Tuesday, May 27, 2014

May 26th, 2014

Well these couple of weeks have probably been the most crazy weeks of my mission. That's for sure... So I guess I'll start with the fun stuff from the week before!
Since we had Soeur Tane's car from her previous ville, we got to go out further in our area and visit some families in our ward. It really is just SO beautiful out in the countryside!!

 
And they had some pretty cool signs with my nickname on it - Frenchified ;)


 
 
Along with visiting the members, came eating with the members. This delicious plate was served first. I was in love!!

They were so good, I stuffed myself thinking that was the meal. WRONG. As soon we finish the lady in our ward happily says "I'm so glad you loved that! Now we'll have the salad and bread!". In my head I'm thinking "oh shoot. I'm so full already... I'll just eat a little bit". Little did I know that she would be serving us. So I ate the salad and bread. By this point all I can think about is how i'm not going to be hungry until at LEAST lunch tomorrow. Then she says "I'll go get the chicken wings and pasta!". I looked at Soeur Denning with the most terrified look on my face and she just starts laughing. After being served a couple chicken legs and a heaping pile of pasta I began just mindlessly try and eat this food so I wouldn't upset this kind lady in our ward. By my last bite I felt like I was going to throw up right then. I was PRAYING there would be no more. She cleared our plates and then announces she made cake with homemade cream. I don't know how, but I managed to finish this delicious cake still sitting up. I don't think I've ever been so full in my life. I could barely move! I learned a valuable lesson though - whenever you eat at a member's house don't eat anything the day before and make sure you mentally prepare yourself to be force fed at LEAST 4 courses. Haha it was a great experience :)
One day last week we had a meeting with our Ward Mission Leader at the church. When we were walking out of the building we heard little meowing coming from a bush and so we go and check it out and find these adorable kittens!! We were in LOVE. Sadly, we weren't allowed to keep them...


Well by the end of that week my pain was only getting worse. I knew that something needed to be done because it was inhibiting me from being able to do normal missionary work and that is the whole reason I was out there - to DO missionary work. So I talked to my mission president and Dr. Wing a lot on the phone trying to come up with a solution. We decided to try and do what we could to make it so that I could stay in France. So, I called the American Hospital in Paris to try and get an appointment with a neurologist who would be able to tell me the next step I would need to take. I called and the next available appointment wasn't until July 15th. After I called President and Dr. Wing and let them know, we decided the best thing for me to do would be to go home to the United States and get it taken care of there.
That was the hardest thing I've had to do on my mission. The very last thing I wanted to do was go home! I came out because I wanted to serve the Lord for 18 short months. But, I realized after talking it through with them and later with mom, that the state I was in wasn't allowing me to be the missionary that I wanted to be and what the Lord needed me to be. So, in the end I felt peaceful and calm about my decision.
After I told my district, we were all very sad. My district has been so amazing to me through this whole thing and have been my family away from home! One of our Elders decided that we should all wear black for my last Sunday in France "to mourn" as he said. So, just to be funny we decided to do it! haha

Saying goodbye to all the members in my ward in Angers was soooo hard!! I love them all so much and they all have touched my life so greatly. They all showed so much love and support from day 1 and especially since this whole thing has happened.
One lady in our ward who was a ward missionary just loved us! She was so upset that I was leaving. She is the lady who we would teach English to and came to visit me while I was in the hospital. Her name is Nathalie!

On Monday I got a call from President saying I needed to be packed and ready in 3 hours at the train station to go into Paris for my flight the next morning. So I very speedily packed and spent my last little bit of time with my great companions. While we were waiting for the Elders to pick us up in the car to go to the train station, Soeur Tane did a beautiful farewell Tahitian dance and gave me a shell necklace.


Saying goodbye to my dear friends was so hard!! They have done so much for me and have just been amazing friends and examples of selfless missionaries to me.

Saying goodbye to Soeur Denning was probably the hardest. She became my best friend and sister! She has really blessed my life and helped me so much these past 2 transfers as my trainer. She really is such a great example to me and she taught me how to be a great missionary. I'm going to miss her SO much!!


The next morning (Tuesday) I began my trip home. The total travel time consisted of a 2 hour train ride to Paris, a 45 minute metro ride to Versailles,

a 20 minute drive to Prince's apartment where I stayed the night, a 40 minute drive the next morning to the airport, a 1 hour wait after going through security and everything at the airport, a 9 hour and 45 minute flight to Atlanta, a 2 and a half hour layover there, and then a 4 hour flight home. By the end of I was completely exhausted but SO grateful to see my beautiful family waiting there for me.
 

Even though this has been (still is) a very difficult trial for me, I know that it's all in the Lord's hands. I know that for some reason this is supposed to happen. It may be for a bunch of different reasons that this had to happen when it did that I don't know, but I do know that Heavenly Father sees the bigger picture and that this is all part of His plan for me. Even though it is hard, I know that all I can do is be faithful and optimistic and everything will work out exactly how it's supposed to.

Just a quick medical update from what we know so far - So on Thursday I went to a spine specialist and she said that my neck was too straight and my vertebras were to far spread out and so something was pulling them and causing stress in my neck. She said to come back in 8 weeks and we would do a follow up after some physical therapy and pain treatments. EIGHT WEEKS. I was trying really hard to not freak out because all I want to do is get back to France! So then on Friday we went to my family doctor (who is actually the doctor for the missionaries in our area so he understands my time frame!) and he diagnosed it as occipital neuralgia. Then he gave me two very painful injections in the back of my head to try and calm the nerves and then prescribed me some anti-inflammatory and a muscle relaxer and I have a follow up with him later this week (THAT is the kind of time frame I like to hear). He said that the pain relief should have almost been instant but I still feel some pain. So, right now it's just a matter of being patient and letting the medicine work to see if that will be the cure.
Thanks you SO MUCH for everyone who has gone out of their way to help and for all your prayers and love. I can't tell you how much it means to me and how much strength it has given me. I love you all SO much and I hope that you have a great week.

Avec amour,

Courtney Ridd

1 comment:

  1. We will pray that this is the CURE!!!
    Thinking of you!
    Jenni Shirley

    ReplyDelete