I have been horrible about keeping Danielle's blog up to date....she asked me to post this email right away, but I will go back and update with past emails as soon as I can....Here's her latest email....

God works in mysterious ways! I have to start this story out by saying that I am fine! We have good doctors here and everything is going good. So far on my mission I have had a hard time explaining priesthood authority. No matter how I try to explain it, people just don’t seem to get it. I forgot that I had prayed for help in how to explain it better. Well, God works in mysterious ways. Last Sunday I was sitting in Relief Society and all the sudden it was hard to breathe and my heart was beating really weird, like really hard and palpitations and such. I thought maybe it was my asthma so right after church we went to the bathroom and I used my inhaler. And it didn’t work. So I used it again. And it still didn’t work. After that we went back home and I tried eating something (I thought maybe fasting had something to do with it) and just relaxing for a while but still nothing helped. Finally I was like whatever and we went out to work. By Tuesday it was still hard to breathe and my heart was just acting funny. After we went grocery shopping I was so out of breath that I sounded like I had just tried to run a mile (which let’s be honest, we all know I can’t do). So I finally texted my mission president’s wife and told her. She asked me if I felt like I needed to go to the doctor. I hate that question. I just want someone to tell me what to do. Because I don’t want to go if it’s nothing but I don’t not want to go if I need to. After about half an hour I finally decided yes I needed to go and I better go then while the walk in clinic was still opened so I didn’t end up going to the ER. Well that one back fired on me. We left our apartment about 4:00 and went to the walk in clinic. I waited for about an hour in the waiting room and within five minutes of taking me back and talking to me the doctor said, “I think you have a blood clot in your lung. We don’t have the things to test that here so you need to go to the E.R.” I must have been looking at him weird because he said, “This is a big deal. You can’t wait til the morning, you need to go now. Sometimes we send people over there in an ambulance for this but you don’t look like you’re doing too bad so I’ll let you choose.” Of course my companion and I said no, we’ll just drive over there. He said he would go fill out the paperwork and then send us over. In the meantime the nurse came in and did an EKG. She took the results out to the doctor and before I was even finished getting dressed she came back in and said, “There is an abnormality on your EKG and…” I was expecting her to say, you need to go straight to the hospital…don’t go home…blah blah blah. But she completely caught me off guard when she said, “You need to go to the hospital now, there is an ambulance on its way to come get you.” I just stared at her with my mouth wide open and started crying a little bit because that was NOT what I expected to hear! We called my mission president’s wife and had her talk to the nurse. They were on their way back up from El Paso but told me to go in the ambulance and that a senior couple would meet me there at the hospital. She also told me to call my district leader and have them meet me there to give me a blessing. So…I went to the ER. In an ambulance. But of course the hospital was PACKED and I ended up sitting in the waiting room for like 4 hours. When the President and his wife got to Albuquerque they came straight to the hospital (they didn’t even go home). After the hospital started quieting down the president and the senior missionary wheeled me into the vending machine room and gave me a blessing. They blessed me that my body would heal itself and that the doctors would be able to perform the procedures well and be guided by the Master Surgeon. It was not the most comforting blessing I had ever received. I thought for sure I was going to be getting some sort of surgery. When they finally took me back to a room they did a D-Dimer blood test and a chest x-ray and a cat scan. And found absolutely nothing. When I got there they were positive that I had a blood clot that had travelled up to my lungs, because of the symptoms that I had, and because just a few months ago I started birth control, which can cause blood clots. But after the Priesthood blessing they found nothing.

They sent me to the doctor a few days later to follow-up and still they couldn’t find anything. They sent me over to the cardiologist to do a stress test. I lasted 12 minutes (apparently that is a long time)! And he said my heart is perfectly healthy so whatever it was, it wasn’t my heart.

Since then I have had two opportunities to teach about the Priesthood power and how it is only found in our church. I have been able to teach it with more power and authority than I ever could have. I am so grateful for the Priesthood in my life. I know that it is literally the power of God and that through it God works miracles. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary and to teach others about the blessings that they can receive through the Priesthood.

I'll try to update more this weekend!

New Mexico

Danielle is in the field! She left the MTC bright and early on February 11. "Bright" is a bit of an over-statement, and "early" is a bit of an understatement. They were scheduled to leave the MTC at 4:30 AM! For better or worse, their van to the airport was late.

After a lay over in Phoenix, she made it to New Mexico safe and sound. Once they got their, the mission president and his wife took all of the new missionaries to the temple, did some tracting and training, and then they spent the night in the mission home before heading to transfers the next day.

She loves her companion, Sister Pratt. She says they have long blonde hair and they could be sisters. The area she's in uses a lot of spanglish, so it's a good area for a new missionary learning spanish, because a lot of the members in the branch don't speak spanish at all, or the speak a little english so they can help you find the words you're looking for. They had a stake conference her first Sunday there. When her companion heard her sing, she got really excited because apparently no one in the spanish branch really sings, but they love music. Her companion called the branch president and told him that Danielle is going to sing this next Sunday. Her companion said the members will all love her if she sings her first week there!

They live in a little apartment above a member's garage. Neither she or her companion have met the members, but she says they must be nice because they let the missionaries use their washer and dryer, AND their laundry detergent!

At one of her first appointments, her companion had her invite the guy they were teaching to be baptized, and he accepted, so they're pretty excited about that!

One sad story from her time in the MTC....some of the elders in her district left a fake cockroach on her chair in class one day. She recognized it as a fake, picked it up, and put it in some kid's package of kneaders cinnamon rolls that his mom had sent him (via DearElder.com, I'm sure). That poor kid didn't recognize that it was a fake (even though he's from either Salt Lake or Provo and should have realized we really don't have cockroaches here). He panicked and started smashing his cinnamon rolls, and then threw them away. Then, some other elders took the cockroach out, ripped a whole in the bag, and told the poor missionary that the cockroach chewed through the bag and escaped. That poor missionary. I think he went to puerto rico or somewhere like that. I'm sure he recognizes a real cockroach now.

And one more really sad story...there was an outbreak of norovirus in the MTC while she was there. She got it, and was pretty sick for a few days! We're glad that she recovered without any major complications.

Let us know if you would like her mailing address!

- Kristi

I'm a little late in posting this!  We got our first email from Hermana Wilcoxson. She is doing GREAT!

Hola! Coma esta?

 

Oh my goodness! I love it here so far! Things are so, so good! I was kinda afraid I wouldn't like it, but I love it! The first day was a little intimidating because we walked into class and they were speaking complete Spanish! But by the second day I could actually understand quite a bit of it. I still might have to count on my fingers because if I don't I count in French... Haha

The food is pretty good. Some things are better than others. I was so excited when I walked in Thursday morning and they had biscuits and gravy! Until I took a bite...Mom's Campbell's gravy is so much better!

I have two companions! Their names are Hermana Clement, she is from Idaho Falls and going to San Diego, and Hermana Oxley, she is from Vacaville, Ca and going to Albuquerque with me. I love them both! They are great girls and we all get along really well! We are the only sisters in our zone right now which is kind of nice and kind of frustrating at the same time. One of my companions, Hermana Oxley, doesn't really have any family support. She still hasn't heard from them. So when you are on Dear Elder if you want to send her a little note I would really appreciate it! You should probably send one to Hermana Clement too so that she doesn't feel left out! :)

Thursday night we met our branch presidency. I got called as the coordinating sister, which is kind of like the district leader/zone leader over the girls. It's pretty much like being Relief Society president again. I definitely cried when they asked me to do it because I was so overwhelmed with everything else but of course I willingly accepted. Right now it's super easy because the only other girls in the zone are also my companions. We'll see how it goes when more girls come! Haha

 

I saw Spencer at dinner the first night here! We gave each other big hugs, which we later found out is against the rules...so shhh! He is doing good. He is excited to leave for the field on Wednesday. I told him to write more letters so hopefully he will do that! I didn't see him for quite a while (well 3 days but it felt like longer). At one time I was thinking "Man, I wish I saw him more!" And then I thought "Maybe I'm not supposed to see him, because let's be honest as soon as I do see him I am going to break down crying." Sure enough when I saw him again Sunday morning I started crying! He was so cute about it though! I don't think he quite knew what to do! Haha I saw him again at lunch that day and then I got to sit by him at the devotional on Sunday night. So that was really nice to get to see him so much right before he leaves. I probably won't see him again though. He is on the first meal rotation and I am on the last.

 

It's crazy to think that I haven't even been here a full week yet. We have already done and learned so much! I have learned about half the amount of Spanish in these 5 days than all the French I learned in 4 years! It is amazing to see how the Lord truly qualifies those He calls.

 

Anyways, I gotta get going. I will write a letter tonight telling you guys more! I love you so much! And miss you! But I'm so excited to be here. I truly love every minute of it! We already taught our first investigator on Friday! IN SPANISH! Talk about intimidating and overwhelming! It went pretty well though!

The first five days...

Danielle is doing great! She's been in the MTC about five days, and says she's learned about half the amount of Spanish in the last five days as all of the French she learned in four years of high school! She says "It is amazing to see how the Lord truly qualifies those He calls."

She has seen Spencer a few times. Spencer leaves for Minneapolis on Wednesday, so she said they probably won't see each other again because they're on different meal schedules.

She has two companions, and she really likes both of them! One is from Idaho Falls (going to San Diego), and the other is from California (going to Albuquerque). They are the only sisters in zone. It sounds like they may get more later. Right now, Danielle is serving as the Coordinating Sister.

I'll keep you all posted!

- Kristi