Last week was interesting. One of the guys in my district, Elder K had to leave for three days of military training (for those of you who don't know, all men in Korea have to serve in the military for two years and then they remain a part of the reserve for years after that, during which time they need to return for occasional training) so I was in a threesome for a while. Since we combined our appointments, we were pretty busy teaching, which was a nice change of pace.
I also went on exchange with Elder R, who is serving in my greenie area of Jungnang right now. He reminds me a lot of Hunter (who, holy Moses, only has what? Three months left?!). He taught me about the mechanics of _____ing goats and cows (farming? ranching?). I clearly didn't learn super well.
Highlights of this week: I got to translate for one of our Chinese investigators in fast and testimony meeting yesterday! He knocked it out of the park, actually got tears from some of the members. They'll get there.
Also, for the 4th of July, I will be symbolically representing America, in all of her benevolence. My country has given so much to the world that I decided to spot the district for Outback today. 'Murica! The fact that no one was willing to go unless I payed only factored into said decision in a mild way. We are going to bring Bang! along with us as well, and kind of see how the meal unfolds. Should be pretty sick.
Speaking of sick, we got back from fast Sunday jundo yesterday to break our fast and my companion pulled out his yo (Koreans sleep on fold out beds on the ground) and laid down. No other problems that day, but 20 minutes into meal time he requested a blessing. Just shaking under my hands. His lower back was killing, his hands started to go numb, and his legs were shaking uncontrollably. 김종복, our ward mission leader, and I took him to the ER in time for him to puke (like a champ) all over the floor. An x-ray, CT scan, and a urine sample later, it became clear that he had a kidney stone. I heard they were bad, but President made it sound like one of the worst things that can happen to a human being. I've decided that this is sufficient experience with the things, and that I'm going to drink more water. He's doing fine now. The doctors are having him take some pills for 10 days and then if he hasn't passed it they'll talk about other options, but it looks like everything is fine.
The coolest thing about it all was how little it cost. The whole experience, drugs, specialist fees, tests and all, was less than 400$ without insurance or government subsidization. 0.0
Happy Summer everybody!
Elder Whitlock
