What can I say about this week? Honestly I just wanted to die but I just thought to myself I know I am not going to die…. Alright let me explain. So we had a great week full of ups and downs but yet I cherished every moment. Tuesday was filled with appointments and Wednesday was the same in which we put down a date of baptism for a young man named Yoshmar, taught our last baptism lesson to a young lady named Alma Ruth, and taught two parents of a young man who aren't members.

Honestly, everything was going so great and smoothly which is usually when lightning strikes. That night my companion and me got some kind of virus or infection from some substance from one of our lessons through the water or food they offered us. At about 12:30 AM my companion was throwing up and I gave him a blessing and thought that we would just wait it out til morning but sometimes the Lord wants us to be cured by seeking wisdom in others. So around 1:30 AM my companion had thrown up and had diarrhea at the same time 8 times. In which I was starting to feel sick also, I called my Zone Leaders and they told us to talk to the former Bishop and his son. I called them up in my very broken Spanish and they said they would be on their way. I then called my Zone Leader again starting to feel extremely sick and said “I called them and you don't have to worry but I will have to let you go now because I am about to throw up.” Then I threw up and how great of experience that was. Then as I was trying to use the best of the few minutes I knew I had to grab everything we needed to go to the hospital before they came. I then looked out of the apartment door and saw our best friends in Frontera and truly knew that these men weren't only members of the gospel but were living the gospel as members.

They soon came up stairs and walked in the door and found that my companion was very dehydrated and that we needed to go the hospital. As we quickly and weakly left the apartment we made our way down the unoccupied street at 2 AM and walked towards the street corner in which the church sat. There my companion and me meet well our first test of patience. I went into the church to have my first go at the toilet while my companion was literally lying on the street because he didn't have energy while the former bishop was trying to find a taxi at 2 o'clock in the morning and his son looking after my companion. I came out and he asked if I was alright, I responded by saying “YES” and then throwing up 3 times for each letter. We finally got a taxi and made our way to the scariest hospital I had ever seen. It was painted in white and looked very inviting but that was soon dismissed when I went to throw up in their bathroom and found that their was no soap, no toilet paper, the toilet that does not flush, no air conditioning, and the bugs the size of a quarter. That is on top of waiting for twenty minutes in an emergency room. Then once we got called back they told us that we would be helped… Boy did I feel the exact opposite.

First of when you get a call to a foreign country, especially a third world you are like I hope I never go to a hospital. When it happens you think well hope they don't stick me with a needle. This is what happened to me right off the bat. They open my mouth and within seconds are getting a needle and IV thing ready. The IV was full of a fluid called Suero. It is like gatorade, full of electrolytes. Well I didn't know, so I was like what are you doing to me? Then I was like is this clean pointing to the the needle unwrapped from a new container. Honestly I still don't know if they rest was clean, so I pray I don't get anything ha ha! They stick the needle into my arm and they put two full IV bags full into my body. I was just laying there thought to myself  “What a Wonderful World.” To be completely honest I had to go to the bathroom, now I am a Missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints so I can only tell the truth so please bare with me when I say I can't tell you. But let me describe the situation. There I was once again holding my IV with one hand, and with the other trying to use the bathroom in which I was blessed that my Ward Mission Leader brought me toilet paper. Somehow Louis Armstrong came into my head again and was singing that same song. I then returned to my bed and finished my IV and loved life. We were released at around 5:30 AM and our great friends of Frontera got our medicine and took us two exhausted missionaries back home.

Now you are thinking, well that is it all, right? Wrong. Ha ha for the next day we were literally confined to our beds, only having a enough strength to use the bathroom or drink more suero. It was the worst day ever, pointless, boring, tiring, and humbling. We wanted to study, we wanted to clean, etc. but we couldn't. We were literally told by our doctor to stay in our house for two days. Thursday turned into a very pointless but humbling day in which we hoped we would laugh about later.

Friday was a great day to be alive. We were able to have strength to eat, to walk around, and to be able to study. We were told not to leave the house but we wanted to make sure that everything was getting ready for the sister missionaries that our coming to our area. We wanted to thank the former bishop and his son for his help. We wanted to try and do something instead of being confined to a two room and bath apartment. But we soon found that we were still very weak. Friday wasn't the greatest successful day in the mission.

Now what are you are probably thinking, Why are you still on our mission and not coming home? Well to all those who thought this, my answer is because this mission isn't about me. I have been set apart to be a missionary or a representative of Jesus Christ for two years. What was the purpose of Jesus for his three year mission, nothing but to serve other which ended him bearing the sins, pains, afflictions, and sorrows of the whole world who has ever, will ever, or is right now living on the earth in Gethsemane and ending this Atoning Sacrifice on the Cross. How can I complain? I did not die, I did not suffer for more then myself, and I did not do it alone. He did, our Lord and Savior bore the pains of the World alone. In which He asked the Father in Mark 14:36 “And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me:....” The Christ in this moment asked the Father if he could take it from him because of the pain he felt but finished by saying. “....nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.” He did not complain but rather said I will do what you want me to do. He did know that I would go and suffer in a hospital in Mexico and he did comfort every second of it. I can not help but plead that you offer thanks for this some call “Ultimate Sacrifice” but for me I call the “Ultimate Gift”. Do not ever, ever, ever, ever think that  you are alone. That you must bare this difficult time in our life alone. That is Satan, be a willing to receive help and if you have fallen into sin then all you have to do is ask and you will be forgiven. Now you must sincerely want to change, to literally tear away that former life, and start a new one with Christ in it. This is humble prayer and I know that he will help you! 

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Sincerely,

Elder DeVries