Oh you know... just a little food poisoning... :)‏

Haha!!  Yeah, just another week in the life of a missionary.  :)  Hahahaha!!  Seriously, this is getting pretty ridiculous!  Yeah... so had food poisoning last Saturday, I think... or maybe not.  I'm not really sure what happened but it was short, intense, and way too much excitement for my taste.  We were at an investigator's house, about to start the lesson when BAM!!  Crippling pain in the lower, left side of my back. I tried stretching it but it kept getting worse and worse.  Finally it got too painful to keep quiet about so I told Sis Q there was something wrong with me and then I felt like I was going to pass out and my hands got all tingly.  Everyone was super concerned.  I was like crying without tears because it was so bad.  I went into their C.R. (stands for "comfort room" and is the Filipino term for the "bathroom" although I was not comforted at all while I was in there....:)) and tried going to the bathroom but couldn't.  Came back out, laid down crying for a while, and then quickly went back into the bathroom and threw up.  After that, my body was sore but I felt better.  While all of this was going on, Sister Q was trying to figure out if we should go to the hospital and called our Mission Pres. wife who told her to text her instead.  So. We texted her. She called me and told me that what I was going through was "normal" for foreign missionaries and to take some medicine and eat more fruits and veggies.  (???)  

If that ever happens again I promise I will go to the hospital.  It's one of those things where I'm still trying to figure out what really happened, but yeah.  I can't say anything more about that.

I was able to receive a priesthood blessing from my district leader, Elder Crosby, and his companion, my MTC district brother, Elder Anderson.  The priesthood blessing was beautiful and much needed.   

On another happy note, since resolving the issue of not leaving our apartment on time, my companion and I were able to make almost twice as many visits as we have in the previous weeks.  Hurray!!!!  We are still struggling to meet with our potential investigators and most of the ones we have been able to continue to visit have ended up not really being that interested but hey, that's just part of missionary work.  :)  Some of our less-active families that we've been teaching have been going through some really tough challenges and it's been sad to watch them struggle, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to help them at this time.  I'm finishing my time as a trainee this week (hurray!!!!) and I actually got a little teary as we reviewed the chapter in Preach My Gospel about our purpose, and calling as missionaries.  :) 

I had an interesting time yesterday trying to teach a lesson to some of our less-active members sa English because the husband is American and doesn't speak Tagalog at all.  Haha!!  I kept on saying Tagalog words instead of English and found that while it's still frustrating to not be able to just say anything I want sa Tagalog, it does teach you how to keep things short, simple, and to the point instead of trying to cover too much material when you are teaching.  :) 

Well, that about sums it all up.  Thanks for your continued love and support!  May God bless and strengthen all of you!  Sorry for not always writing people back right away after they send me letters... I'm still trying to figure out how to manage my time wisely while emailing.  :)  Just know that I always read them and they mean a lot to me!  

Love you all!

Sister Jessica Dickison