Thailand Bangkok Mission ... สตีลน้องสาว: March Madness

As i've said time and time again, time here is strange. SO much can happen in just one week. If i have what i call "poop days" at the beginning of the week, i just have to keep telling myself that the end of the week will be so much better. just keep pushing. last wednesday i started feeling really crummy, and my fever wouldn't go down. so finally on friday when i couldn't even get out of bed we decided to take everyone's advice and go find a doctor. and then i had Dengue fever. the doctor said i needed to be admitted, and i wasn't too happy about that, because we had a lot going on that week. we were supposed to have a few people getting baptized at church, and i really wanted to be there. i asked if i could just wait until sunday and then be admitted and he said "no." and then i asked if i could just leave the hospital for 4 hours on sunday and then come back, and he looked at me like i was stupid. so then i sat in a hospital bed for 4 days. i will admit, i felt WORLDS better once they started pumping drugs through me. but i think i just about went crazy just sitting there and doing nothing. all in all, i found out that the work will go on without me, which is a good thing. our baptisms for sunday went through, and we got it approved to do a switch-off with some senior couples so that sis.holmes could go to church while someone came and babysat me in the hospital. so it was good that at least one of us could be there. anyway, they let me go home on tuesday! we had an exterminator go to our house to get rid of all the diseased mosquitoes, and they told us we could go back to the house after 2 hours. so we waited an extra 2 hours at the hospital before leaving to go home. and then when we finally got home, we open the doors and it's still completely filled with toxic smoke. cool. so then we're racing in and out, holding our breath, turning on fans, opening windows, etc. so i don't have dengue anymore, i just get to breathe in mosquito gas while i sleep. yeah...our house still smells kinda funky.

anyway, after that little escapade, our week was just normal. and it did get better. we're teaching a cute little mom and her daughter, and they're getting baptized next sunday! and the last lesson we had with them really got me thinking about how the gospel of Jesus Christ really does HELP people. she's at a low point in her life and searching for something more than what she has right now. all it took was one lesson. one time. one time telling her that she's not alone but that she has a Savior who knows how she feels and knows how to help her. this message has power. the power to help people realize, "oh. i CAN change." the Atonement is for everyone. Like Elder Bednar says, it helps bad men become good, but it also helps good men become better. and how grateful i am that i don't have to be stuck, doing the same thing, in my same way, as my small, insignificant self. but that i can be something more. that i can literally be changed, and become someone much more than 'normal'. After all, the plan is for ALL of us to become like God.

Ok, that's enough from me for one day. thank you for all of your prayers, i definitely feel them. love you all!

sis steele