Hola familia, amigos, queridos,
Where to begin? I received a call last night from Elder Jativa
(ha-te-ba) saying I had two packages waiting for me in the Correo de
Ecuador in downtown Guayaquil. He gave me the codes and everything to
go and retrieve them today. Normally he goes and gets them, gives them
to the zone leaders, and I receive my packages during district meeting
once a week. This time the packages required my personal information
so I had to go get them. I went to downtown Guayaquil and waited in
line only to find out that I did not have two packages but only one
and it was in a town in northern Guayaquil called Urdesa. Hermana
Reyes and I hopped on a bus and spent an hour and a half retrieving
this package. I thought it would be the package with my sheets and M &
Ms (the only package I have received is the second one with all the
probiotics and clothing). Nope, Dear Elder had sent me a package with
all kinds of goodies, but I spent most of my Pday retrieving it. Well,
it was an adventure, but now I am going to talk with Elder Jativa
about the package with my sheets, AND why he would send me all the way
to Urdesa to retrieve a DearElder package. Dear Elder needs to get
their act together to send it to the RIGHT PLACE, gosh darn it!
Hahaha. P-days are precious time to waste because we have a lot to do
to prepare for the rest of the week.
Now I will tell you about the trial of my faith that I have been
withholding from you these last few weeks. The past few months I have
had increasing amounts of pain in my right knee due to the increased
amount of walking we do in my sector. I told the mission nurses and
they have had me go to doctors and take medications to relieve the
pain. Last Wednesday, I had an MRI in downtown Guayaquil. The results
indicated everything was alright, that my ACL reconstruction is intact
and the meniscus scope is fine. I should not be having any problems
except for some inflammation. Nevertheless, I called President
Montalti to inform him of the information. He is having the area
doctors look at my MRI results to review them in case the doctors I
saw missed anything. The doctor who reviewed my results told me that I
will need to wear an orthopedic brace that has bars down the two sides
and go through physical therapy. The thing is I just did this two
months ago in the MTC - physical therapy and the brace. I do not want
to repeat this again this time and then in two months from now. I told
this to Pres. Montalti. I expressed that if the pain continues, I need
to cease walking. The only way to do that is to return home and
recuperate there until they reassign me to a mission with a car. All
options are being reviewed, but I am still having excrutiating pain in
the knees. I thought I should let you know. I didn´t want to tell you
before because I knew you would worry about me. I want to keep these
emails positive and upbeat. However, the situation has advanced that I
feel you should know. They take really good care of the missionaries
here so I do not want you to worry or send personal emails to the
President of the Mission. He is doing all he can.
Now, for the good stuff.....I have great news. After weeks and weeks
of delays, Mario and Teresa are getting married this Friday! We had
the venta or sale of food and raised close to a hundred dollars. She
was able to buy her government paperwork and pay for the wedding. She
even has a little left over to buy a nice shirt and skirt for the
wedding. Then, the couple will be baptized this Saturday at 7 pm. I am
so excited because this is a miracle. They have been what we like to
call eternal investigators because they have been investigating the
church since last July. Hallelujah!
Also, on Sunday, a husband of a member who has been putting off his
baptism for over nine months now finally accepted to get baptized this
weekend. His wife is such a faithful member of the Church. She has
begged him for nine months to change and get baptized, but he wouldn´t
have it. Now he is taking the next step. His name is Ricardo Chaglia
and his wife is Christina Caceres. These two families, after the
baptisms this weekend, will be complete families and can get sealed in
the temple a year from this weekend. What a blessing!
We have a few other prospective investigators, but there is no more
time to write.
I call this email a trial of my faith because when I talked with the
mission president about my knee, he asked me what I want to do. I told
him plainly that I want to return home to heal. I couldn´t take any
more of the pain with my knee. However, after that phone call, I have
seen how much I have come to love the people here. I cannot see myself
leaving my mission early. If it comes to the fact that I have to leave
early, I will for my health´s sake, but I will leave knowing I did
everything in my power to bring the gospel to the people here in
Ecuador.
I love you all. Please read Alma 32 and 33 on faith. That has helped
me to keep going in this great trial of health.
Take care,
Hermana Melanie Forbush
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