SICKNESS PREVAILS IN GHANA

This was shared through E. Stoddard's mom because E. Doggett's  mom is out of pictures....this is a small roadside "grocery store"

Dear Family and Friends,

                And it came to pass that in the 19th month of the mission of Elder Doggett, in the last week of that year, there came divers events and business.  But behold, I cannot write even a hundredth of the record of my week, so it is my design to abridge the writings of the past.

It came to pass that in the first day of the week, there was peace in all the land, also in the second day. (OK enough of the Mormon speaking).  Wednesday we did a 24 hour split so I could do interviews in the DL's area.  I went with Elder Hackmeister from Utah.  He's a sweet guy; he's into classic rock an aviation and we stayed up a bit talking that night. But we were so busy during the day.  They had three candidates who needed interviews, and they were all so powerful.  Companion exchange success.

                On the drive home from the exchange, we got a call from the senior couple, the Schiffmans.  They sadly informed us that due to medical issues, they would be going home the next Monday, and they didn't expect to return. We will greatly miss them, they've been an enormous help.  Two weeks ago, a missionary in Praso collapsed during proselyting.  Praso has bad cell service and is pretty deep in the bush.  The companion called the Schiffmans and they came to the rescue.  The missionary is fine now, but I don't like to think of what could have  happened if they had not been there.  Little did we know when they called us Thursday morning,  how immediately we would miss their support.

                Thursday night we got a call from the sisters, informing us that one of them was very sick. We wrapped up the night and headed over to their apartment.  When we got there we found that actually two were very sick.  I brought my bag of drugs but we ended up not really needing them; the two sisters just requested priesthood blessings.  We gave a blessing to the first, whose case was not as severe as the second.  As my companion was closing the blessing, she wretched and nearly vomited just sitting there in the chair. He quickly closed and she bolted to the washroom. We called Sister Shulz and she told us to take the two sisters to a lab in the morning to get tested for malaria.

                The next morning we did so, and spent nearly 4 hours in the hospital.  A Ghanaian hospital is not very organized... They ran some tests and gave them drugs according to their needs and we sent them home. We spent the rest of the day having a fabulous time proselyting. I think we taught 6 lessons. When we got in the apartment we were told by the other companionship that the sisters and their DL had been trying to call us for hours, but for some reason it would not go through. One of the sisters was admitted to the hospital that night. We ran down the street to the hospital to see what was going on (Everything in Assin Foso is all on one really long road).  As we got there, the security guard was being an enormous expletive and wouldn't let us in.  Luckily we were able to talk to the sister's companion through the fence. Apparently her case of malaria is really extreme. We needed to pay a 60 cedi deposit fee, and the guard still wouldn't let us in, so one of the members helping our sisters paid, and we paid him back the next day.

                The companion and two others sisters stayed the night at the hospital, and we bought them egg sandwiches because they were starving.  I'm impressed and proud of them; they have been very supportive through all this.  We came the next morning and found out the ill sister would have to stay until Monday.  So hopefully after I finish emailing she will be released. She is doing much better now.

                Because of all of this, we are running out of impress to pay for everything.  Another sister fell sick today with typhoid and we had to take care of that.  All our missionaries need re-imbursed because we're in the last week of the sub period. One apartment's fuel finished so we had to replace that. Then our stove lit on fire this morning when I was cooking breakfast; the hose cracked out and started leaking. I was sitting on the tank because the regulator didn't fit well, it was leaking there too, hahaha.  Another missionary informed us that he's had a high fever for the last 3 days and he needs help.  My allergies have been flaring up like mad all week.

     During all of this the electricity has gone out. ECG. 'Electricity Company of Ghana'? More like 'Either Candle or Generator' hahaha.

     There's more, but I can't remember it all. Did you ever see Christmas Vacation? That's what this feels like.  Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

                We had our baptism on Sunday! B. and P. were baptized and the service went very well. Only afterwards I was trying to find P. and her family to take a photo, and I found them in the bishop's office about to confirm her because they thought she was a child of record.  I got there just in time to prevent that small disaster, haha. She needs to be confirmed in sacrament meeting as a convert.

                There is probably more to say, but my brain is a little scattered into millions of pieces at the moment.  I'm so exhausted.  It feels nice though.  My companion isn't exhausted; Elder Nakedi is a robot!  I was joking to him as we walked home from the hospital at midnight  that he was one of the Three Nephites.  I think he's holding out on me, haha.  But really, I've never had a companion push me as hard as he has.

      Things are stressful over here, but I'm learning a lot. I never thought I could be so patient in everything.  Onye agro kraaaa (It's not easy at all)

                Well. That's it I guess.  Love you! :)