swallowing Q-tips

Dear Family,

So much has happened this week! I'll try to write fast to get it all in.

On Wednesday, we had a zone conference with Elder Gavarret, the second counselor in our Area Presidency and member of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy. My little choir did perform their number - Faith in Every Footstep (Fe en Cada Paso), most of it in four-part harmony. I opted to direct the number instead of playing the piano. I believe the harmony stands out better when sung a capella. The hard part was finding people to sing the melody. The four sisters involved all sang alto, and at the last minute, the three missionaries I had chosen to sing melody informed me that they couldn't participate. We did a little bit of last minute reorganization, and it turned out well. The conference was also a spiritual feast. I didn't take a huge amount of notes, because I mostly reveled in the feeling that the Spirit brought. Elder Gavarret, like Elder Nash last week, didn't speak what he had planned - but simply told us what he felt. And that was what we needed. Our faith grew and our hope was expanded. We've been lifted to a higher plane of missionary work. I love it!

On Monday, I started getting a dreadfully sore throat. Flashlight investigation revealed very little redness and inflammation, which didn't make sense - because the pain was undeniable. There was also a lack of other symptoms - no cough or congestion or anything. Our first thought was that it could be the beginnings of strep throat, but it just didn't work out. After another couple days, the pain had isolated itself to the right side of my throat and neck and even reached up near my right ear. So, for the first time, I went to the doctor's office to get myself checked out (as opposed to those many other times when I accompanied other missionaries for various things). We waited forever for the doctor to show up, but we were first in line. He stuck his popsicle stick down my throat and found the source of the problem. I had a canker sore under my tongue and two (or three?) more in the nether regions of my throat. That was relieving. The rest of my neck was sore from swollen lymph nodes and such. I still can't see back that far to confirm what the doctor said, but he showed my companion, so there's one witness at least. The doctor gave me some pills to make the extra pain go away plus some gel that I can put on the sores to make them go numb for several hours. The hard part is jamming a Q-tip into the back of my throat and blindly hoping to numb those awful sores back there. My aim is getting better and the pain is going away. I'm happy I don't have strep!

Things went better as the week ended. A young man, Junior, and his mother (adoptive), Rosa, both came to church for the first time. Junior was touched by the message of the Restoration when we shared it with him. He came to a youth activity on Saturday, and when he saw the picture of Christ in America, he said it just amazed him. We taught him later that same day about the Book of Mormon and invited him to be baptized. This morning at 6am, we accompanied him to early morning seminary so he could meet some more of the youth from the ward. The way the Lord changed his heart was just inspiring. It's God's work we're doing here. It's a marvelous work!

Love,
Elder Withers