Side Effects/The Basics/Waiting

Well I didn't send out an email yesterday. But you should know that I'm doing well! I had chemo #3 this Monday. I had the hiccups SIX times yesterday, and I've also been napping a LOT yesterday and today, too. So I go from feeling like a pregnant woman a few weeks ago with the bloating and swollen feet, to now feeling like the newborn: All I do is eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, repeat. :) haha. Those are the side effects this week. It's like a game where I'll never be quite sure of the outcome: guessing what the side effect will be!

Cool story of the week: I went to the temple last Friday. (You know I'm taking time off my temple schedule again, right?) I planned to just do initiatories. The wait was going to be really long, and I felt the prompting to go do sealings instead. On my way out of the temple after, I ran into Sister Bithell (If you remember, I work with her in the Baptistry on Fridays, and her husband passed away a few months ago). She said that she was grabbing a snack from the cafeteria before, and so it was a pleasant surprise. :) She wasn't there on my most recent day serving in the baptistry, so it had been a while. She was teary eyed, and gave me a big long hug. It was definitely not a coincidence.

I can't say I'm doing too much. Trying to read my scriptures regularly, say prayers, attend church and go to the temple once a week. Those are the basics that we should strive to at LEAST do. :) I think I'm doing great if I am at least doing the basics. I've been through times where I haven't even done the basics, and I can tell a difference. So make sure you are at least praying and reading, okay? :)

I've learned a lot about waiting, too. There are lots of gospel articles I've read lately about waiting. Yes, it sucks waiting for the time to be healed, waiting for a mission call, waiting to get married... ya know. All that stuff. But Heavenly Father KNOWS me and knows exactly the best time for the waiting to be over. And I seriously think that the hardest times, during that waiting period, are when we grow the most spiritually. So waiting? It's okay. It's a part of life and we're all going to be okay. We don't have to do this on our own.

Have a great week. Love you all!
Elder G

Logan is awesome.

Hey!

If you see my Facebook, you probably hear double from that and from my emails lately. But you may or may not have heard; I went in to do my 3rd chemo yesterday, and after getting my blood drawn, the doctors decided to not do the chemo until next Monday- give me a week for my white blood cells to raise. I don't know how it relates or what, so if the technical numbers are off, forgive me.. but my doc said that normal is a 2, I was at 1.1 three weeks ago, and was a 0.9 yesterday. It's not like deathly low, and really I could've been okay to get chemo yesterday, but if I would've gotten sick or anything after getting chemo, it definitely would land me in the hospital. So it's a good/bad thing. I was really kind of upset because I had built myself up to get this, now I have to wait a week and still have two chemos left. It's been a long time where I've had bad news that I haven't expected in the slightest, you know? It was actually great timing, because last night we had Family Night and watched a Mormon Message and the end of it said, "You and I might cry out, 'No one understands. No one knows.' But the Son of God perfectly knows and understands. He can reach out, touch, and strengthen us." How powerful!

It's not all peachy, it's not always glorious and fine and easy, but I'm doing okay. Just dealing with the cards right now!

On a happier note, I went to Logan last week for a few days. I got to see some friends, went to the temple, went to a friends reception, and got ready for moving up there in August for school- met with my advisor, looked at an apartment, and ended up applying for an apartment. It was nice to get away for a few days, and I am seriously convinced that Logan was made for me. I have a friend who always talked about how incredible Logan is, and I thought she was just talking it up. She isn't. Logan is so social, the school is great, and it's just going to be a great place to be. BUT don't worry, that's still about 6 months away so I'm not longing for the future too much here. I'm enjoying (or at least trying to) where I'm at right now and just taking things a week at a time. The time will come when I won't be busy with cancer treatments! Life is good, and there's a reason for where I'm at right now. I hope you know the reason that you are where you're at right now. :)

Thanks for your prayers, well wishes, all that. You're all great.

Until next time,

Elder G

This is my chemo friend, Jody! She's so great!!

I love to see the temple!  Logan Utah Temple.

Okay this is cool.

Hey all! I'll get to the cool part in a minute. Not that the rest of this email won't be cool. I mean, come on... It's me we're talking about. (Just kidding, I promise I'm super humble.) This last week has been a much better week. I have felt pretty much normal, with the exception of just feeling fatigued. It's like my body is getting toxic treatment or something, haha. My White Blood Cell level has dropped, as expected, but it's not at a concerning level. This in turn means that I have to be careful about being out in public. I really, really don't want to get sick. All in all, though, I'm feeling fine. People tell me I look great. But come on, it's me we're talking about. (Kidding.) I've had a couple people ask me about the shaved head. Then when I tell them it's because of chemo, they are surprised because I "sure don't look like someone going through chemo." Boo yah. I'm taking time off from serving again; I think I might have mentioned that in my last email though. The temple is closed for maintenance from 3/23-4/4, with the baptistry closed for an additional two weeks. My third dose of chemo is next Monday, and my last will be on the 30th. So maybe by the time the baptistry opens back up, I'll be geared up to go 5 days a week again?? We'll see. This whole turning-into-a-social-recluse thing is killing me. Those of you who know me pretty well know that I AM A SOCIAL PERSON. I consider wherever I am to be the party, in the most humble way. It's been a whole new challenge to not be out so much. Yes, I'm staying busy and not losing my mind, but I would much rather be out doing something, you know? I wrote a blog post once about this... but I am definitely a firm believer that our trials are not random and they are tailored to us. We are tested on things that really challenge us, and those challenges are different for every single person. Our reaction will really bring out, define, or sometimes even change our true character. Will I still stay true to the gospel despite that I'm a missionary who can't go to the temple like "normal", going through chemo, stuck at home, and can't be social? We'll see; I sure hope so! Okay. NOW we're to the super cool part. You know that my Stake President is my mission president and that I meet with him on a regular basis. Well, this last Sunday we had Stake Conference, and we got a new Stake Presidency. Guess who my new Stake President is? MY BISHOP! How cool is that? I have met with my Bishop pretty regularly throughout my mission, and now he's been "promoted" (for lack of a better word) to my mission president. I don't know who my new bishop we'll be, but we'll see. Out of all the people that could have been called.... how cool, right? I know that my mission and my case is a little different, so now my new mission president knows exactly how and where things are with me. Cool. (And maybe I thought that was a lot cooler than you did.) Anyway. That's all. I hope you enjoyed the last hour reading this email. Haha. Have a great week everyone! Elder G