Tuesday, February 17, 2015

#68 "So This Is Love"


So I gotta little story for you!

Well as you know, my knee popped on the 26th of January. I went about my week as usual, just wearing the brace and icing when I had time. On that Friday, the 30th, I got home at night and my knee was swollen to a level I had never seen before. I talked to the Mission Doctor (Doctor Hansen, who is actually currently attending my home ward in Tokyo) and he asked that I take 12 Ibuprofen a day (and slowly ween myself off the medication), elevate my leg, alternate between ice and heat, and do my best not to move around very much. At that point, I would wake up and my knee would be sore, I would try to sit down as much as I could and follow Doctor's orders, but at the end of the day it was always swollen and painful. I wasn't so worried, though; it wasn't really getting better, but at the same time, it wasn't getting worse, so I just assumed it would take some time. (The Doctor also confirmed that this is going to take me a week or so until I could re-start my muscle strengthening exercises again).

All was going well, until we went to visit a Less-Active last week's Thursday. He is an old grandpa, who is rather pushy. He's blind, a massage therapist, a nice guy...but he gets what he wants (that typical Japanese grandpa pride). That morning, I was feeling really nauseous, so I asked my companion to call him and tell him that I was too sick to go to his house. He replied that if I canceled now, it would be rude, and that I had better come. So I sucked it up, and we biked out (about a 20-30 min bike ride). We got to his house and he and his wife talked on and on about their life and they got to know Sister Takahashi, so that was good. I was NOT feeling very well, but I ate the snacks they brought out for us and was trying to keep them down. When we had been there for about an hour and a half, I was ready to call it quits, but he asked us if we would stay and eat lunch with him. My companion very politely responded for me and told him that I didn't like Japanese food (little white lie). He said, "Okay, we'll make spaghetti!", to which I finally spoke up and told him that I can't eat, because I feel sick. He then asked why, and I explained that when my body is in a lot of pain, I feel nausea. He asked where the pain was coming from and I told him my knee. He came over to me and began to touch my brace. Long story short, he and his wife made me take off the brace and my tights as he poked around finding the places that caused me pain and then having his wife put a sticker with a magnet on that point. I spent the next 15 or so minutes in a lot of pain, as he felt around my knee until I would lurch with pain (my knee has not stopped hurting since). I didn't say anything, but I was sweating like it was summer with how much pain I was in. I didn't want to say stop, because I thought he knew what he was doing, so I just held my tongue. When they finished, and I was putting on the brace again, that's when I knew something was wrong - the brace was a lot more difficult to fit around my leg.

We said good-bye, and as we walked out of the house, my leg just felt numb. We hopped on our bikes and biked around the corner, and I told Sister Takahashi that we needed to stop, because I was in so much pain that I couldn't ride or walk. I (rather embarrassingly) started to cry, and we sat down so I could call the Elders and ask for help. We ended up leaving the bikes at a nearby convenience store, and hopping on a nearby bus that took us to the main train station. The Elders met us there with a wheelchair we borrowed from the church, and I have been in that ever since.

I called Doctor Hansen, and he said that the less-active man most-likely irritated the bruised patella and other parts of my knee, so I'm back to square one, if not further behind. On doctor's orders, I am not to leave my apartment, and if then only for a little while. I may use the wheelchair to go to church and appointments I may have there, but other than that, I'll be flat on my back, resting, elevating, icing and heating, and back to taking 12 Ibuprofen a day.

Well that was my funny story! But it brings me to my Disney reference for this week and the last, "So This is Love". It's a song that Cinderella sings when she meets the prince at the ball, but oddly enough, it's one that I didn't come to know until about a couple months before my mission (I had always fast forwarded the boring mushy gushy parts). The part that really hit me this week, was that for Cinderella, to see such kindness and love was almost a surprise to her. "Ah, so this is what love is? this is what everyone is talking about? Well this is divine!!" - maybe not quite to that exact wording, but that's the wording that came to my mind this week.

I've spent a lot of time out on the streets, trying to talk to people, but sometimes people can be cold! Sometimes they won't give us the time of day. Usually, they stop to look at us, then our badges and then without another word, they walk on. It's cold, but as a missionary you kind of get used to it. It was this week, when I lost the ability to walk, that I was hit with the surprise of God's love. Most of us look to see God's love in miracles, and big signs, but this week I saw God's love in the members of Yokkaichi ward, as they offered to help me. They've been so kind to me, driving me to hospitals, helping me get in and out of buildings, even making food for me when they heard that I wasn't really eating anything. They've been so kind and loving, and I just know that they were sent my way by my loving Heavenly Father.

So this is God's love? Well, this is divine!