Monday, May 20, 2019

And so, another one bites the bust


     Buongiorno tutti! Don't worry, I'm talking about the week in my title, not my companion. He's still up and kicking, although he goes home in less than one hundred days. Good times are had here sometimes solely for that reason. This can be good and bad, but usually it just means that it's at least entertaining. Photos below.

     I don't remember what the stats are for this email and I don't have access to my journal right now where I wrote them down, so stats will come next week I suppose. 

     Tuesday was a scambio (exchange) where we switched off with the Zone leaders and I stayed here with Anziano Trickett. We enjoyed some metro finding and an English course where the participants learned about tongue twisters and they couldn't believe that I could say them at all, let alone with the speed that I was going. The twister I used is one I got from Anziano Belnap in agrigento: "Betty bought some butter, but the butter betty bought was bitter. Betty bought some better butter to make the bitter butter better." English is fun

    Wednesday was a whole bunch of travel where after we taught a member who is preparing to receive the melchezidek priesthood at the church that morning, we immediately went to the temple so that we could have district council with the sorelle and end our scambio with the Zone leaders. We then had a grand old time riding the metro home and just spending an hour and a half on the metro before lunch. Woo hoo.

     Thursday we decided to burn some old clothing during lunch because why not? Things got a little heated, and the fire extinguisher was used a little prematurely. But the fire was put out 🔥😅

     Friday, surgery. The whole story is long, so the shortened one is en route. I arrive on time. I am seen half an hour after my appointment time. Ok.
     When I was taken back, the doctor made my companion leave to go and pay the bill downstairs of what ended up being 352 euro, 440 dollars. Cool, but back to the room where I'm on a check up mattress thing. Doctor just starts to circle my cyst with pen. OK, cool.
     Doctor grabs needle and just sticks it into my arm without sanitizing it. Cool, that's totally standard procedure I think. Uses all the anesthetic and then grabs another needle, repeats the process. OK, awesome. 
     I insert my arm into a piece of surgical paper that allows for easy clean up after the surgery, ha senso. While I'm doing this, assistant hands doctor a scalpel, things start immediately after my hand is resting under my head, anesthesia has yet to kick in.
     I feel knife for a good twenty seconds before I don't. Sweet. Doctor gets distracted by assistant talking about California because they think I live there because I was born there and Italian culture states that you always live where you were born and then you die there, sometimes never leaving that area. They believe California to be cold and rainy. I correct them as doctor pulls cyst out of arm with a chunk of skin. (If you want photos of that, email me and I'll send them to you as they are gnarly)
     I get sautered shut inside my arm with electricity somehow, and watch smoke emenate from my arm. Awesome!
     Stitches happen, don't feel the first four, but I feel all the other eight. Halfway through the eight, I'm asked if I feel pain. I sarcastically say "not a lot" but I forget that Italians don't do sarcasm so he believes me and then yanks very hard to tighten my stitches. I probably deserved that one.
    We end up having to call the office, and Anziano willey comes down to pay for my surgery. He then takes us out for Gelato, dinner, and he buys us groceries for the rest of the week because he feels bad for us. Absolute legend, love the man to death.

    Saturday, we end up not doing a lot because my arm region was in a lot of pain. I have no painkillers, and was given instructions on how to care for it but none of the supplies. Luckily, mission nurse sorella millet has made sure that all apartments with missionaries have a decent first aid kit, so I had the materials at home. We then interview two people for baptism, and we have some people on the line up for baptismal interviews in the near future.

That's my week, here are some photos:










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