Hermana Anderson's Argentina Adventure: Scary Experiences

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow well this week was very different, you could say, I would probably call it scary... Yeah so here goes:

Last week I wrote you all about Hna Lee's bloody nose incident on Friday with Hna Richard's class, yeah well I wish I could say that was the only time it happened. Sadly, I cannot. 6 times in 5 days! 6 TIMES IN 5 DAYS! Yeah so Friday she passed out in class and then again in the bathroom she had a little scare when we were cleaning her up. On Saturday and on Sunday she was good, all clear! No problems, thankfully! Then on Monday she passed out twice? Three times? I don't remember completely. But then Monday night we turned out the lights and not a couple minutes later I hear Hna Lee say 'Hermana Anderson, I'm bleeding' - aw man! Yeah I told her to close her eyes cause we needed to turn out the lights to clean her up. We did and she opened her eyes to see a pool of blood that had formed in her hands from her nose - AHHHHH!!! Hermana Brown and Hermana Christensen had never been present for one of these nose bleeds before so they were a little shocked at first when she was passing out, but I quickly took charge and tried to tell them what to do so I could get Hermana Lee cleaned up and done bleeding as fast as possible. This nose bleed probably only lasted about 7 - 10 minutes - it was the longest and scariest one up to that point, but was nothing close to what was coming next. We got her cleaned up pretty well and in bed. The next day she was pretty exhasted from all that had been going on with her body so instead of going to gym she was just going to take a nap. Hermana Brown volenteered to go on a split so I could go to gym, but I said that I was fine I could just stay with Hna Lee and study. Before the other Hna's left (thankfully it was before they left) I heard Hna Lee mumble something from her top bunk, I wasn't quite sure what it was so I got closer to her and I heard her say "I see blood" - there was so much blood that had dripped from her nose! And just like that she was out. This time was the scariest though because Hna Lee had hardly any strength so she couldn't keep coming in and out of consiousness like she normally does, and if she could she was aware of how much blood there was and she was very scared. I tried my best to calm her, but eventually it got to the point where she was unresponsive. On top of that - her bloody nose that afternoon (tuesday) was the most blood that I have ever seen a person loose in a bloody nose. We were trying our best to stop her bleeding and keep her head up, but she was so limp that her head kept falling back and she was coughing up blood. I wasn't sure if she was even able to breath because there were tissues on her nose, her nose was bleeding profusely, and she was coughing up blood, and she was unresponsive. I know that the strenthening and enabling power of the Atonement is real. I have no idea how I was able to stay focused, know what to do, and not break down in fear during the about 20 minutes that this was going on. Thankfully, someone (i'm not quite sure who) but someone was aware enough to call a nurse. I also was aware enough to tell someone to run and go get Priesthood holders to administer a blessing. The nurse came and took over (thank goodness!) After the nurse got there it seemed to dawn on me all that was going on. The Priesthood holders came too, but for some reason they didn't give her a blessing - um hello?! That was their one job! - yeah I was kind of upset about that. Anyways, the nurse then took her to the clinic at the MTC and had her rest there for a couple of hours. At this point in time I was on "splits" with Hermana's Brown and Christensen. They were a great blessing to me during this time, because they told me how grateful they were that I was there. They said that they know that I was meant to be Hermana Lee's companion because in the moment I knew what to say, how to act, and how to hold myself together to help her - let me tell you this. I was led by the Spirit to know what to say and what to do. I know that God is aware of us, I know that He was aware of Hermana Lee and the situation, and He was aware and able to help me know what to do. If everything hadn't fallen exactly into place as it had - I'm not sure if Hermana Lee would be doing as well as she is now. So many things could've gone wrong (falling off the top bunk, not calling the nurse, so many things) I''m so grateful to God! Anyways after lunch they told me that I could go check on Hermana Lee, I did, but she was still out so they gave me a phone (A PHONE!!!!) to use and they said they would call me if they needed anything. Well they did call because they were sending her to a specialist to get her nose cauterized - THANK GOODNESS!! and yes I got to leave the MTC, and yes it felt very strange! (in the waiting room the grinch was playing - it was difficult to stay strong, but we both just became super involved in the flashcards i'd brought) Anyways, she got her nose cauterized and almost all was well except for the fact that she was so exhasted and tired that honestly it seemed like she was on laughing gas - ha she started telling me about when she got her "word of wisdom teeth out" and how her favorite color was "skittles" ha yeah that was entertaining, but it was also the beginning of something that led to be scary, and that I'm still worried about. Anyways, 3 hours after leaving for the doctors we came back and got permission from the zone leaders for Hermana Lee to just sleep - thank goodness! - at this point in time she was getting mad at me because she thought that she was perfectly fine, but I could tell that she wasn't so it was a little bit difficult to convince her of what to do cause she'd fight back, but eventually I got her to the room and she crashed onto her bed (oh yeah, me and Hna Brown and Hna Christensen decided to move her to the bottom bunk because she lost her top bunk privelges when she tried to "get out of bed" during one of her 'coming in and out stages' in one of her nose bleeds). So for the rest of the night we stayed in - Thankfully Hermana Rigby's companion was sick so she was at the residence hall too and so she could distract me from my worries and laugh with me and study with me - what an odd tender mercy, but a beautiful tender mercy none the less! The next day Hermana Lee remembered a total of almost nothing from the day before and was still very exhasted and unable to do anything - this day (wednesday) was when the next stage of scary things started happening - Hermana Lee was completely exhasted again and needed to rest so we stayed in all day - thankfully, Hermana Rigby's compaion was sick again so she was my buddy! YAY! but anyways, back to the scary stuff - I'm going to try to explain this the best I can, but I might struggle. During her 'passing out' sessions Hermana Lee almost becomes a completely different person, and when she wakes up, she can't remember anything that happened when she was coming in and out. So what was scary about Wednesday was Hermana Lee was starting to become like that 'person' at random times, and without passing out. It is also scary because sometimes she would forget basic things. For example: One time she came out of the room after sleeping and was talking with Hermna Rigby and me and we were talking about some of the Elders and she was like "who?" - yeah I thought she was just joking, or maybe milking it for more than it was worth, but she wasn't. We then found out that she didn't remember any of the Elders names at all, or Hermana Christensen or Hermana Browns names, she knew mine, but it took her a minute to get Hermana Rigbys and she was right there! Holy cow - what do i do?! It worried me because Hermana Lee thought that it was just cause she was exhasted, but she had just slept for like over 16 hours, I was worried that during her passing out her brain was deprived of oxygen and I wasn't sure (and still am not sure) if there was possibly a little bit of damage done to her brain - is that even possible? Anyways Hermana Rigby and I suggested that she get a Priesthood blessing and she wouldn't cause she thought she was fine, ugh I so was wishing that she would (but wait for it - that's the cool part!) So basically, all of Wednesday was like what I just described. Hermana Rigby and I got some pretty good studying in though! It was a good day for personal time (ha we stole a couch and put it outside our doors:)) The next day (Thursday) in the morning Hermana Lee was completley fine (YAY!!) but... then in class that afternoon, she completely slipped into her 'unaware and short term memory' self (NOOOO!!!) Yeah I quickly ushered the Elders out of the room (they would've made the situation more stressful for Hermana Lee) and asked her again if she would get a blessing, she wouldn't, so I asked her to pray with me (I needed to pray in a serious way - I needed guidance) - wow the power of prayer is real - I could feel immediate comfort and help. I then asked her if she wanted to go to the doctor or the residence, she said the residence so we tried to walk out of the hall but she was so wobbly, so couldn't barely hold herself up and I couldn't either, the Elders wanted to help, but again they would've made it worse for Hermana Lee so I got the other HNA's from next door to help us. Thankfully they came and we got her to the residence, and somehow along the way we (but mainly Hermana Christensen) convinced her to get a blessing. Wow. so powerful. The Elders came - the two that Hna Lee chose had never given a blessing before. It was amazing to feel the power of the Priesthood. Even though these two Elder's stumbled through the words and stumbled through the blessing, it didn't matter. The power of the Spirit that I felt during that blessing re-assured me that God is aware of all of us, He loves us, and He wants to bless us, we just need to have the faith to take the first step towards Him and ask Him for help. Immediately after the blessing Hermana Lee seemed better, we went back to the room for her to sleep it off and she couldn't even sleep, within minutes she was back to her 'normal' self and remember things! I know the Power of the Priesthood is the Power of God. Yesterday, there was only one tiny incident where Hermana Lee saw her blood and got a little dizzy and a little 'loopy' but, she didn't pass out! Wow! Es Marvilloso no?! (marvolous isn't it?)

My only big thing now, is it has been difficult for me to transition back to 'normal' missionary life. It's difficult for me to think about my investigators when I'm worried that my companion will passout or not be well or bleed - so yeah - I've been praying though that I will be able to focus on whatever need is most pressing in the moment that I need to and it has been helping - I'm so grateful for that! I'm also still a little traumatized from that tuesday afternoon when I held my companion in my arms unconcious with so much blood for 20 minutes, so please pray that that moment won't 'haunt' me. So far, I've been okay and doing alright with it, but it was very scary and because that was so scary I think that I am fearing and having worries for the future. But like I've been taught here at the MTC Faith is the opposite of Fear. Now is the time for me to say "It is well" and trust that if something does happen again, God will be my strength again - And I know He will.

Sorry it's been a wierd week - not many "missionary" stories, but please know this: God loves us, He is aware of us, He will help us in our times of need, and the Preisthood power is a blessing for us.

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Anderson