Being the Nurse

More from our morning walks

From Sr. Biven...  

Life by the sea is so interesting.  This morning on our walk we passed fishermen preparing to go to sea.  The large bag the two men are carrying is full of some sort of bait.  Mostly they catch tuna.  When they bring the catch in (and some fish are two to three feet long) the fish are placed in buckets the women carry on their heads as they walk through the streets to sell them. 

Here is a seaside fitness class.  We think it looks like fun!  Elder Biven hopes to join a gym soon, but until then we.......

like to climb the stairs to Achada Santa Antonio for exercise, and we are not the only ones, this morning we had to stand in line for our turn to start up from the bottom.   I haven't counted how many stairs there are--- but there are enough to be a challenge for this senior missionary!  (I do have lots of numbers in my head these days; ten islands, eighteen months, nearly 100 missionaries, 600 chickens coming soon.... but I don't know how many stairs.  They can keep track of themselves without my help.....)

Being the nurse

I wasn't here long before I was issued a phone and added to the mission phone list as NURSE.  The calls are in Portuguese and/or English from missionaries living on nine different islands.  I am grateful that the Lord and the missionaries have patiently taught me that they know what they need to do.   I am a sounding board, an information source about pathophysiology, about drugs, about practices for treating various diagnosis.  And they decide how they want to handle things.  And miraculous things do happen.

Most medical stories Just really can't be told, because of the need to protect privacy, etc.  But sometimes there is a story that just needs to be told.  Last night I got a call in Portuguese from two elders on another island.  I could tell one companion was in a lot of pain, and it was probably--but not certainly--abdominal.  They decided to go home and rest.  A few hours later they called again, it's late now and the pain is worse.  In my mind I am realizing that the island they are on has limited medical resources (for that matter the island I am on has limited medical resources, and wow are we grateful for what we do have!). The missionaries' level of pain merits attention.  If it is abdominal it could be something dangerous.  So I called the zone leaders on the island.  Two very, very good men.  They immediately walked twenty minutes in the darkness to administer a blessing.  Upon arrival the zone leader (a North American with strong language skills) was able to determine where the pain was, and he called me.  Based on that, and the spirit he felt as he assessed the Elder who was in pain, we were able to decide that this was probably not a life-threatening situation. The blessing was given and the zone leader reported "the blessing that was given was inspired by God, the spirit was there.  Tudo will be alright."  The next morning when the zone leader phoned to check on the sick Elder he was fine.  Perhaps it was a miracle.  We thought so.

Mission Friends

There are three islands that have only one companionship, or two missionaries, on them: Brava and Boa Vista and Maio.  Boa Vista has our friend Elder Teela. Elder Biven taught Elder Teela in Liberty his senior year of early morning seminary.  We were pretty happy to see him at a missionary conference here in Praia.  

Elder and Sister Anderson are from both Washington state and Idaho, and they run the office well. I visit the office often and I look forward to seeing them every time.  You can see why from the photo.  They are both fluent in Portuguese, having lived in Brazil for many years.

Elder and Sister Lunt are from Orem, Utah and they are Church Education System missionaries.  Elder Lunt speaks Portuguese like no one else, and he is always smiling and laughing, just like Sister Lunt.  These wonderful people live on the first floor of our building and we love having them near.