week 34: typhoon trami and elbow troubles

crashing my bike + breaking my fall with my arm = broken elbow

Okay this week was an adventure.... we had a typhoon and ..... I broke my elbow! So many miracles happened. We found SO many people, and we were really honestly guided. 

Broken Elbow story: 

On the way home on Wednesday I tried to get up on the sidewalk and my tire got caught and I crashed. It was pretty bad. I naturally tried to catch myself, and it hurt. I couldn't move my arm. I picked myself up and then rode home...it was either ride and deal with the pain, or walk and have pain, so I rode. It was hard, but we made it to the apartment. Immediately, I grabbed ice and started to ice it. After a bit, it still hurt and it looked messed up from the swelling. I thought maybe it was dislocated. Finally, we called Shimai Mack and she said go to a hospital, so we called our District Leader and he called the Perkins (mission couple). Our District Leader thought it was a car accident so that was funny! He thought a car had hit me on my bike!! The Perkins were super relieved when they got to our apartment and I had just crashed my bike! We went with the Perkins to the hospital emergency room and it was a long wait. Finally, we got in and they took an x-ray. They couldn't tell what was wrong, so they said to come back later. The nurse was using a translation app and told me I needed plastic surgery.... it was way funny! We finally left around 2:30 am and got home. Then we went to sleep and got up at 7:30 and got ready to go back to the hospital.  At 9:30 we left with the Perkins again to go back to the hospital.  We got there and did some waiting.  Then I talked with the doctor.  He spoke a little English which was really nice. From the x-ray, he couldn't tell if I had a fracture or a ligament tear. So I got a CT scan. Then some more waiting.  Finally the doctor told me I had a minor fracture with a piece of bone broken off of my joint. He said I need a cast or I would have to get surgery later. So I went with a cast! It was a miracle that we went and got help instead of just waiting to see if it got better on its own. If you ever have to go to the hospital in a different country, it is a bit scary, especially when you don't speak the language very well. It makes you really rely on God and trust that the doctors can give you the help you need. 

Typhoon story: 

So we had a huge typhoon, Typhoon Trami. We got a text from our district leader and he told us to stay inside. So we were in all day. We sat inside and we watched the storm. It was fun and scary. The wind was crazy and the rain was way strong.  One of the signs, the ones that say "this place right this place left"  kind of flew off and down the street. Crazy! We took naps and told stories. Our power was out but luckily we had water. It got crazy hot in the apartment without the ac.  Eventually, we got in the eye of the storm, so it was calm for a bit. The Perkins invited us over for dinner and gave us candles. They live in our same apartment building! When the storm started to pick up again, we went back to our apartment. We watched the storm by candle light. The Japanese ward's bishop and his wife stopped by in the middle of the typhoon and gave us food. So nice! We were safe with no damage.

New words 
たいふ(taifu): typhoon 
ひび(hibi): crack
ひじ(hiji) : elbow 

So lots of adventures this week.  I know God protects us. He helped me know I needed to go to the doctors and He protected us in the typhoon.  He sent loving members to our house to help us. He really loves us. He loves Everyone! God will protect you! 

I love you all so much!

Love Thompson Shimai 

Bits and pieces from family emails:

They will do another cat scan in two weeks to try and find the bone chip (they don't know where it went!)

Showering is quite the process...trying to wrap my arm and keep it dry! I must be doing ok with all of it...at least I don't stink..haha!

Thank goodness the church house is only a 10 minutes walk!

Sister Evangelista is stubborn, and helps me...which is a good thing, I love her!

Our military branch was cancelled but we still went to our Japanese ward just to take the sacrament and then everyone talked a bit and headed home.

We met a lot of people this week, and we have several return appointments! Pray for the people we met that their hearts will be opened.

when your arm is too swollen to know what's wrong,

you get a sling!

Thank goodness for Evangelista Shimai and all her help!

writing is hard...especially with my left hand!

big ol' sign knocked down by the typhoon...

most of the damage by us was just signs and tree branches..

thank goodness!