Well Sister M and I were racing. Super fast, and there is a road that is just straight and downhill. I was pedaling super hard, and then bam a dog runs out of nowhere. Now the object was not to beat Sister M, but to get away from this man-eating dog. Then all of the sudden I was on the ground, and the dog was eating my leg off. Okay, just kidding.
 |
| The sock came clean!!! |
That is not what happened at all. It actually is a really lame story. Just letting those Hughes/Sollenbarger genes really set in. Let's be real, we all knew that it was only a matter of time before I was going to use the missionary medical insurance card. So this is what really happened. I was getting off my bike to check the mail on Wednesday. I set my bike down, and caught it on the "Sprocket" aka, the super sharp gear thing by the pedal. I knew that it had cut me, but I didn't think it was that bad. This is how the conversation with Sister M went. Me: "I cut my leg." M: "On what?" Me: "I don't know.." (I am still getting the dumb mail key into the mailbox...) M: "uhhh... Sister Rietz, we need to go to the apartment right now!" Me: "dang that is a lot of blood..." M: "Forget the mail, lets go!" Me: "Hang on" (open it, nothing but ads in it and a wedding announcement for Sister M). Then we biked to the apartment, and started cleaning it, and then called the Zone Leaders, because we had no idea how bad it was. They came over, and they knew right away I should get stitches. They made us call the Mission Nurse, and she said I had to go to Urgent Care. We had a member pick us up and she started taking us to the Urgent Care place. Then I think she received revelation/inspiration, because she said we should call Bro J who is a dentist in the ward. She said that he had stitched up people before, and not necessarily in their mouth. I was totally okay with that. Now, I strive to be obedient with exactness, but I really did not want stitches from some random person at an Urgent Care place, where I would wait hours just to get a little bit of thread in my leg. So we didn't ask permission from the Mission Nurse to forgo the Urgent Care place, and we just went to Bro. J's office. He did it in less then 20 mins. The best part though, is that he let Sister M put one of the stitches into my leg. I am one of few missionaries who can say that their companion stitched up their leg. It is so cool.
 |
| Sister (Dr.) M and Brother (Dr) J |
 |
| All fixed up! |
The stitches and my skin have bonded well, and they were supposed to come out on Friday, but yesterday in the course of riding our bikes, one of them ripped out. It was the middle one, and let me tell you, that thread stuff ripping out, is no bueno. He said that I would be good, and just to put a butterfly bandage on it, and call it good. My leg was numb for awhile. He said it should be numb for 4 hours, but the numbness stayed wayyy longer then that. Which I am totally good with. I still played tennis this morning with Bro. and Sis. J, and with Sister M. It was so fun, and now Sister M has two rackets here, so she and I are going to play for our exercise in the morning. Woot-Woot!
This week was really a good week. We have 2 new investigators, and we feel so blessed for finding them. Both were at members homes when we stopped for water. On Thursday, we went to go meet with a potential investigator, but he was in the hospital and was not home. We have a less-active that lives by our potential investigator, and so we went there. Well the less-active has a non-member daughter, and she has been wanting to meet with the missionaries, because she has lots of questions. We are meeting with her on Wednesday, and I am nervous that she only wants to Bible-bash with us. Pray for us, cause we feel like we are going into battle with her. GAH!!! The other investigator was at our Recent Converts house. She works for Bob, and sat in on the lesson that we had with Bob, and then she said that she wanted a Book of Mormon, and we are meeting with her this week as well. I really think that she could be a progressing investigator by next week.
David is also doing AWESOME! He is really understanding everything that we are teaching, and this past week when we asked him if he was serious about being baptized, he said that he knew that our church had the only correct way to baptize someone. He said that he knew the Preacher needs that authority from God, and he knew that we have that needed Priesthood Authority. Sister M and I were so happy, and when we were biking away I wanted to scream from joy!!! I was worried that David only was going to be baptized because he thought it would be cool. I had been praying the couple days before asking to know what we should do with David, and if he needed to not be one of our main focuses with our investigators. My prayer was answered, and David is still one of our top progressing investigators. Kathy is having a really hard time. She has pretty much smoked at least one cigarette a day since she received her blessing, and said that she was never smoking again. I really was having a hard time knowing that she could do it, but that she was not using the encouragement and the things promised to her in the blessing. I know that this is going to teach me patience, but I really just want her to be ready to go to the temple now. It has been hard for Sister M and I both, but I know that she can do it, and so we are going to try different tactics this week, and talk about why she wants to go to the temple, and what we can do to help her get there. I am praying for her everyday that she will be able to overcome this nasty addiction.
 |
| Who knew?? |
So many of you remember when I opened my mission call, and I said Ranchero Chucamonga... I blame the lack of my ability to read on the tears that were flowing from my eyes... Anyway, there is a street in our area that is called Ranchero Road. There also is a Ranchero Middle School, and that is where most of the people in the ward go to Middle School. Who woulda thunk that there really is a place called Ranchero. I still am searching for the Chucamonga part. I know that it is out there somewhere.
The High Desert has been hot but we were able to catch a break the last couple of days. On Saturday night, we slept on the balcony, and it was wonderful. When we do it this week, we are pulling our matresses off our beds, cause just laying on my comforter on the cement is not fun. I love the High Desert, and hope that I serve most of my mission here. Even if it means biking in 100 degree weather all day. I really have grown to love the sand, and the sun. But I still love the rain. The High Desert has been in a drought for a long time, and last night it rained. Like actually rained enough that my hair got wet. We were not on our bikes, but we ran out to the street, and took pictures! It was wonderful, and then we went to our balcony, and watched the lightning that was lighting up the sky. Our balcony looks over the pool, and there was no one in the pool cause of the rain and lightning. It was awesome not to hear people splashing.
 |
| Let it rain |
I am grateful for the Elders, and their willingness to leave their area, and waste miles in their car to come check my leg. I am grateful for Sister R texting Mom, and letting her know what happened. I am grateful for Sister M not being scared of blood. I am grateful for Bro J and his willingness to help me. I am grateful for the pioneers that I am related to, and the things that they went through. I am grateful that I am able to be in Hesperia, California even though sometimes I would much rather be at home hanging with the Fam-Bam. And most importantly, I am grateful for all that Jesus Christ did for me. I know that he suffered so much for me, and that really makes me want to be a better person, and to help all those that I can to use the Atonement in their lives.
This talk by Robert D. Hales is really good. Read it if you want! no, READ IT!!!
I love all of you, and am so grateful for the emails that I get from you. I love the pictures, and the emails tons!!! Please all be safe, and smart, and I will try to do the same! ;)
LOVE YOU ALL!
Also, I only have 498 days left! Woot-Woot!
XOXO
Love, Sister Rietz
No comments:
Post a Comment