One Year

It was exactly one year ago today, December 16, 2010, that it all began.  Zuster Pierson and I had stopped at our apartment to do some weekly planning before going to our dinner appointment at Familie Broekman's house.  The day had been wonderful but really busy.  Zuster Pierson had found out just a day before that she would be going home on the 17th due to health problems that she had been struggling with since she started her mission just 7 months earlier.  I was devastated.  We had served together for almost 6 months and it just killed me to see her leaving, especially when she wanted to stay and I should have been the one leaving.  My year and a half mark for my mission was December 17.  I had planned on going home then until President Brubaker asked me to stay until February.  And then it got extended even more until March 16.  Why was I the one so blessed to serve and why did she have to be the one to go home.  I loved her so much and it was like I was losing a true sister.  Somehow she had an optimistic attitude.  I think that she was much more willing to accept the will of the Lord than I was at the time.  Anyway, as we began our planning I started to feel really sick.  I had a fever and the chills.  I had only been sick one other day on my mission so not going out and working was out of the question.  I started to push myself to be able to go to our dinner appointment anyway, especially because it was Zuster Pierson's last appointment in the Netherlands, but my body would not let me.  I ended up in bed.  I had many symptoms that I had felt at other times in my life when I had a cold or the flu, but there were also a few new symptoms that I was experiencing.  My whole body was so extremely tired -- a tired I had never felt before.  My muscles in my  arms just ached like I had been boating all day pulling myself up on the tube and I was just exhausted.  The headache was different than any other that I had experienced.  However, I didn't think much of it.  I just thought I had maybe caught the Dutch flu bug:)  After Zuster Pierson had reassured me 50+ times that it was okay to cancel our appointment and to stay in bed for the night I drifted off to sleep hoping that a few extra hours would make me all better for the next day.  Wrong.  We had to get up at 4:00 am to catch a train and I was just miserable.  I had no choice but to go along and I know that the Lord blessed me to make the few hour trip.  I was still really stressed because my new companion, a greenie, was supposed to arrive a few short hours later.  I needed a miracle to happen so that I could jump right into missionary work when she got there.  Because the Den Haag train station is not enclosed the elders and I arranged things so that I could go and stay at Peter and Caroline Navarro's home and rest for a few hours until they could bring my new companion to me.  That was definitely a tender mercy.  At 8:00 that night, still with no companion, I received a call from the Zone Leaders letting me know that all of the greenies were stranded in Brussels because of the massive snow storm.  My new companion would not come until the next day or whenever weather would permit.  They arranged for the wonderful Zuster Garvin to come and spend the night with me because she was waiting for a greenie as well.  You are probably wondering at this point why I am sharing all of this with you.  Here it is:  a year ago this was the worst thing that could have ever happened to me and I viewed it as that.  I spent a lot of the last 12 months being frustrated and overwhelmed and even sometimes angry.  I couldn't understand why I had to have Mixed Autoimmune Disease.  But my views have changed.  Over the past week I have had another ear infection.  I have been feeling really crumby.  And yet, I wouldn't trade a thing that I have now or that has taken place over the last 365 days.  It has brought me to where I am now.  It has strengthened my faith in the Lord.  It has brought me closer to those that I love.  It has increased my gratitude for the gospel.  It has helped me to realize what matters most.  Even though I was sick over the past week I still experienced so many blessings and I think that I enjoyed them more than I normally would have if I had not had the past year of experience.  Here are a few of the blessings:

• Finished up the semester with all A's.  Yahoo!  That is a MAJOR blessing.
• Attended a Belgium Netherlands Mission Christmas party where I saw many old companions and fellow missionaries AND where we were able to Skype with President and Zuster Brubaker.  Special? Yes.

• Attended the annual Buchanan Family Christmas Party!  Doesn't that face just make you want to believe in Santa?!

• Organized the Nativity.  It is always a little chaotic getting all 14 kids in their costumes and helping them with their parts but as they act out the Christmas story I can't help but feel the Christmas spirit as tears fill my eyes.  These little ones are perfect for reminding me what Christmas is all about.

• As her Christmas present to us, Steph made us a delicious breakfast every day this past week!  She wanted to make sure that we had the energy we needed to take our finals and do our best.  She even packed us a nutritious snack for everyday!

• I had five surprise visitors show up at my apartment on Monday evening!  Carli, Brooke, Lincoln and Carter decided to come up to Logan to have a sleepover with me!  It was SO fun!  We enjoyed every minute together!  

• Yesterday was my parent's 35th anniversary!  Wowza!  I arrived home from Logan yesterday and my Dad invited me to accompany him and my mom and LaRae and my grandparents to Market Street Grill to celebrate with them.  What a privilege!  It was such a memorable evening.

So, pretty much what I am saying is that the greatest challenges and struggles in life are most often the greatest blessings.  Heavenly Father never abandons us but loves us and helps us to grow.  My goal is whenever I get sick to think of the blessings I have because of it.  I sure am blessed!