Hello Family!
Boy do I have a story for you all! It all started on Friday... We were working in this area called Guibongan and were having zero success. We were trying to find a member that joined the church on a different island forever ago and we somehow caught wind that they were here. So we looked and some people knew them and gave us directions where the peoples' house was. I think it was kinda flooded back there so getting there proved to be pretty difficult and we had to get through this really muddy place that smelled horrible (probably because there was some human waste around). Well we found them and they weren't very receptive. On the way home, however, we were going back by the muddy bad smelling place and yours truly stepped on a HUGE thorn and it gave me a nice little puncture wound (It went through my rubber shoes). I couldn't ever find the Thorn because it was pretty hidden in the mud/i-don't-know-what-else. It hurt like crap. I looked at it right after I got out of the bad smell and it looked like some of the thorn was still in there but had no way of getting it out right then so I just put my socks on and made a mental note to take it out at home. Well about three hours later my foot was hurting pretty bad (it got me right on the ball of my foot) and I noticed at one appointment that my big toe had swollen and wouldn't move without sharp pain. Then I got home and the whole section around the thorn was red and swollen and very sensitive. I got some tweezers and couldn't get the stupid thing out. The next morning I asked the landlord and his wife if they had any sharp tweezers so I could get the thorn out but they just freaked out when they saw the swelling and sent me to the doctors clinic at the town hall. Sister Pagaduan also said that is what I should do so Saturday morning was spent at the clinic. They gave me some shots and then said they wanted to take the thorn out so they sent me off to the pharmacy to buy a scalpel and some anesthetic. So after hobbling around town I got a surgery... for free. we had to buy all the medicine and other stuff like that but the actual surgery was no charge. And I must say... it sort of freaked me out. They shot me up with the Lidocaine I had bought and went digging. I didn't feel anything but it freaked me out that I had just bought 50 pesos worth of Lidocaine and a 5 peso (20 cents) scalpel and here was this woman just digging away. It was nothing like a hospital either. I am pretty sure everyone in the waiting room came to see the surgery I had and was offering advice to the doctor. The called my companion in to get his opinion and he nearly passed out. Then they said they couldn't find anything and wanted to dig deeper so they did. Nothing... so I stopped them from cutting more and said we would just come back in a couple days for a check up. So they gave me two stitches and sent me on my way. They put some tape on the cut and I put my flip flops on and walked outside to get a tricycle ride home. 1/2 hour later the Lidocaine wore off and I thought I was going to die. I had forgotten to take my pain medication right after the surgery and was quickly reminded of how foolish that was. So for about an hour or two it felt like some one was digging in my foot and I definitely couldn't walk. So Saturday was pretty slow and we weren't able to get any work in. Sunday was a miracle day and with some pain medication I was able to walk all day with a little unnoticeable limp. Today everything is going great and I don't expect anymore problems from it. The doctors just figured that my foot got infected from the actual puncture from crap that was on the thorn. but they were sure willing to keep digging and looking. Also, Guibongan is the exact same place where I noticed my wallet was missing. I don't think I'm going back there....
This week was pretty slow because the weekend was full of foot related problems and then right before the weekend was the town festival of Miag-ao. This is a pretty big town and so the festival was as big as I have ever seen. We had lots of delicious food. We ate with our landlord who is pretty wealthy. For the occasion they had two 30 kilo pigs slain. One of the pigs was "litson" or BBQed. they shove bamboo through its mouth and out it's butt and slow cook it over a fire. The other was just used to make more delicious Filipino dishes. then we had coconut juice and cake. But other than the delicious food, having a town festival means that no one is at home and there are tons f drunk people out in the streets and are just waiting to harass Mormon Missionaries. So it slows things down.
Then earlier today we checked out this new restaurant that just opened right on the beach. We ordered something called Sisig na Baboy. It was this really good pork dish that I don't really know how to describe. It was way cheap and cooked to order. It was one of these really cool beach resort things that is all made out of bamboo and all native architecture and all good Filipino foods.
Hmmm... I don't think much else happened this week. We are doing well here in Miag-ao. I have some pictures but the computer I'm on right now won't read my card for some reason. I have a picture of me on the beach and of our house and the best is the nice little slice with stitches that came from a blade happy surgeon looking for a non-existent thorn. So next week will have to be full of pictures.
I love you all and think of you all everyday! Thank you all so much for your emails and your love!
Halong
Elder Lowry
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