Feed My Sheep

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Last Sunday I woke up early with a bout of vertigo.  The room was spinning and I felt quite a bit of nausea.  I used some essential oils and crawled back under the covers and hoped it would pass quickly.  After a couple hours of sleep, I felt much better and was able to go to church.  Tuesday morning I experienced vertigo again, this time not quite as bad.  I got up and took my morning walk but decided that I didn't want to chance having a dizzy spell while I was driving, so I asked Sister Boone to drive to our appointments.   By Wednesday, I felt comfortable with driving again and did okay for the rest of the week, although sometimes when I bend over or bend my head back too far, I still get a little dizzy.  I hope this will not be a chronic condition.

I was able to take care of a few personal needs this weekend.  I got my first haircut since starting my mission, and I found the time to take my car to the Subaru dealership and get an oil change and tire rotation.  I was a little nervous about taking the car in, because I worried that I would not get the same kind of friendly service that Doug Smith Subaru of American Fork gave me.  I was pleasantly surprised when the service exceeded my expectations.  I will gladly return when I need service in the future.

We have gone through most of the ward directory for White Plains 2nd Ward now.  We have quite a few sisters that we have not been able to visit because they either work or were gone when we stopped by but we will continue to call back.  We sat down with the Bishop and Relief Society President today to report on our progress and to receive further suggestions of how we can help them meet the needs of the sisters in the ward.

I don't have quite as much anxiety about the work as I did in the beginning.  We are encouraged by the amazing sisters we have met so far.  Some have been through some difficult times and some are currently going through their trials.  They are not too different from the sisters in Utah or anywhere else in the world for that matter.  As Lehi told his children, "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things…"   That is how we grow.  We don't appreciate the trial when we are in the midst of it, but the growth that can come from overcoming adversity is wonderful to see.

Just Friday, we went to our 11:00 appointment and decided we had a few minutes to stop by a less active member's house before going to our 12:00 appointment.  We chose one of the sisters on our list and drove to her house.  When we drove up, two young men were sitting in a car out front.  One of them got out of the car and said he would go get his mom.  We were surprised to see that she is not really "less active" but is a sister we had seen in the temple the previous day.  She seemed a bit disturbed when she walked out of the house to greet us, but that was quickly replaced with a sense of relief.  She told us that the police had been called to their house by a neighbor or several neighbors, and they had only gone a few minutes before we arrived.  Her son was having a problem with anger management either due to drugs he should not have been taking or medications which he failed to take; she wasn't sure which.  The commotion he was causing by beating her property with a baseball bat had alerted several neighbors who called the police.  She told us that we had come at the perfect time.  She was worried about what her son was going to do now that the police were gone, because he thought it was his mom who had called the police, and he was still upset about it.  He left with his friend a few minutes after we arrived, and we were able to visit with the sister.  She has a very difficult situation to deal with.  Her husband has left the church and is not very supportive.  She is working hard to improve herself.  She is attending Weight Watchers and has lost 117 pounds since the first of the year.   Her house is in need of repairs and some good general cleaning, but it seems so fruitless to her when her son continues to mistreat her and the house when he has his fits of anger.  We expressed our concern for her wellbeing and told her that we would check back with her later in the day to make sure everything was okay.  Later in the evening she reported that he had come back in a calmer state of mind and she was okay for the time being.

We were glad to see her at church today.  I listened to the Sunday School lesson about the faith of the early pioneers who endured great hardship before they made it to Utah.  Then I listened to the Relief Society lesson about finding peace in today's world.  I heard these messages from the perspective of this good sister sitting in front of me, thinking about how she is trying her best to find relief from a difficult family situation.  When the teacher asked us how do we find peace when a family member strays from what they know is right, she said she realizes that prayer and temple attendance are her greatest source of strength as she is going through that very thing right now.  But sometimes we have to endure quite a bit of hardship before we find the peace that Heavenly Father has promised to His faithful saints.  There is hope in the promise that He will not give us trials greater than we are able to endure.

We met another amazing sister at our last appointment of the week.  She is a black sister who lived in Tennessee in her youth.  I think her education was not easy to achieve, but she went to college, I believe she said George Washington University.  She is retired from her job with World Bank Latin America after about 25 years.  She marveled at how they could expect her to work in a Spanish-speaking bank, being a Tennessee girl who didn't even know proper English, but she must have done okay to work with them for so long.  She raised three children, the youngest of which is still dependent on her care because of a learning disability.  Her husband left the church and joined a cult, so they separated years ago.  He was not involved in the family's life for many years until he was dying of esophageal cancer and came back and asked for her to care for him until his death in 2008.  In her retirement she is raising her two grandsons because their mother basically abandoned them.  She lives in a lovely home, neat and clean, beautifully decorated.  The word that comes to my mind to describe this sister is "indomitable."  When I looked up the definition of the word I found this:  "Something indomitable can't be beat.  People described as having indomitable spirits don't need pep talks or protein shakes; their strength comes from within."  We were both thinking that she seems to have an unshakable spirit and has really taken control of her life in spite of great challenges.  But usually there is more than the eye can see, and so it is for this sister who told us just before our visit ended that "she is going through a slump right now".  Except for this, we may have made a notation that we had visited this sister and she is doing fine and move on to someone else who really needs us.  Now I think, "Is there really anyone who does not need a hand of fellowship?"  One of the last events that the Apostle John recorded in the book of John was the Savior's plea to his apostles to "feed His sheep"--and so we will.