Aaron

So its been a while but I'm in Cusco!  i cant even remember the rest of the CCM so im not going to talk about that.  Cusco has been a little interesting so far.

First day we got to Cusco we went up to this place called the white Christ.  Its like the statue in Brazil but white and way smaller.  Then we went to the mission home for orientation stuff.  we had lunch and watched some videos then we went to a hotel to sleep.

The next day we came to the church building where pretty much everything in the mission is run through.  We just call it the office.  We got our companions and areas.  I was assigned to Puerto which is the jungle but im still in cusco right now!

So that night i felt pretty sick and i was trying to make myself throw up to see if that would make me feel better afterward.  I threw up but i felt the same.  Pretty sure i threw up everything in me.  President told me to go to where i was going to sleep for the night and to rest but that really didnt help at all.  I kept coughing up some type of liquid not sure what it was.  so then they decided to take me to the hospital.

I wasnt sure what was really going on in the hospital but from what i was told is that my blood oxygen level was super low and being on oxygen wasnt helping.  i was also breathing twice as fast as normal.  turns out there was some liquid building up in my lungs from the altitude change from Lima to Cusco and it wasnt going away.

They hooked me up to a ton of wires, an IV, and gave me a ton of shots, and after about 4 days i felt better.  There is a doctor here that is also a stake president that we were waiting for to clear me because he was in Argentina at the time so i was in the hospital probably longer than needed.

The time we had in the hospital as well there were some canadians that had a similar problem, not as severe, that my companion helped translate for, so that was good.

now im out of the hospital just kind of following the office elders around.  Mostly just sitting in the office but i was able to get out a little today.  I'm pretty sure they will be sending me to Puerto still probably tomorrow or Thursday Everything is good!

Thanks for the emails! thats about it for this week.  Next week ill be in the jungle! Hopefully!

From Racquel:

We got a call from our Stake Pres Sun eve about Aaron's sickness.  He said we could call the Mission pres if we wanted.  Well, OF COURSE WE DO!  So, after acquiring an International Calling Card and figuring out how to use it, we got to talk to Pres Harbertson.  (Nice guy!)  We were told he had to undergo hyperbaric chamber treatments to help him with his oxygen.  They didn't tell us he was in the hospital. He said he was really impressed with Aaron's tenacity and eagerness to get out in the field and get going.  He said Aaron was sick from day one, so he was really looking forward to meeting the real Aaron-when he felt better.   So glad he is in good hands and please pray for him to continue to recover and stay healthy!

Pres. Harbertson: "He can only go up from here."  Gordon:  "Or, physically, he can go down to Puerto."  Pres Harbertson giggled.

All wired up

Hyperbaric oxygen chamber. I'll do whatever it takes to watch a soccer game.