The Blacks' Mission Report

I don't like being sick.  That SHOULD be all I have to say, but it isn't. I don't like being sick, AND I don't enjoy going to doctors who are condescending and who think I am clueless.  Mostly, I guess, I miss my Utah medical team. (This means YOU, Karen Radley!) I started with severe headache, sniffles, sneezes, mild sore throat, but no fever!  We were experiencing very high pollen counts for grass, cedar/juniper, and others.  Grass and Juniper are my worst allergens, so, I assumed I was having a bad allergic reaction to our environment.  I called the doctors' office with whom we have established as our temporary FP to schedule an injection to help relieve the nasty sinus, and all.  I was abruptly advised that their practice does not do allergy injections.  Now I wonder if we chose the wrong folks.  I have a scheduled appointment in a couple of weeks.  We'll have a serious provider/customer fireside chat and then decide if their practice...

On Friday evening, April 19, el Barrio Jacinto City held a ward missionary event.  It was to highlight Lehi's dream of the Tree of Life (1 Nephi chapters 8 and 11) The ward planned it, promoted it, and administered it without anything but planning assistance and a final lesson from the Full-Time Missionaries. There was a pre-event meeting in the chapel which was to simulate the Grand Council in Heaven where the Plan of Happiness was introduced to all the spirit children of our heavenly parents. Our "Grand Council" began with a Hymn, "Señor, yo te seguiré" (Lord, I Would Follow Thee) representing the hope and desire of each spirit child to follow God's plan, followed by an opening prayer.   During this "Grand Council, the plan was presented and the participants were instructed how to "hold to the rod".  They had assembled a black nylon cord throughout the halls of the building simulating the "Iron Rod". The goal was to wind up...

I know, dumbheadedness is probably not a valid word, but I'm sure you all get the idea. Yesterday, as a celebration of our marriage 46 years ago in the Los Angeles Temple, we decided to go to the Houston Temple and do some sealings for the dead.  In preparation, as we knew we'd be gone from home for several hours, we prepared the medicines we'd need while we were away from home.  I generally have my 1 pm and my 9 pm lung meds in one little bottle and my medicine cocktail (about 10 different tablets) in another similar bottle.  Yesterday I put a few more in my 1 and 9 pm bottle because often I'll use it for several days.  That way I don't have to reload quite as often. My 1 pm dose went as usual.  No problem there.  We travel about 40 minutes to get to the temple from our apartment and we were there just after 1 pm, so I took it as soon as we got there. We were at dinner when my 6 pm meds alarm went off.  I reached into my pocket, grabbed a bottle, ...

I love my life.  Sometimes, however, my life is more interesting than others.  I spent most of last week with what I thought was a severe cold.  Coughing, sneezing, sore throat, runny nose, and all.  The only thing is...there was no fever.  Pretty weird.  I began to wonder if I was having allergic reactions to something.  Well....it turns out that we had the highest pollen counts ever recorded over the last two weeks.  My allergy medicine was not keeping up.  At the same time, my INR count skyrocketed.  INR measure how thick my blood is.  The higher it is the thinner it becomes.  I try to keep it between 2 and 3 (I have no idea what, exactly, is being measured, but it scores the ability of my blood to clot.) I like it to be around 2.8.   But.....two weeks ago it was 3.2 and last week it was 3.5.  I've been reducing the medicine I take too.  Life and it's little twists and turns is pretty interesting. Yes...

First the mundane stuff:  I threw my back out on Tuesday morning just after getting out of the shower.  I don't know how.  I was just standing still and I felt a "pop" in my back and there I was unable to move much more than just shuffle my feet a little at a time.  So back to bed I went.  Over the week it has become better, but Wednesday morning I woke up with a sore throat, by Friday, I was in full fledged cold symptoms.  And to make it even better I developed a cold sore on my upper lip. We were challenged to read 8 pages of the Book of Mormon per day beginning last Sunday (8 days ago).  As of this morning, I have read a total of 105 pages.  I'm a little ahead of schedule.  The plan is to finish in 65 days.  I intend to be done in less than 50 days. Saturday, we spent the entire day recovering and watching 6 hours of General Conference.  It was wonderful.  I particularly liked two different quotes.  One from Preside...

I was not raised in a huggy, "I love you" environment.  I don't remember my father ever telling me that he loved me.  I remember only rarely that my mother ever told me she loved me.  I knew that they did, but I don't remember any verbal expressions of love by my parents.  I don't ever recall my father ever telling my mother that he loved her.  He may have in private, but I never heard it. My father never gave me a "Father's Blessing" until I specifically asked for one when I was 40 years old.  He was terrified!  He didn't even know what a Father's Blessing was or how to do it.  He went to his Stake President to learn about it.  Then he fasted and prayed to be inspired as to what to say in that blessing.  My father did confer the Aaronic Priesthood on me and ordained me to the three offices in the Aaronic Priesthood, but the blessing part of those ordinances was simple and not specific at all.  He conferred the Melchizedek Priesth...