November 4, 2013

"The Spider Bite"

Hey Y'all!!

Hope this week was great for everyone. This has been an eventful week for myself that is. Transfers were this past Wednesday. Elder Hyde is my new companion. He is from Orem Utah, has been out on his mission for 1 year, and is 22 years old. He has only been up in the Ft. Worth, Arlington area for his whole mission, so Killeen is different view for him. He is a big sport lover, so we have already got a lot of things in common. Haha!

So at the beginning of the week, me and Vaoga really went to a lot of members and our investigators to have him say good bye to them. We were only able to teach a couple lessons on those days so our numbers for the week were going to struggle. It was pretty hard to say good bye though cause we had gotten to know each other really well for the past 3 months. But it is all good now. I have been showing Elder Hyde the whole area so far and I am going to work his butt off. He came home with sore legs on Friday already. So it should be a fun transfer. We had to drop 2 of our dates this week because they didn't come to church. Keva and Yvonne. Our investigators need to come to church twice before they can get dunked. Yvonne has been totally ignoring us for the past 2 weeks, and has given us a clear sign not to come back. So she is gone for good. Keva is still awesome with appointments, but we just need her to come to church on Sundays. Frustrating sometimes.

But the main issue for this week is my wonderful spider bite. So 2 weeks ago, I discovered a lump on my back and I really only thought that it was a misquitoe bite. So I didn't really think anything of it. So last week Friday, I accidentally scratched it open, and started to get bigger from that point on. So on Sunday, I woke up and it hurt pretty bad. Sister Ames just said to take some Benadryl and Ibprofen to help the swelling and pain. So I did and it didn't work. Monday last week it hurt pretty bad to the point where I couldn't even put my back pack on my back. It had grown in size, bigger that a quarter by this point. Obviously something is wrong. So I got a hold of the area doctor and he gave me a anti-biotic for the next 10 days to keep. While I'm taking the pills, I can't have dairy. But my last day in on Thursday. So Tuesday night, we are at a members house doing service, and I showed it to him and it popped open. We then started to push all the puss and stuff out of the wound,(yes we have a video and I sent it home this week). Once we popped it, it shrank in size and it no longer hurt. Fast forward to Friday. I have been keeping gauze on it because it kept leaking infection, I felt it to see how it was doing, and now there was a hole in my back. So yesterday, I called the doctor again, and brother call sent a picture of it to him and he said it looked better than before....well that's great, but did you see the hole in my back?!? He said not to worry about it. If it gets bigger by Wednesday then I have to see a doctor. And that's the story so far. What a birthday present right?? Haha! So the anti-biotic should make this thing go away by the end of the week, and hopefully it does. So hopefully Elder Hyde doesn't think he has a diseased companion right?/ Haha!

Besides the bite, I really do think that this next transfer is going to go really awesome! As a companionship, we have a goal of 3 baptisms for the next 2 months. I know that we are going to be able to do this. We have already been working hard just in 5 days. We just got a solid referral from another set of missionaries that already have a date, so I can't wait to start teaching them! The members here are still feeding us. I decided to stay away from the scale this week, so I don't know how much more I have gained, hopefully I stayed the same. Haha! I hope y'all have a fantastic week! I am always happy to hear updates from everyone on Monday! Love you all!!

Elder O'Brien