Trials, Challenges and Opportunities to Serve!

As senior missionaries, you never know what each week will bring.  As we mentioned in our last blog, one of our sister missionaries started feeling ill a couple of weeks ago, having bad headaches, nausea, blurred vision, etc.  We took her to the Emergency Room, and after only eight hours of waiting and exams, they diagnosed her with a severe sinus infection.  They prescribed some antibiotics and sent her home.  Elder Gneiting and Darryl gave her a blessing and she seemed to rest a little better.

However, after taking antibiotics for a few days, there really was no sign of improvement.  Our mission nurse in Milano, after consultation with Dr. Wing, the Europe Area's full time doctor in Frankfurt, decided that we needed to take Sister Hunter to see another doctor.  Our Relief Society President recommended a doctor.  That doctor simply asked for the ER's records, and didn't even want to see our missionary.  After looking at her ER records, he prescribed a whole different drug treatment.  After Bonnie looked at what he was suggesting and realizing that some of the drugs didn't have anything to do with Sister Hunter's symptoms, Darryl felt strongly that we should call Sister Dibb, our Mission President's wife, and our mission nurse, to report in and to express our concerns.  They consulted with Dr. Wing in Frankfurt, and they all agreed that she shouldn't start taking the new meds.

Instead, we were instructed to take Sister Hunter back to the hospital and have them conduct more tests.  When we took her back, it seems that the doctors finally took her symptoms seriously.  They kept her in the hospital and started running all kinds of tests.  The bottom line is that Sister Hunter has a condition that affects the pressure of the fluid in the head, thus causing all her symptoms.  The Italian doctors came up with the proper diagnosis the same day that Sister Hunter's father, who is a physician in Colorado, also came up with the correct diagnosis. 

Sister Hunter and Sister Boscia continued to be great missionaries, even in the hospital.  Their good example was seen by others in her room and many questions about the church were asked.  Sister Hunter was loved by all the patients and their families in her room.  They took great care of her and she helped them. They shared pizza and cookies with one another and they took pictures and shared contact information.  While most of the memories from the hospital were not fun, there were some memories that Sister Hunter will cherish.  She had some tender mercies in the midst of her trials.

Sisters Hunter and Boscia in the hospital.

A son of one patient, and Sara, a patient that was going home, with Sister Boscia and Bonnie.
Sister Hunter got Sara's phone number in Venezia, and she will be sending the missionaries to her!

Sister Hunter, with Elders Robb and Axson

Since Sister Hunter was in the hospital, we brought her companion, Sister Boscia, to our apartment for a couple of nights.  When it seemed that Sister Hunter would not be returning to full time missionary work for some time, President Dibb asked us to take Sister Boscia to Pisa to stay with the Sister Training Leaders there.  So on Friday, we took Sister Boscia to Pisa where she will work with the Sisters there until the President works out how to staff the work here in Siena for the sisters.

Meanwhile, the doctors started Sister Hunter on a drug that should address the problem.  However, just to be safe, the Mission President and the Church doctors in Frankfurt, in consultation with Sister Hunter's parents, decided that it would be best if Sister Hunter went back to the States for a few weeks to get checked out completely and to get her on track for a full recovery.  Then, she can return to her mission here in Italy, where she really wants to be, and hopefully she will return to Siena to continue her great work with our members and investigators in this beautiful city.

We actually got approval for the Area Presidency to leave our mission boundaries twice, once on Saturday to drive to Rome to pick up Sister Hunter's mom from the airport, and then again on Monday to take Sister Hunter and her mom back to Rome for their flight back to the States.

We spent quite a few hours and days in the hospital with Sister Hunter, and coordinating her treatment with the doctors in the hospital, the Church's doctor in Frankfurt, and with her parents back in the States. Darryl was very helpful and it was comforting to Sister Hunter and her parents to know that he was there and taking care of the details.

On top of our efforts to help Sister Hunter, our branch had planned a party at the church for the festival of Carnavale.  We were able to drop in on the festa after coming back from Rome with Sister Hunter's mom.  We owe a great debt to our two elders, Elder Robb and Elder Axson, who took complete charge of the party and made it special for our members and our investigators.  We had a number of kids at our party, and everyone seemed to have a great time.

The Church foyer decorated for Carnavale!

Darryl's counselor, Simone, who is leaving this week for a job in Milan!
Darryl is really sad to see him go, but it will be good for him.

Elders Robb and Axson with their homemade piñata.

Lots of pizza and great company!

We have been working with one of our members who hasn't been to church for quite a number of years.  One of Brother Natale's many talents is making homemade pizzas.  He agreed to come to church and make the pizzas for our party.  He showed up at 10 am on Saturday morning and he made the pizza dough from scratch.  He then fixed a great pasta lunch for our elders, and helped decorate for the party.  (Darryl helped him get started in the morning before we had to take off to Rome to pick up Sister Hunter's mom).

Brother Natale making great food for everyone!

 After returning from Rome, we stopped by the party just long enough for Sister Hunter's mom to meet a few people and to thank Brother Natale.  We then took Sister Hunter's mom to the hospital to take care of her daughter and to work with the doctors to try to get her released to go back to the States.  After we dropped her off and made sure all was OK at the hospital, we went back to the church for the last bit of the party and to clean up the mess.  It was a long day!

On top of it all, Sunday was our scheduled branch conference with our District leaders.  Darryl prepared his talk in between all the other happenings of the week.  But, Sunday went fine and we are progressing as a small branch struggling to grow.

Right after our Sunday meetings, we learned that Sister Hunter was being released from the hospital that afternoon, and that she and her mom were scheduled to fly back to the States on Monday morning.  We hurried to the hospital and helped Sister Hunter break free.  We took Sister Hunter and her mom to our apartment for a good lunch (anything is better than hospital food).  Thankfully, Bonnie had put a chicken in the crockpot before we left for church that morning, and we fed them some of Bonnie's great cooking.  They loved it!

We fed the Hunters and then took them to Sister Hunter's apartment so they could pack up Sister Hunter's things.  Later that evening we brought them back to our apartment to spend a short night before leaving bright and early Monday morning for the Rome airport.

We got Sister Hunter and her mom safely to the Rome airport and on a plane headed for Colorado.  It was sad to see Sister Hunter leave, but we are praying that all will go well and that she will be back here in a few weeks.  That is definitely her wish, and we need her great spirit and her wonderful love for the Italian people back in the great city of Siena.

Sister Hunter at the Leonardo di Vinci Airport in Rome.

Bonnie, Veronica Hunter and Sister Hunter

Darryl and Bonnie saying Goodbye, but just for a few weeks we hope, to a great Sister.

The lines at the airport.

We decided to drive a different route back to Siena from Rome.  We drove along the Mediterranean Sea for a while, and then we headed into the hills of Tuscany.  

A brave spear-fisherman getting ready to see what he can catch.

Along the Mediterranean Sea.

Bonnie contemplating a dip.  The water was so clear!

It was a beautiful, clear day, and we stopped at Montalcino for lunch and took a quick look around.  Spring is definitely in the air, even though it is still February.

The Tuscan countryside.

In the mountain town of Montalcino.

The castle where the Sienese people holed up in their valiant last stand before being overrun by the Florentines.

Cactus growing on top of a wall.

With Sister Hunter in Colorado and Sister Boscia in Pisa, Darryl picked up the slack and taught the English class last night.  He had a blast teaching English and working with the kids and adults that attend the beginning class.

In the midst of all this excitement, our district leader for some months now, Elder Gneiting, was transferred to Padova.  We will certainly miss his enthusiasm and love for our members here. Elder Axson came to take his place.  Elder Gneiting was about 6'6", and Elder Axson is even taller.  He seems like he will step right in and lead our missionaries to success.  We will miss Elder Gneiting, but we are blessed to meet new missionaries every six weeks, and learn from them.

The events of the last two weeks have taught us many things.  Foremost among them is that challenges and trials come into all our lives, even when we are doing our very best to live as we should.  And this is exactly according to God's plan.  We have trials so we can have life experiences, and so we can learn valuable lessons.  We must experience the sour so we can truly enjoy the sweet.  When we are ill, we treasure our health even more.  When we fall, we struggle to rise again!  The thing that our Heavenly Father wants to know is how we respond to our trials and our challenges, and how they change us, hopefully for the better.  If we can learn patience, courage, empathy, and love from our trials, then we are on the right path that will lead us back to our Heavenly Father.