November 1, 2012

 We were scheduled to visit with Sister Hola tonight for her English lesson, but Brother Hola called and said he needed our help.  Sister Hola was sick with a bad pain in her abdomen, but was refusing to get treatment.  When we went over there, Rick helped Brother Hola give her a blessing where Brother Hola made references to bad spirits, etc. in her and hoped Heavenly Father would take them away. A lot of people from this culture feel that when they are sick it is because they have bad spirits in them. They have a hard time understanding that because we are mortal we sometimes simply get ill.  After the blessing, Rick talked to him about that and told him that she was ill and not possessed by bad spirits.  Rick and I took her to the hospital then went on to our scheduled appointment and then went back and picked her up.  She had an infection and was given some tablets. In the end she thanked us for helping her.  Just another interesting day in our lives as missionaries in South Africa.