Ben's First Big Sickness Away From Home--Bronchitis This Week

This is the letter we got from Ben last week, September 13, 2014. There were lots of prayers on Ben's behalf after we read this letter.

Hola Familia,

This week was great, a little long, and phlegmy....

This last weekend my companion and I decided to clean off all of the mold and mildew that had gathered in the walls of our house (it is such a problem here, the air is so humid). We cleaned it all off, but I think I ended up inhaling a large amount of mold. I ended the day coughing a ton, coughed almost consistently for a this whole week. 

Sunday afternoon I had lost my voice completely. Tuesday I started to cough up phlegm and all sorts of other fun stuff. The mission nurse gave me some amoxicillin. It continued without getting better until Thursday, when my chest started with a dull pressure and with a sharp stabbing sensation when I breathed deeply. As soon as I got that feeling I knew I needed to go see a doctor. So, I asked for a priesthood blessing and went immediately. 

They took an x-ray of my lungs and ended up having a rather severe case of bronchitis, about 1 day from becoming pneumonia. The dosage of amoxicillin I had been taking was not anywhere strong enough, so they increased the dosage and sent me home with another two kinds of pills and a prescription strength cough syrup, and with the order to stay inside and sleep as much as possible.

So two days later, I have a voice (it's extremely low like a country singer), and I continue to cough up an annoyingly large amount of phlegm, and I no longer have chest pains!

So proselyting wise and office work wise, I couldn't get anything done. I stayed with another missionary from the zone who is waiting to have a surgery for his hemorrhoids and for now can't walk for another week, and his companion went with my companion to the offices to be able to continue to work. It was really hard to leave back all of the work and trust that my companion could do all of the work on his own. To my relief he was able to get everything and even more done.

I had lots of time to reflect, read, and not talk (a whisper was literally straining my voice). It was nice to just have time to read, study, and learn from the scriptures

Well I hope everything is going well back home. Good luck with your classes, study hard.

I love you all very much and hope you have a great week. 

Love,

Élder Benjamin Taylor