Wednesday, May 25, 2016 – Zone Training Mtg., Sis. Johnson’s Rx, Wood Chips and stump grinder

Early each Wednesday we attend our Mission-wide training meeting in Nauvoo. But this morning Sis. Johnson still didn’t feel well enough to attend. Her symptoms include dizziness and loss of balance, but no fever. I talked to the Mission Doctor, Dr. Rasmussen, he said she doesn’t have a cold, she is suffering from allergies. Sis. Johnson’s sinuses are swollen and congested causing pressure on her inner ear. That is why she is dizzy and can’t keep her balance. 

Last Monday Sis. Johnson spent the whole day working in the shadow of the visitor center’s Locus trees that line the sidewalks. All day there was a constant barrage of pollen falling from them. After I used the leaf blower to clean the sidewalks, I would look back and it didn’t look like I had blown at all. Within seconds the sidewalks were covered with pollen again.

Sis. Johnson doesn’t normally suffer from allergies or hay fever but it was explained to me that this isn’t Arizona. This is the Mid-West and this time of year the pollen is 100 times worse here than in Arizona. Even a non-allergy sufferer can succumb to all of this pollen in the air. Before I left Nauvoo I stopped at the pharmacy and had Sis. Johnson’s prescription filled.

This afternoon the YPM’s (Young Performing Missionaries) were taking a tour of the Carthage Jail. Last week it was the band members that came. Today it was the dancers & singers. While they were getting their tour from one of the senior missionaries, I asked Elder Hutchinson (also a tour guide and our neighbor) to assist me in giving Sis. Johnson a blessing.

While I was still in Nauvoo my boss, Scott Higley, loaded my dump truck with a load of wood chips. Sis. Johnson and I (Well, when she starts feeling better) will be spreading them out under each tree circle here at the visitor’s center. The idea is to cover the bare ground under the tree where there is no grass so it looks good to the visitors. We will start with the trees nearest the sidewalks were the visitors pass by.

 

This evening Sis. Johnson was feeling much better. Although her head still feels like the world is spinning, she can keep her balance much better since she took the medication. So, she decided to go with me to our “Sunset by the Mississippi” play practice. She wanted to go tonight because our director had some important instructions on her place on the stage, etc.  She didn’t perform and go out on stage to do her regular spinning & dancing, that would have been a disaster.