Utah 2014: Day 6

On Day 5 we had family pictures taken. I haven't seen them yet, but hopefully there are some good ones.

By the evening of the second day I was starting to have a sore throat. At first I figured that it was because I was a little tired, but it was getting worse by the end of July 3rd. Ryan said is was probably because of the dry climate and it would probably help to drink more water, so I made an effort to drink a lot of water even though it hurt. I was probably drinking 80 ounces a day, but with no improvement. Ibuprofen barely helped. It hurt to move my head and I couldn't open my mouth very wide. Finally I woke up early on Sunday morning in a lot of pain and said a prayer asking to be healed. I was really frustrated that I had been dealing with this pain for most of the time with my family. I started wondering if I should go to Urgent Care. I googled my symptoms and concluded that they would probably just say, "Yep, you have a sore throat," and send me home. Then as I thought more about it I realized that it was my left lymph node on my throat that was swollen and sore, not my throat. Dr. Google said that could be a symptom of allergies, so Ryan handed me some suphedrine that he had brought and suggested I try that. I took one and also asked him and my dad to give me a priesthood blessing. A few hours later during sacrament meeting I realized that I was feeling a LOT better, and immediately the Spirit witnessed to me that this was because I had sought God's help through prayer and the priesthood. The interesting thing is that Ryan wasn't planning to bring the suphedrine, but when he was packing he had a feeling that he should leave it in his bag. I was able to keep the symptoms at bay by taking suphedrine sometimes over the next few days until eventually I didn't need it anymore. I was very grateful that I was able to be healed and fully enjoy the time with our families.

Kevin went to primary with my sister Ellen and did pretty well. Heidi was tired and ended up staying with Ryan for most of Sunday School and Priesthood. Ryan said the teacher in Priesthood gave a history lesson about the Boston Tea Party instead of talking about the gospel, so that was odd. The Relief Society lesson was great, though. We talked about what would be included in a happy pill, based on 2 Nephi 5.

In the evening we had family home evening and wrote letters to my sister Michelle, who is serving as a missionary right now.