May 14

Am writing this from the Suva Specialty Hospital waiting room.  Scott has been having awful trouble with his foot/ankle.  It all started when we were in Taveuni.  He wore his flipflop sandals when we walked to the waterfall which caused trouble with his Achilles Tendon that he tore years ago.  That was just over two weeks ago.  He has been hobbling around ever since.  He finally borrowed some crutches from the mission office, but the pain just kept getting worse.  On Sunday, one of the sisters in our ward who is originally from Kiribati (everyone here calls the country Kiribas) asked another sister, Mareta, from Kirabati to look at Scott's foot.  She learned healing massage from her mother who learned it from her mother.  I ran home and got some oil (she called it hoil) and during Sunday School she worked on Scott's foot.  In the middle of her work Scott's eyes got really big and he said, "Whoa, the pain just moved from my ankle (Achilles Tendon) to the front of my foot."  She just smiled.  Scott was in only minor pain all day Sunday. We were elated.

On Monday, yesterday, we met with Mareta and she worked on his foot again.  When we walked out of Temple Housing where we met her, Scott's foot was the best it had been in almost two weeks.

I was impressed with this sister who uses what the other sisters call blessed hands to help us.  She is very serious about what she does.  She says that her mother spent years teaching her how to do this, and she feels it is a gift from God.  She prays before she begins her ministrations.  Last night she was in pants when we came, but she put on a sulu (skirt) before she worked on Scott.  When I asked her if many people in Kiribati did this kind of work, she said, "No, only on my island (pronounced highland) do we have the ability to do this. And only the oldest child is taught how to do it." 

He felt OK until he drove the van downtown right after the massage to get an ace bandage.  By the time we got home he was in real pain. This morning his foot was swollen twice it's normal size.  He was back on the crutches and in so much pain he sometimes couldn't talk.

We got the mission nurse to drive us to the hospital, because I wanted him there to watch and help, and because Scott can not drive the van, and I can't drive with the clutch on the wrong side. So here I sit hoping that everything will be fine.  

Well, Scott is out of Xray and the news is not good.  He has two torn ligaments in the front of his foot.  Elder Whiting, our mission nurse, says we will have to come back this afternoon to see the Orthopedic Doctor and that they are going to put him in a boot.  Just as long as they do not send us home all is good.

It is a good thing I asked if we could trade our van for an automatic car.  I think Pres. Sefeti will trade us his car for our van. 

I will write more later when I know more.