Brace yourself.. This has been a crazy week... Well... More like weekEND...
Well... First off, Elder Berlin, who I came to Arkansas with on the plane, and have been serving here in Hot Springs with for the past 6 months went home on Saturday... Not because he was stupid, but because something happened to his back and he doesn't know what, but it's preventing him from being able to do anything so for the past two weeks he's been sleeping because he's been on pain medication... So... LAME!!!! Now we have a new Elder, which is fine... It's just weird when unexpected changes occur... And this weekend has been FULL of them..
Next unexpected event was a phone call we got telling us that there was a funeral happening at the Church this last Saturday and we needed to make the program, sing a song in it and on of the Elders was giving a talk... None of us knew the lady who died, so that made it super weird because we thought we were doing the Bishopric's job... We were so confused the whole time. The lady who passed away has been less active for the past 20 years and I'd never met her, but the Elders went to give her a blessing two weeks ago... So.. That funeral was soooo sad!! Most everyone there was Baptist, and I'm sure that they were even more sad because they thought that she had doomed herself by joining our Church... Everyone there was crying and miserable, and I was so uncomfortable. I never want to be at a funeral like that again... Yes death is sad, but it's still full of hope. Those family members are going to see this lady again, but they just dont seem to get it... ugh. At least Elder Willmore gave a great talk.. I think it was the best, most spirit filled event of the afternoon.
So... Then after that we had lunch at a member's home. It's actually the member that gave me the pair of heels... Well.. She gave me 3 more pairs of shoes that she already had but didn't like.. haha. They're all the same style, just different colors. So that was a bonus and not part of the craziness of the weekend.
But worst of all was Saturday night. A member called us when we were with the Elders at about 8:00pm and told us that Sherry Hardin was in the hospital and she needed a blessing NOW!!! Sherry is a LA that we've been visiting every week for the past 5 months and teaching her the missionary lessons because she's too sick to come to Church. We've basically been doing our best at bringing Church to her.. So... We all book it over to the Hospital because we're ALL really close to her. We found her room and she was asleep and we tried to wake her up but we couldn't.. I guess she was under a lot of pain medication... It was soooo sad.... The Elders gave her a blessing though, while she was still asleep and it said that even though she was asleep that she'd feel the blessing in her heart. She was assured that the Lord is aware of her and that she'll have comfort and peace. It also assured her of the love that us as missionaries have for her. She's become an adopted mother to us all... We hung around for a minute after the blessing and left. Two hours later we get a phone call telling us that she had passed away.... It was the most devastating phone call of my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so upset because just last Thursday we were at her home and everything was normal! She's only 56, but her kidneys had failed 6 years ago and has been on dialysis ever since.. I guess her lungs couldn't get enough oxygen and that was the cause.. Her heart just stopped and it was only 45 minutes after we had left the hospital. So we were the last ones to see her... Which was kind of comforting.. We know that she's finally free from pain though. I'm so thankful for my testimony of the plan of salvation. As empty as Thursdays are going to feel now, I know she's happier and that I'll see her again... Unfortunately her daughter doesn't want to have a funeral for her, so we're going out with her Visiting teacher to have our own little memorial on Thursday...
This weekend has been so full of death... I dont like it... So with all these events, I know that nothing can happen for the rest of my mission that will be more emotionally draining than this... I'm thankful for the gospel, and for the hope it provides. Comfort really is granted when you ask for it, and it's all because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He is there for us in everything. I know it because He has been here for me this weekend...
I love all of you. Thank you for your prayers and support. I need it, and have been blessed because of it. The Church is true.
-Sister Dyer
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| Visiting Sherry in the hospital |
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| Clearly she was a fun lady. How could we not love her?? |
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| Miss you Sherry... |
