in the Philippines. I may not be able to bring everyone to baptism that I meet, but I at least hope to help everyone feel God's love for them in their life so that they can eventually down the road decide to be baptized into his true church and receive all of the many blessings and eventual exaltation that come from that.

I hope to have enough time to write this next part. I found out why "Tagalog" is called "Tagalog." Near Manila there is a river that ancient people lived next to. When others came to the Philippines and discovered these people they were called "The People from the River" and they spoke "The People from the River" language. This phrase translates to "Taga-ilog" in Tagalog, "Taga" meaning "from" as in where someone is from, and "ilog" meaning "river." Eventually the language was shortened to Tagalog. Isn't that so cool??? I love learning things like that!

Well the church is true. I love it. I can feel God's love for me and for others every day. I know that we are his children and that he loves us very much.

Have a great week!!

Sister Danner