Dang it!! It's Dengue!!

Familyyyyy:) 

Hello hello hello, well, this week was a crazy one and we saw a bit of everything... the good, the bad, and the ugly!

The good - we had 3 baptisms!! And the Elders in our ward had 4!! :) We had a huge day of white on Saturday!! :)

The bad - I have dengue

The ugly - yea, that would still be dengue!  Haha!!

Soooooo, yes... word is out. I have dengue fever!! I have never had so much discomfort before... really.  But, hey, it just adds to the experience, right?! Ha!!  It's a very weird sickness... mosquito transmitted. But what is weird is just how every body reacts so differently to having it, and there is no actual vaccine or cure.

My dengue sent me into a very high fever - and no matter how much tylenol I took, I just couldn't get a grip on my fever.  It also brought a huge body rash, itchiness, insomnia, nausia, dizziness, eye pain, abdomen pain, bone/joint/muscle pain, etc... each symptom so severe... and caused my white blood cell and platelet counts to drop like crazy. Over the process of time, one by one, the symptoms started going away and different cycles of my dengue fever started as others stopped. It was a strange thing to experience... There is good news today - My blood test results came in this morning and everything is climbing. My white blood cells are normal again and my platelet count is starting to go up as well:)

 My diet of gatorade and water :)

Doing so much better today!!

The Elders checked in on me and brought me the sacrament

But that's enough of the bad and ugly... It's been a long week and I am so happy to be on this side of it!! :)

Something that was very special in all of it was just how often the Lord was showering down His tender mercies!! :) I had the sacrament brought to my hospital room, I got to hear about the baptisms and that they were lovely, I had beautiful hermanas accompanying me the whole time, I have had the blessing of being able to rest well, I have had kind nurses who have asked more about the gospel, the Doctors who's care I am under has treated me as if I were his granddaughter, the Elders gave me a blessing, tender mercies were just falling down like rain from Heaven! :) Elder Bednar says 

"We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord’s tender

mercies. The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the

tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in

the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live. When words

cannot provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel,

when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is

unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate

understanding about the injustices and inequities of life, when mortal

experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired

outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone,

truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and made

mighty even unto the power of deliverance" (see 1 Ne. 1:20).    

And it is so true... Jesus Christ is the great healer, and His tender mercies were exactly what I needed to continue improving, to heal, to be okay!! :) The Lord is too kind to us -- He loves us so much.

I can tell you that dengue is not fun, but Jesus Christ knows what it's like.  He took that upon Him too, that night in Gethsemane. He knew from His own experience, just what I would need to help me feel encouraged or find joy even in great discomfort. Jesus Christ knows how I felt, He knows exactly how we all feel in every moment! :)

Next week, I will try to get the baptismal pictures and send those with the story of this special family!! :) The Arua Family! :)

But for now im hopping off :)

Love you all!! :) Be good!! :) Wear your mosquito repellent!! ;)

Love,

Hermana Fardos