Sister Bolliger - Visalia Week 23: What a Drive! Chicken Farm with No Reception, Disappointing Phone Message, Exciting Hospital Stay on Fast Sunday

This week was crazy. I know I seem to say that EVERY week, but honestly, this week probably takes the cake.

Friday we found ourselves in Fresno AGAIN for the trainer and trainee meeting. Things progressed as usual but then we were charged with taking some medication to an Elder in the Hanford Stake. Because Hanford is only about twenty minutes from Visalia, we readily agreed to it--feeling self-important because of the task at hand. :)

After receiving some very basic directions from the Elders, we proceeded down the 99 back home. All of a sudden we were in Goshen, a town that is in our ward boundaries. We had missed the exit! The next 45 minutes were spent driving up and down the 99 looking for the Jensen exit. The Elders weren't picking up their phone, etc., so it was super awesome. Haha. We finally got off on a different exit and started driving through fields after fields. We began to think that we had missed a street and proceeded to attempt to contact the Elders. This was when we realized that we had NO cell phone reception. Left to our own devices we decided to just keep driving until we saw some semblance of civilization. This proceeded for another 50 minutes. Oh yes. Beginning to get slightly nervous that we were going to be lost forever, and just as we were about to turn back, we saw the glorious next part of our directions. We took that and began to lose our faith again. Some 30 minutes later we happened upon the Church building--out of NOWHERE! We were met by some normal looking Elders and were able to deliver the medication with no problem. Turns out they live on a chicken farm and don't get cellphone reception either. Our phone doesn't automatically switch to Roaming so we learned how to fix that fast!

Taking the drive back to the 99 we saw that we had a voicemail from Leon, the man who was going to get baptized the next day. When we finally could use our phone, we called him back and found out some horrible news: he decided he was NOT going to get baptized. Because I was driving I had to sit patiently and listen to half of the conversation. Turns out Leon had talked to his Father, who is a preacher, with the intention of inviting him to his baptism. But, when Leon was talking to his Father, his father convinced him that he shouldn't get baptized. Apparently Leon wasn't as solid as we thought, and it was really frustrating to realize that we didn't have time to talk with him until later that evening.

Needless to say, it was probably the most involved of any road trip on the mission thus far. :)

Fast forward to Sunday. Sister Clark and I are fasting and at meetings all morning. During church, however, she begins to not feel well and we went on the long walk to the bano. I just thought it was normal, but as we went to Gospel Principles (the second hour), she began to indicate that she was NOT doing well at all. We went to the bathroom again, but this time she began to complain of lower right abdomen pain and couldn't stand up any longer. I quickly mobilized the fellow bathroom goers. One woman went to find the nurse in Sunday School, one stayed with Sister Clark, and the other came with me outside so that I could call Sister Gonzalez--our medical contact. After calling Sister Gonzalez and getting the process started for permission to see a Doctor, I came back in the building to be greeted by a host of members, one nurse, one doctor, and my companion in tears sitting on the ground. Before I knew it, I was ushered into a waiting car with my companion and we were off to the ER. I called Sister Gonzalez again and told her of the potential appendicitis, and we were cleared. When we got to the ER Sister Clark realized that she didn't have her insurance card with her. We then sent off the husband of the nurse who was with us to go retrieve it. Then the long wait began. It's a little jolting to have been sitting in a spiritual class and to then be thrust unexpectedly into the Emergency Room. Then the long wait began. Just imagine Sister Clark is moaning in pain while I'm trying to lighten the mood and ignore the football game being blasted on the big screen. Oh, temptation comes in many ways.

We finally get a room (which happens to be a Psych room--one of the ones reserved for psych patients. haha) and then the fun process of waiting begins again. I am fielding phone call after phone call answering Mission President's wife, Ward Mission Leader, Bishop, other missionaries, etc. Ah! Then Brother Drennan, our Ward Mission Leader comes to give Sister Clark a blessing with the other brother that was still in the waiting room. Somehow, though, neither man had any oil! So, the calls to the Elders began. They gladly came over, but left out the detail that they were coming on their bikes. Forty-five minutes later, they arrive and participate in giving Sister Clark a blessing. One of the missionaries was with Sister Clark in the MTC and looked pretty scarred after the experience. I'm not sure if that was because he learned Sister Clark's first name or had to come to the hospital on a Sunday. Haha.

Turns out the whole hoopla was for a nasty UTI. Sister Clark HATES drinking water with a passion (apparently no water is as good as Utah water--no matter if it's bottled or not) and because of that got herself in this particular situation.

In retrospect, we left the church building at 3PM, and left the hospital at 9:30PM. Yup. On a Fast Sunday. Sister Bolliger was seriously wigging out! Thankfully there was a vending machine with a Nutrigrain bar. The next hour was then spent trying to find a 24-hour pharmacy. A precious ward missionary had come to relieve the previous sister of her duties and drove us all around Visalia to find a pharmacy. We rolled into our apartment at about 10:45 PM and were both seriously dead--thankfully not figuratively. :)

We've been met by more meetings in Fresno this week, more opportunities for exhaustion, more heat, more speculation about transfers, and much more fun!

Crazy!

Sister Bolliger