 |
Stories: Our near death mission experience
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 -- Add Story
| It was the last city I served in, Coronel Dorrego. I was at my most effective point in my mission, but my time was growing short. Just a few months left. But the final lesson I learned on my mission was life changing as well as life threatening. At that time inflation was about 700% a year and I and my companion would buy potatoes and non-perishable staples at the first of the month knowing that by month’s end we would be without funds, starving, and relying on the charity of members to invite us for dinner. We reasoned, at least we could eat potatoes! Of course, it started quite innocent and seemed fully justified. You see, we lived in one of two small block homes surrounded by vacant lots and countryside. The home we lived in was on loan from a brother in the church, a railroad man who was on assignment and provided with a home wherever he worked. The home was on the outskirts of town. Our only neighbor was the church brother’s brother and his family which consisted of several teenagers. We shared a telephone line and that was the crux of the problem. Our agreement was that we would pay ½ of the bill. The only problem was we only made one or 2 calls monthly, for reporting purposes to the mission home. The brother’s family made numerous calls, especially the young female daughter and son and as a result the phone bill was what we considered to be extraordinarily high. One night on the way home, we bought some food. When I prepared my favorite food, apparently it was bad. I went to bed, but I began to feel quite sick during the evening. At one point my head was throbbing so I got up to vomit and go to the bathroom and ran into the wall. My companion, Elder Frias heard the commotion and tried to help me and met the door jamb unpleasantly. At that point I knew something more than just being sick was happening, I looked around and saw the ceramic heater element burning and realized it was probably the propane heater, so I groggily grabbed my companion and took him outside. We were both crying. But being in the isolated campo with our only neighbor hating us because of a disputed telephone bill, he was not inclined to help us. But either his wife or daughters plead our case. Eventually the ambulance was called and we were taken to the hospital. There the doctors informed us that based on the oxygen level in our blood, in another 15-20 minutes we would have been dead. Apparently we had closed the windows too tightly because of the cold outside and with the ceramic heater screen burning, fallen asleep. Then the heating element burned all of the oxygen out of the room. It was miraculous we made it to the hospital at all. I can’t help but believe that perhaps my “bad” food saved our lives that night, but even with that, because of simple legitimate justified dispute it almost proved deadly. Neighbors really are important. Lucky for us angels were in attendance and we lived to tell the tale. Now I wonder, would it have been good to die on my mission, at least then my salvation would have been guaranteed! Just a thought, but I would have missed so much!
Copyright Mel Borup 2010, Use granted with permission. Bs.As. Argentina South Mission 1977-79 |
| |
|
|
|
List All | Add Story
|
|
| LDS QUOTE: |
|
"You are a great army of returned missionaries. Go forward with new zeal and determination, and through your example shine the light of the gospel in this troubled world. This is the Lord's work in which we are engaged. God lives. Jesus is the Christ. We belong to His Church. This is my witness to you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."
|
|
|
|
|
