By His Grace

Dear family and friends, 

I'll try and keep it short for now. I don't really know where to elaborate or condense the story...

... but it's been a rough week! Long story short, I have tonsillitis and an abscess in the tonsil, resulting in four pretty miserable, painful, boring, long, tiring days in the apartment. 

Yesterday morning I was able to go see the Area doctor at the hospital. The abscess was drained, my tonsil was cut across (with a pair of stinkin' scissors, but I'm not bitter) and a lot of pressure was relieved. It was expected that I would be admitted to the hospital for 3 to 5 nights, but to our surprise they released me that evening, and I've been at the mission home since. I'm on several different drugs, so hopefully that kicks in soon. 

That was the first Sunday I've missed my whole mission! 

I was quite worried that I'd have to stay on my mission for extra time until my health was better, but it looks like I'll be fine. I'm just glad I can swallow food again (after two days of not being able to).

During the climax of pain, the city shut off our water for 24 hours. I so badly just wanted to throw my hands in the air and beg God to leave me alone (or to stop leaving me alone, whichever), but I exercised faith and patience that things would eventually work out and I'd be back in America with my family in 2 weeks. It was one of those moments where I really had a heartfelt conversation with my Father. Truthfully, I hadn't had one like that in a while. It felt sincere, and it felt good. 

Also, because I couldn't do much other than sleep and breath for about 4 days, I was able to read a lot of Church doctrine. I read a lot of "The Miracle of Forgiveness" by Spencer W. Kimball and a neat book called "In Defense of Truth". It also gave me time to catch up on some postponed, needed journaling. 

I'm so grateful to God for helping me through all this. As the locals say, "I'm fine, by His Grace". I'm grateful to Sister Jones, the mission nurse, for all she's done. I know I haven't been easy for her to deal with. Also Dr. Anderson - he spent most of yesterday in the hospital with me. I'm especially grateful for Elder Ackley - he's been very patient and helpful during all of it. Because I couldn't speak, he took all the phone calls for the zone and investigators the past 2 days. Being sick sucks, but having a sick companion is almost just as bad! 

Thank you for your prayers and support on the homefront too. I appreciate it so much. Don't worry. Pretty soon this bad dream will be over and I'll be in America with a bacon cheeseburger and Reese's Blizzard against my tonsils. 

Have a great week! 

Love, Elder Nissinen