(I want you to know that I KNOW God knows us and watches over us - He knows exactly what we need and answers prayers and hears our prayers and He know the BIG picture.
This past week this has been witnessed to me several times. I'm sorry to tell you but on Friday Feb 4, Papa had a stroke. He is okay and improving - but quite honestly I don't know how this will all turn out - but I want to tell you all that happened.
Dad and I left for Phoenix and half way there dad was trying to decided if we should go to pick up the open tickets for him and Ben or drop me at nanny's first. Finally I said just take me to my mom's first. As we turned left onto Kenwood - I had the premonition that an ambulance was going to be there - it wasn't, I thought, that was dumb.
We pulled in the driveway and rang the bell and nanny came to the door in a panic - "something is wrong with your dad" - we came in and quickly assessed it was a stroke - his entire left side was drooping - dad was able to get him into his wheel chair - and he thanked him so I knew he was still alert - I called 911 - the paramedics and then the ambulance came and took him to the hospital. (God placed us there at the exact moment that Nan needed us) papa is not is any pain!!
dad traveled in the ambulance - i followed with nan in the car when we arrived they spoke to us about a procedure called TPA - marg was nervous about it -
while waiting for papa to be examined i noticed two missionaries enter the hospital and check in - i felt you close when i saw them
we discussed the procedure- the window to do the procedure was closing - it has only a three hour window to be effective - we decided to go with it - i wanted dad to give papa blessing - he had no oil - i remembered the missionaries - i went to the front desk and asked for their location in er - i was told they would get a message to them and ask them to help - they met us in the hall and they had oil - dad asked the one to anoint - he said he needed to be reminded of what to say - (do you think he was green?) - he anointed and dad gave the blessing - it was beautiful and again i felt you close.
the procedure was done it took one hour- we started to see success within the hour - by the next day papa had been restored from the paralysis 90% (but he speech is slurred and not brain damaged but physical damage)- he went to ICU for a day - and then was moved to his room last night - he had a bad night - he went berserk - (off his meds too long) marg and junior had to go and be with him and 12:00a.m. - I'm staying with nanny for a at least a week
today when the cardiologist came to discuss a procedure for tomorrow the Spirit spoke to me to ask certain questions and then i felt a answer of not to do the procedure - my siblings felt the procedure should be done and we were discussing it - (at the very moment) the doc and nurse we trusted from er - show up and tell us if it were their father they would not do the procedure - I KNOW THE SPIRIT CAN GUIDE OUR LIVES - IT IS A GIFT FROM GOD) We are not doing the procedure - papa will go to a care facility, I'm not sure for how long - nanny can not care for him at this point.
anyway, nanny wants me to tell you she loves you and not to worry - I know and I know you know this life is but a brief stop in eternity - I'm so grateful how that Spirit has helped us these past few days.
I love you so much and pray for you - i know you are touching the lives of others and helping many people - i know that young elder will be writing home and telling of the experience at the hospital - just like you write to us - i love you - MOM
Monday - So Monday we didn't do to much because no one really had no money so we all just went and played soccer and then relaxed at home, it was really lame and so boring, the zone i am in right now is pretty boring and we don't do anything fun for p day but at least i still have alot of time left otherwise I'd be mad for wasting time. then after p day that night we went to this guys house and made home made pizza, wow it was so good, that guy is a professional cook and he makes some really good food. anyways we made pizza and it was so good then we went on divisions and i went to this guys house and taught his 2 friends that were investigating the church. i was pretty nervous because i had to teach all by myself. but it went really well and my comp went with the mission leader to another house and didn't have any success, haha me and the mission leaders wife were giving them a hard time because I don't know any Spanish but i had more success. ha it was funny. but yeah so also my comp was feeling a little bad about the week before cause it was a really hard week, so he asked for a blessing and man it was good. it was good because we didn't really get off to a good start in the change but after that blessing we felt really good about things and we now get along so well.
Tuesday - So not much happened on Tuesday, it was scary because i almost passed out. we went to our place where we have lunch and we were about to eat and i was to say the prayer. so i said the prayer and then when i said amen i opened my eyes and wow everything i studied in life guarding about people who pass out was happening to me. i opened my eyes and everything was just so blurry and i felt so dizzy then the room just kept getting darker and darker and i felt like i was going to throw up and all then i just felt so weak. i tried to get up to go to the bathroom to splash water on me but i was so weak. but i made it there then went and laid down on the couch with my legs elevated. ha it was so scary i thought i was a goner for sure. i was walking the mission leader what he needed to do to help me. ha it was funny. i told him if i go out to just pour water on me and keep slapping me, haha, so i felt a little better after an hour and ate my food then we went to the house and i took a quick nap, which i hate doing because i hate being locked up in the house during the day, but my comp made me. so i took a nap for an hour then we left the house for our appointments. i still didn't feel good but i wanted to go. so we went to this ladies house who works in the ccm and she is so cool, hermana flor. she gave me some pills and i felt a little better after that , we taught her little cousin. which will probably be a free baptism for us. so were currently working with him. but yeah it went really well. then we went to a bishopric meeting that night and it was just us and the bishop so we met with him, he made me say the opening prayer, and i´ll say one thing for being a missionary is you really learn how to pray good. ha i made the bishop cry, but yeah we planned some stuff and it went well.
Wednesday - So in the morning of Wednesday we went and got our hair cuts again except this time i went to a professional. so it looks pretty good. then i had a Spanish practice with that hermana flor from the ccm so before we went to her house we went and contacted in her neighborhood. the first door we knocked nothing, but the next one was a family of 3 and they were really interested and had us going that we were teaching so good but in the end they just kept telling us they were so busy and would never have time for a return appointment so we just told them we would keep trying to come back. then we knocked on the next door and it was a lady who had so many questions for us and we taught her just a little bit and then we set a return appointment with her so hopefully we can teach her good stuff and she will have the desire. so then at hermana flors house we practiced my Spanish, but i was practicing my past tense. so she had me tell her a story of when i knew i wanted to serve my mission, and i was telling her about when i met with bishop cook and we read through mosiah 5 together and at the end the last scripture was my favorite scripture and then he just was telling me all the blessings i would receive for my family now and for my future family, and that just made me so happy that i would want that so bad in my life that i wanted to go on a mission so bad just to have the blessings for my family to come. then she helped remind me why i was here and i just felt so good after being at her house and it was great. we went out after that appointment and worked so hard. then in the night we went to these 2 people who just had a baby the wife is a member but the husband isn't, we just need to get him to church but we cant so we cant baptize him till he goes. but anyways we were talking about going to the temple and they were getting so excited. it reminded me how much i miss the temple and going there. it is true when we go to the temple that we feel such a feeling of peace and everything of the world just doesn't matter and all you can think about is god. but the min you leave that feeling of life just comes back, the temple is such a great place to be, i want to go like 1 time a month when i return.
Thursday - So on Thursday we went and worked in the area of Tierra Blanca. we had some serious success there and got so much done. we contacted this whole street and literally got return appointments with all of them. it was so cool. they were so happy so we will see how they all turn out. then that night we went and visited this recent convert named Raymond. When i came he was a Alcoholic and was doing drugs, but now after working with him for so long he is so cool and is one of the most active people in the ward. he is great, then that night we went to our dinner because we have to eat dinner now, it is a new rule from the president. and we ate pancakes, wow they were so good, i loved them, haha they don't compare to yours mom but it was good because i haven't had those in a long time. then when we got home we got a call from our zone leaders that we were receiving a new companion for only a couple days, we were to be in a trio, it was my good friend Elder Tua´One. he is such a cool kid and i was so excited to be receiving him.
Friday - So in the morning Elder Tua'One came to our house and we had to go to his house and bring some stuff of his and his bed. then we got there and went to work. we taught this one guy who told us afterwords he really really liked the message that we shared with him. he told us he would like us to teach his family which we later found out is a family of 50. ha i almost had a heart attack. ha, if this guy is not lying to us we could possible have 50 new investidadordes. so after that we had to organize divisions in our area with Elder Interiano then me and Tua'one went to Nueva Vida which is his area and worked there. they have some pretty cool people in his area we taught this one lady and she is like on the line of baptism, so i told her to just put a goal of baptisim and she said she would so hopefully she will be baptized soon as well.
Saturday - So once again we went and worked in Nueva Vida again, and Interiano stayed in Mixco to teach our investidadores. So in Nueva Vida we just visited some members and they were so cool. they were os nice ha this one lady kept giving me a hard time and asking if i had money, and i didn't know what she said so i said yes, but then they started laughing and she was just like, oh well then give me your money, and i heard that and I'm like oh crap, haha no no i don't have money haha, it was so funny. then we went to this cake shop to get some cake, and the lady there was being so annoying. ha, she kept saying to me that she couldn't understand me, even though i know i was saying it right and there was no confusion but when i would say something she would say what, then Tua'one would have to repeat it for me the exact phrase and she knew. haha, Tua'one told me that sometimes people don't like to listen to gringos, and since Tua'one looks like a lat they listen to him. so she was just being rude, but he told me my Spanish was right and sounded good, she was just being weird. ha so oh well. so one thing that we taught this day that i really liked was that there are 5 things to having success as members. they are these. 5 mins of scripture study every day, 5 prayers everyday = morning, night, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 5 mins early to church every Sunday, and pay for tithing and fast offerings when you need to. those were the things to have more blessings as a member it was pretty cool. Then me and Elder tua one were talking in the night about old times back at home and what we used to do for fun, and wow i don't think i ever laughed so hard in my life. we had such a good time, he is such a nice guy and hilarious too.
Sunday - so Sunday started normal with church, i was in our ward thank goodness and we had a good testimony meeting. there were some investidadores there and i really hope they were listening because they were so good. after that we just went through church like normal and then after church i went on divisions with tua one again to his area. we went and visited some members and this one family that lives in an area called Aguacuate. it was so cool there. and that family was so nice to us. they fed us this amazing bread and drink and it as so dang good. haha the only thing was i was exhausted and kept falling asleep and when i woke up they were all laughing, ha it was so embarrassing, i don't know why i was so tired. I've never been so tired before. then after that we went to visit this one guy named Gabriel, and he is such a cool guy and knows English perfectly. we taught him a little then he brought us some banana bread and put on the super bowl game for us. ha we only watched the first half of the game and halftime which was pretty cool, then we had to head back to mixco before the busses stopped for the night. so that was pretty fun. then we headed back to mixco and just returned home after that.
Pretty good week we had, but Tua one has received a new comp and will be leaving us now so I'm excited to be able to be working here again in mixco. only 2 more weeks till next change. i honestly cant believe how fast time goes. it just is like a blink of an eye. i hope all is going well for you guys and i love you all so much and am always praying that everything is going well. i love you and till next week, talk to you later.
love elder shipley
"The Tie", I bought three of these ties - one for Daniel, one for Craig and one for Devin - but I believe Garrett has Devin's tie. The thought was the guys wear it on the same day. IE: Craig wore it when it was Daniel's farewell (Daniel was wearing it too and Devin too as he blessed the sacrament, Craig wore it the day Daniel entered the MTC, etc - I'm not sure if they really coordinate days - but the thought was to support one another and think of their friend on the days they wear, "THE tie".
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| Daniel and Devan matching ties - Craig was in the MTC wearing his the same day! PS - 5 of these 7 are in the mission field or will be leaving in May. Awesome!! |
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