Sick again

So this week, Tuesday morning I woke up really sick. I had a horrible stomach ache that would come and then go. So that was annoying. Then on Wednesday, it got worse with headaches and the runs. This was annoying because we had zone conference with Elder Packer of the 70 and I was trying really hard to pay attention but I was really sick and tired so I focused all my energy on staying awake and while I did indeed stay awake I missed a lot of what he said because I was staying awake. Thursday was good because I felt a lot better and I thought that the sickness was on it's way out. Friday was really, truly, terrible. I woke up at 4:40 in the morning and went and sat on the toilet for 20 minutes. Then I got in bed and stayed awake until 6:30. Then I went and sat on the toilet again. Then I didn't eat breakfast but got ready and then sat on the toilet. Then I sat at the kitchen table and we did training and studying then I went and took a nap until our dinner appointment which was at 5:30 which I was feeling a little better by then. Because it was Halloween we dressed up as missionaries but we had to be in our apartment by 7. So we watched The Testaments which was good but extremely cheesy. Saturday I was feeling better. Sunday our phone woke us up at 6:30 and since it was the phone we believed that it was the correct time so we got up. However we asked some other missionaries if it was the end of daylight savings and when the text sent, the phone updated the time, so we got up at 5:30 that morning and just chilled and fasted and I was feeling better. And today I feel a lot better but my stomach still feels strange.

Real quick random fact, everybody here has indoor pets. It's really strange. I used to want pets such as a dog, but now I don't want pets at all. Also the Mexican food here is not as good as back in Utah. They use strange cheese sauces instead of normal Mexican enchilada sauces. Speaking of enchiladas we had enchiladas 3 times this week. Once on Monday (I got sick on Tuesday), once on Thursday (I was really sick on Friday) and once on Saturday (She was from Arizona so she actually used enchilada sauce and Sunday I was fine). We also had taco soup twice. Another strange thing is that we eat so much corn at members houses. I also don't like corn that much but I am getting used to it. Also I eat a lot of French toast for breakfast. like every other day. There are a couple of reasons for this. 1. I like French toast. 2. I have bread but nothing to do with it. 3. It's easy to make and I don't want to make anything else. 4. We have lots of eggs. The first p-day I had we bought a bunch of chicken breast because we thought we would be cool and make delicious chickeny things but then we just threw it in the freezer. Yesterday we actually busted it out because we didn't have a scheduled dinner but then we stopped by the Croziers (they let us do our laundry at their house and Bro. Crozier is an old guy who plays Call of Duty and looks like he could be on South Park, it's weird) and they fed us dinner. So now we had all this thawed chicken and nothing to do with it, so we cut it up and put it in this little waffle iron-looking griller and we grilled a ton of chicken. We still have one frozen chicken breast though. Now we have all this unflavored grilled chicken and nothing to do with it. We ate a lot of it with bbq sauce but there is still a bunch left. The lesson to be learned is that missionaries are dumb and can't cook. Except for French toast. We have a ton of food actually in our apartment. We have soo much milk right now. Some members gave us some enchiladas. We got a huge thing of Country Crock spread and a huge tub of sour cream and a bag of cheese and a bunch of baked potatoes and a huge bag of corn chips from the branch trunk n treat. So I bought a huge thing of nacho cheese to eat with the chips but I ate them when I was sick so now I don't want them anymore. Then I bought some microwave popcorn but I ate some when I was sick so I don't really want some anymore. I am also still a little sick so a lot of food doesn't sound very good to me. Except for French toast.

Venice convinced her daughter to come to a meeting with us but she couldn't because her boyfriend got really sick but she should be there next meeting, yay! It's been pretty tough because we haven't had any new investigators for a while and I've been sick and Elder Cluff has been sick.  We were going to meet with Donald Betts (he didn't murder his wife and kids, they got murdered and he wanted to get over his anger for them) and give him the stop smoking program. He was taking a nap so we didn't. We were trying to set up an appointment with Tony and he told us that he doesn't accept the Book of Mormon and that he believes that the Bible is all he needs and that he wishes us luck. Ugh it was the worst day of my life. It turns out that he looked up the differences between Mormons and other Christian faiths so we're pretty sure that that is why he is disinterested now. It has also been real hard to make appointments with anybody. We haven't met with Laura for a while and that's not good. She doesn't want to set a baptismal date because she doesn't think she has a testimony but she believes it's true... ? I've just been really frustrated lately because I don't feel like I've been a good teacher. I'm not discouraged though so that is giving me hope. I got a strange thought while I was not asleep one of the nights I was real sick, that me being sick was one of the only ways that Satan could get me down. So I hope that was revelation and not just my sleepy mind because my sleepy mind has done and said some weird things to me before, such as starting prayers that I don't even know about.... Don't ask. I decided I should start being healthier and today I actually bought some healthy food again. I was also having a big problem with not having any confidence in myself and thinking that Heavenly Father wouldn't be able to work with me but then I read an article in the special Book of Mormon issue Ensign from 2011 and it had a member's testimony that had the same problem but then they read a scripture that I can't remember and they thought to themselves that they can't limit God's power and that he can work miracles with anybody. So that made me feel a lot better, still getting out some issues though. We work with a lot of less actives and we've been getting them to come to church. There's this guy named Chris Knowles. He is from the Knowles family who Bro. Knowles is a ward missionary and we take him with us a lot when we need a member. He is really interesting. Chris though doesn't live with them because they kicked him out. He lives with a family that is not of our faith. He has issues with his father. He hasn't been coming to church until recently. He needs a job and there's this 82 year old in our branch who drives us around whenever we need a ride. He is pretty stereotypical, driving 8 miles under the speed limit and telling lots of glory days stories. However he has offered Chris some temporary employment and he is trying to help him get all cleaned up and to lose some weight (Chris weighs like 300 lbs.). So that is a good thing. Another less active we have just got her patriarchal blessing and she had an incredible experience. And then there's a whole bunch of others who are... struggling. It's really sad to see how their lives could be so much better living the principles and values of the gospel but they just don't so it's sad.

Hopefully this week will be better. Hopefully I will feel better. We have zone training on Wednesday in Joplin. President Shumway will be doing interviews and he asked to come prepared with our favorite scripture and our planner. I don't really use my planner because I just follow Elder Cluff's. Oops... Oh well. It will be good to talk to president though. He is an inspired man. I have been praying like never before in my life. If there is one thing I have learned so far it is definitely how to say really long prayers. Longer than my mom's. I am still struggling but I have hope and faith and I try to move on. Please keep me in your prayers I need them desperately. Love you all!

Love,

Elder Naegle