"He always takes care of us. Trust that!"

These last 48 hours have changed me pretty much forever.  Passed through the scariest experience yet of my life, but I´ve also learned more from it than I have in my life.

It all started Saturday afternoon when I got my thumb SHUT in the hinge of a car door. Hurt like mad, and after 5 or so hours it was acting very, very broken, so our leaders had us go to the  hospital to get it checked out. We went, (Sister McPherson came in with me) they looked at it, X-rayed it, and it actually came back fine! Woohoo! Not broken after all! They told me how to take care of it for the next little while, and then asked me if I had taken any medicine for it yet. I said I had not, so they sent me over to medicamento to get something for the pain and swelling (it was HUGE! I had a man thumb!!!)

We went over to wait for me to be called, and a security guard walked by and asked why S.McP was with me. We said that she was my acompanier (I don´t even know if that´s English.....the person who accompanies me), and for some dumb reason at this hospital, she couldn´t stay with me, so he sent her to wait outside.

 

We continued waiting separately, and finally they called me in. They sat me down, and here in Brazil, instead of giving you pill, they just give you an IV for medicine so it can start working faster. There was only one other guy in the room who had finished his IV, and they said that he could just rest until he wanted to get up (he had gotten dehydrated, so they pumped him full of fluids, and then just let him rest), so he was sleeping, and then there was me. The doctor put in the IV and then walked out.

 

All of a sudden, I started to feel nauseated. I was going to throw up, but there were no doctors around for me to ask for a trashcan. But then my head started buzzing, and my ears were ringing. I was feeling all this pressure on my head and body. All of my fingers and then my body started tingling and going numb. I got freezing cold and started sweating like crazy, and when I tried to move my legs, I couldn´t. They felt like lead, and NOTHING would respond. I could barely think, and I just wanted to cry out for help, but I couldn´t open my mouth or make noise. The only little noise I made was a wimpy little moan/whimper. NOBODY was passing by the window I was next to, and then all of a sudden, my lungs stopped responding. I couldn´t breathe, and then I started blacking out and coming back a bit and blacking out again. I was trying to pray, but I couldn´t even think words-I just kind of reached out with my whole heart. 

 

Finally the IV ended right as the doctor finally passed by. I managed to tell him that I couldn't breathe, and he ran to get another doctor. They came and checked my heart rate, blood pressure, and everything and I started to be able to get little gasps of air again. I just CRIED!!!! Cried and cried!!! Tears just streaming down my face and neck! Finally, after they checked everything and  was starting to come back to "normal" they left me alone again to calm down. After a bit the doctor came back and explained that I must have an allergy to one of the three medicines that was in the IV. He said that the rest of the symptoms would go away as the medicine filtered from my body, gave me a bloodstop bandaid for the IV poke and sent me on my way (but I did ask him to write down for me the names of the medicines!)

 

When the member who was giving us a ride arrived, they came back and got me in a wheelchair and took me BACK into the hospital. They tested EVERYTHING again and had another doctor come talk to me. He said that what happened wasn´t an allergy, but just an adverse reaction that happens to very few people, but I happened to be one of them.  He said he was sorry that there were no doctors around to watch me. They checked everything again, and let me go.

 

 I couldn´t sleep well that night.  It didn´t scare me that I couldn´t breathe or all that, but I was SO DISTURBED by the AWFUL HORRIBLE feeling of having completely lost my agency.

After church Sunday, we went to Davi and Arlete´s house for lunch - the SAFEST most COMFORTING place there is!  [Davi and Arlete have a daughter out serving a mission as well, and have "adopted" Ashley and her companion.  They look out for them, and I am SO grateful she has them!]  After we went to Elizangela´s baptism. Wonderful again!

Davi gave me a blessing that night, and I have never slept so well in my life. I feel fantastic today after the blessing and the sleep, and I have a very different perspective on a lot of things. I´ll write everything I learned and send it to you.

 

In short, know that our agency is priceless, life is priceless, God sends us angels in our life, our relationships with those we love are what we need to focus on most, and put the Lord first - He knows everything!!! Also, don´t trust Brazilian medicine!!! (We showed Daví and Arlete what thy put in me and they were flabbergasted bc apparently two of the three you CANNOT put together!!! Even just by pills hours apart you can´t, and they gave it to me in an IV.)

 

The priesthood is real, and so is God´s timing.  Daví talked to S. McP and I about the work we were doing here, and he said the reason we have been experiencing SO MUCH ADVERSITY this last little while is because of the tremendous good we are doing. (THAT hit me!) We must be doing something right because Satan tried to totally take me out!!! But I also learned that no matter what the Adversary does, nobody goes before their time, and Heavenly Father has everything under control. He wouldn´t have let my comp get sent out if I actually would have died, but He let it happen, and let me be okay, to teach us even more. He always takes care of us. Trust that! And if you ever need help, get a priesthood blessing! It´s all true and real, and we´re gonna WIN this battle!!!!

Love you all and go conquer EVERYTHING this week!

Sister Little

Sweet Davi and Arlete celebrated with Sister Little by making her a cake. 

Elizangela's baptism the next day!!