TB Miracle!

Dear Friends and Neighbors:

Today we had a miracle!  -- A miracle of miracles!  We were really sweating, not counting the rain, the heat, the gym and the humidity. 

We put nose/mouth masks on 7 missionaries; we thought they might have active TB according to the initial tests.  The remaining 75 missionaries were also all coughing, hacking and wheezing!

After the weekend, we sent the 7 to the hospital for more tests.  We bit our nails down to the quick while waiting for the updated results.  Sister Taylor called Sister Riddle, our MTC super-human nurse, in order to get the test results.  (Sister Taylor doesn’t believe that bad news gets better with waiting!). 

Boycee (our Philippines Area medical ombudsman) answered the phone, “just a minute; let me have you talk to Sister Riddle—she’s in tears!” 

Sister Taylor thought, “Oh No!  We’re going to be in isolation for the rest of our mission!”  But when Sister Riddle got on the phone, she informed us that all of results were negative--we could all unveil our faces!  And, start breathing again! 

Here in the Philippines, we pray over typhoons, TB, computer passwords, broken toilets, and more! 

When Elder Riddle, was told about an infectious eye disease today, he told the missionaries not to make “eye contact!” 

Will we go through this again with our next batch?  This experience reminds me of “Groundhog Day,” except that it’s “Ground 3-week!”

And the last bit of advice is, if you think the leftovers are bad at your house, try the sinigang for dinner.  We’ve gone back to peanut butter and jam sandwiches for a few of our meals (But we’re not complaining!).  Thanks for Skippy and Welches!

Love, George & Debbie T.

Manila, Philippines