Livin Dominican: Unidad entre Companeras

In baptism we covenant to mourn with those that mourn, comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things and in all places. As a missionary you really learn to put this all in practice with your investigators and the members and especially with your companion. They say that unity in the companionship is one of the most vital things to have. I got to practice that quite a bit this past week because it was crazy...

There´s a new virus here in the Caribean called the chikungunya. It is transmitted by mosquitoes and is nasty stuff. It gives you a horrible fever with intense body pain that can cause permanent damage like arthritis. In the African language chikungunya means man bent over...you can imagine how pleasant this is. Pretty much the whole island is sick with it and it has been hard to find people because everyone is in the hospital. Thursday my companion broke out in a rash (the first sign of this fever). A few hours later she was burning up and had body aches. The elders came over and gave her a blessing but Friday morning she was doing worse so we headed to the hospital. They admitted her because her platelets were really low.

I was supposed to sing in a devotional that night so we managed to arrange a split and I went to sing for an hour and then headed back to the hospital. The elders were wonderful helpers and taught Marlin the last lesson she needed and then filled out her baptismal record so that she could have her interview for her baptism.

Saturday came around and my companion was not improving. In fact, her platelets went down even more and she had absolutely no strength. We tried to think of any way to somehow get her to Marlin´s baptism but the doctors didnt like the idea of her leaving even if just for an hour. So I spent the majority of the day trying to find a way that I could go and support our investigator at her baptism. There are not many active members to begin with and about half of them have this fever so I was not having much luck. Luckily Juan Carlos was on top of cleaning the church and getting the font and everything else ready for us. I finally figured out a way for the Fagerstens to help bring another sister missionary to the hospital and then I would be with a member in the church during the baptism.

About 2 hours before, the Fagerstens called to tell us that Elder Agramonte´s dad had died. They were leaving to take him home for good this time. They stopped by the hospital to say goodbye to us. That was one of the hardest goodbyes I have ever had to do. All I wanted to do was hug my dear friend and tell him that everything would be alright. The people here really become like your family and Elder Agramonte is like our brother. I can´t imagine how hard it would be to lose your dad 4 days before you finish your mission. We all cried as we shook hands and wished him the best.

We were able to figure out another split with the sister leaders and I was able to go to Marlin´s baptism. It went really well but it was also really emotionally hard for me. My companion was the one that really taught her and I just felt wrong being there instead of her. I was also really drained from 2 days in the hospital and the death of one of my friend´s parents. But, it was a great service and her mom came to support her. Marlin seemed really happy and that is the most important thing.

Saturday night I decided to not just comfort my companion but really step into her shoes to be able to know how she was feeling and I got sick as well! I woke up covered in a rash and had a fever. I had a ton of chest pain and a splitting headache. I went out to the nurse´s station to ask when the doctor was coming and she said, "You don´t look much better from when you came." To which I responded, "I´m not the patient...yet." Kind of ironic. By Sunday night I was in a bed next to my companion with an IV as well.

We spent the next few days in the hospital just sleeping and trying to take care of each other as best as we could. The doctors told us that both Dengue and Chikunguya give a false negative for the first 6 days so they couldn´t tell us positively what we actually had. But it was miserable. haha. It is a constant headache with a lot of light sensitivity, plus a fever, and then such bad pain in your joints and muscles that you can hardly lay down because even that hurts. We are very loved though and received so many visitors. Everyone brought us juice and their own home remedy. We had missionaries, members, investigators, and everything inbetween come to visit. We felt very blessed. Plus we had some wonderful companionship bonding time and just made jokes about all of it because that´s all you can do.

Now we are back at home but we are on strict orders to stay there. We´re being rebels leaving to send emails. haha. We will probably be on bed rest for another 4 days or so and then start to leave a few hours at night when the sun isnt so strong. They say it takes about a month to fully recover. (But don´t worry mom!) We are doing well and being taken care of. I have felt the Savior´s love through others this past week. I am so grateful to know that He passed through all of this and that I am not alone. When I couldn´t sleep because it hurt too bad I just thought of Him and knew that He understood it all. I know that in anything that we pass through He is there and He knows and loves us so much.

I love you all! I still love my mission! I will send these wonderful hospital pictures next week...this center has viruses. Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Ewell

I almost forgot! Transfers were yesterday and seeing how we were both still in the hospital...we are staying together in Conani again! See? There are plenty of perks to being sick. :)