Written by Brian's mom, Cheryl Burgess:
This week, Elder Burgess returned to the hospital to have an emergency appendectomy on Tuesday night. The doctor who took care of him, and hospital he was in, were great and gave the best care to Brian. President and Sister Christensen were away until Saturday night, so Brian and his companion, Elder Alejandre, have been handling surgery alone. He was released on Friday and he is trying to heal. Here is an excerpt from Elder Burgess's letter home today, as he writes about the healing process:
Hey. I'm alive! Mom, I'm happy. Ya, I'm in Mexico alone.... but I'm not alone. I have the Lord right by my side. I have my companion, who is sweet. I have a lot of Elders I see and am great friends with. I have President and Sister Christensen, and I have all my investigators. I've been teaching Dee (name changed for privacy) EVERY week, the whole time I've been in this area, and I've been here my whole mission. She is going to be baptized on November 9, and she wants me to baptize her. So I have to get better to be able to do that. I'm excited for this week to read "The Continuous Atonement," by Brad Wilcox, a book President gave me. And I'll take time to study and study and study "Preach my Gospel." I pray my testimony will grow personally a lot this week. And I pray I don't go insane in a house all day.
Brian has been given permission to teach lessons to current investigators, but other than that he is to study and rest while he heals. He has been in a lot of pain, but he's feeling better. His picture shows how he is feeling. We love you, Elder Burgess! And are grateful to Elder Alejandre for being so patient all week at the hospital.
The attached photo -- (Note from Brian's mom: President and Sister Christensen went to see Brian and his companion today, and Sister Christensen made Brian a taste of home: pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. She asked me for the recipe of his favorite treat. Canned pumpkin isn't possible to find in Mexico, so she cooked down a pumpkin to make these. I'm really touched that she'd do this. President and Sister Christensen are pretty amazing.)
Coke or Pepsi...?
I'm Alive!
