25 March

This week I have another new nickname! Sister Rehabilitation Center!

This letter is going to be a little exciting so if you aren't ready for some blood and gore and hospital visits and ambulance rides, you should probably read this at a later time. :)

Last Thursday morning we were on our way to district meeting (it was changed because of scheduling problems) and we had some clothes that other sister missionaries had left that we were going to drop off in a donation box for the poor. These are big green metal boxes and people can put clothes in them and they give them to the poor. My companion was putting the bag of clothes in, but it got stuck on the lid so she pushed it in and suddenly the metal lid slammed shut on her hand. She jumped back in obvious pain and I, in typical Breanne fashion, said, "Let's just go home and wrap it up and we can go to district meeting." But then I pulled some kleenexes out of my bag to wrap up her hand and saw that it was a DEEP cut and was bleeding all over. And then my companion said, "I think I am going to pass out!" This woman walked by and said she would take us to the hospital, and I was supporting my companion when she passed out. So then "emergency mode" kicked in and I dragged my companion over to a place she could sit down, asked the woman how we could get to the hospital-she called her husband and then the ambulance-and tried to keep my companion alive and gripping her hand so she would not bleed to death, or whatever. And then I called my mission president, who did not answer because he was in Hong Kong, and then my mission president's wife, who did not answer because she was taking care of another emergency, and then the assistants--all while holding my companion's head with one hand and her hand with the other.

By this time a large crowd had gathered of old Taiwanese grandmothers and Philippino care takers-so people were shouting at me in Tagalog and Taiwanese (not Chinese) and trying to help me. I told the assistants that my companion had had an accident and passed out and we had to go to the hospital, and they started freaking out (probably because they could hear the shouting in the background) and told me I should take a taxi to the hospital. My companion started mumbling about an ambulance and I told the assistants, "My companion needs an ambulance." And then I looked behind me and there was an ambulance! So I told the assistants, "Oh, never mind, there is an ambulance here--the police must have called it!" This also freaked them out and they said they would meet us at the hospital ASAP. And then I helped my companion into the ambulance and rode with her there, trying to keep her conscious, and then took her into the hospital and checked her in and filled out a police report and paid her bill--all in Chinese. By the time the assistants and the mission nurse showed up the situation was under control :) and they told us that Sister Pitts needed to have surgery because some of the tendons in her hand had been severed-but thankfully not all the way through-but they had to wait until her stomach was empty. So then the assistants gave her a blessing and finally got in touch with President Nielson, who said he wanted her to go to the hospital in Taipei, where they speak English :) and which is closer to the mission home.

This is really a long story and I can't do it justice in an email, so if you want to hear it ask me in a year when I get home. :) But needless to say, we went to the hospital in Taipei, filled out more reports in Chinese, my companion was in surgery for 3 hours, I spent the night at the hospital-and the next day in the same clothes-and I even walked around without a companion because I had to get food, toothbrush, etc and my companion was passed out in a hospital bed. :) Oh, and did I mention that it was all in Chinese? And the medical system is a little different here than in America. Just a little.

So now we are back in Tucheng and my companion is starting to heal. We have another Dr.'s appt. today so we will see how things progress, but for the last couple of days our schedule has been kind of crazy. I have to change her wrappings twice a day and I am learning a lot of Chinese medical vocabulary. I am also finding creative ways to do missionary work because the medication made my companion need to sleep all the time. She is really a trooper and still wants to be a hard core missionary--but every time we teach a lesson she falls asleep. :)

Bikes are off limits for the rest of her mission (3 more weeks) and so I am now a walking, metro, bus, and train riding missionary. It takes some creative planning but yesterday it was raining and we were riding the train to a part of our area and I told my companion, "Aren't you glad we don't have to ride our bikes in the rain?" Wow, blessings are really being poured out upon our heads. :)

I love this work. Yesterday another one of our investigators set a baptismal date. Tucheng is exploding and the Lord has given us a bunch of golden investigators. I love the Lord and I am learning how to love everything about missionary work, even changing my companion's hand bandages!

Love you all,

Sister White