Almost Back to Normal

Hey there!

So it's been a good week. REALLY busy though it feels like. I have this habit of going to bed after midnight, and my body likes to wake me up at about 8, so if I want good sleep I have to learn to get to bed earlier. But really- story of my life.

Last week, I went to the temple THREE days in a row. IT WAS AWESOME! Haha (but it would be much easier if the Cedar temple was done right now) I went and did Baptisms with a few friends on Wednesday, a session both Thursday and Friday, and some sealings as well. My single friends out there... don't think that you can't do sealings if you're not married. Sealings are seriously the coolest and everyone should do them. I'm totally serious.

So medically- I'm doing good! I still like to think that I can be more active than my body will let me. Last week was probably an 80% of how I normally would be, but it was exhausting. The good news is that at my doctors appointment yesterday, my blood levels are normal! Not post-chemo normal... normal person normal! Except I'm a little anemic. I'm excited for what life is turning out to be. Two months left as a missionary.... WHAT!?!??!

As of right now, I'm just doing Netflix, indexing, scholarship hunting, and preparing for school next semester. Ha life is a party over here.

AND I'LL BE GOING BACK TO THE TEMPLE REAL SOON. 2 or so weeks soon. Stay tuned. 

Hope you all are doing well. :D Have a good one.

Elder G

Arbitrator

Heyo!

Well. What a week it's been. I'm so happy I'm DONE with chemo. They gave me a shot on Tuesday, the day after my treatment, to help boost my White Blood Cells. They said that I'd feel achy the whole week (because WBCs come from your bone marrow, and my joints would all kinda hurt). They were right. It was pretty much the worst week thus far. Nausea was may a 3 out of 10, but achiness and fatigue did me in, I was on the couch for probably all of Wed, Thurs and Fri! But life is good and that's all over now. I assume that despite sucky week one, I'd bounce back to my 100%, ya know? So it's all for the greater good. Yesterday and today have been great. I think the achiness is over and life is free to continue to be awesome.

Guess what? Last week I got asked to be an Arbitrator through FamilySearch for Indexing! (for those of you unfamiliar with what an arbitrator is, when you index, you submit the batch, then an arbitrator looks it over to make sure all the information is correct) They sent me an email that said something to the sort of "You've indexed such-and-such amount of records, we feel it's safe to say you know what you're doing! Follow this link to find out how to be an arbitrator! Well, I haven't done that yet, but I'm going to soon. Ha.

I'm doing well with indexing! I haven't stayed on my "every single day" kick, but I'm still doing a lot of it! We can all help the work somehow.

I met with Pres Lunt the other day and we talked about the time is soon upon us to discuss an end date for my mission. WHAT? It'll be in July, but the day we are not sure of yet. I'm planning on jumping back into temple stuff in a few weeks, when my immunity and energy level are a little better! Praise the day when it's here. But for now I'm having a good time. Getting better at the violin. Come over if you want to hear me play it I sound amazing. Kinda. :D

Have a great week!!!! Remember who you are and what you stand for. Ha.

Elder G

DONE WITH CHEMO!/Lotion feet

Hello!!
Guess what. Chemo is DONE. I had my last chemo treatment at the cancer center yesterday (we had to put off treatment last week), and with my clear scan, as long as things stay clear, I'm home free. Just check ups and scans!

I'm excited to get back to the temple sometime. I'm guessing it will be about a month from now, so I'll have time to recover and gain energy. Right now the plan is still to serve til July. I don't know an end date or anything but that will work itself out. And then I'll be headed to Utah State at the end of August for school. I registered for my classes last week. I'm excited to get going with life again, with my mission and school ya know?

OKAY you're gonna get a kick out of this story. Hahahaha. So on Sunday, we were watching a movie. I took a drink and a minute later wondered why I tasted lotion.... well, my mom put lotion on her feet, Cork (our chihuahua) likes to lock some of the lotion off, Cork tried to take a drink out of my cup and I stopped him,  but he did manage to get some of the lotion he licked onto the side of the cup, and that's how I tasted the lotion. The lotion went from my moms feet (which for the record aren't gross, but they're feet ya know!), to Corks mouth, to my cup, to my mouth!!!! So essentially I licked my own mother's feet. Hope you laughed. :)

I'm doing good overall. I'm super excited to move on past this cancer stuff. Have a great week!!!!!!

Elder G

Son-of-a-Bishop...!

Wassup!

Sorry I forgot to email last week. Time just got the best of me. BUT I've got some exciting news.

First of all, everything is working as planned to go up to Utah State this fall, and I couldn't be more excited.

Second, I had a CT scan last week. The results? Clear! So from what they can tell, no sign of cancer.

Third, I only have ONE chemo left, so now we just pray that the scans stay clear. :)

Fourth, guess what? My dad was called as a Bishop this last Sunday. So now, I'm a son-of-a-Bishop. Or BS- Bishop's Son. ;) Hahaha (did you really not expect a joke like that from me?)

I'm feeling great this week, just tired. I can't wait to be done with this crap chemo. Haha. But seriously. When Mom and I went to our Huntsman appointments last week, we had a chance to go to the Bountiful temple. I didn't have any big spiritual experience, but I distinctly remember the feeling of walking in the temple and thinking, "Wow, this feels like home." And really, what should the temple be??? More like, whose home should it feel like? Just that small thought increased my testimony that it is the Lord's house, it is the most peaceful place on earth, and that we are God's children. So go to the temple OFTEN! (And if you can't go inside, then go read your scriptures or write in your journal on the temple grounds!!)

 

My favorite scripture this week...Proverbs 3:5... "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding." What fears do I have based on the understandings of men? I am trying to rise above those fears and trust in the Lord. He's got my back! Everything will work out how it's supposed to work out.

Have a great week!

Elder G

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