The Last Blog Before The Christmas Season

Designs for the Pedestal Counter

BofM Design

It seems like I just finished writing the last blog.  That’s the way the weeks are flying by over here.  This blog will be about the missionary Street Exhibits, with a little bit of necessary “good” and “bad” medicine sprinkled in.

As I mentioned last week, we were able to send the artwork to the fabricators by Monday morning.  This was the deadline given to us in order to pick the exhibits up on Thursday afternoon, for the Aarhus Zone Conference.

Now we’re going to talk a little bit about medicine.  I can’t remember how much I’ve said about our connection to the Danish Healthcare System  (I hope not much).  Both of us have some chronic health issues, and visit the doctor regularly.  Before I continue, you must understand that generally, when we are faithful at taking our medicine, we feel as healthy and happy as the rest of you.  We are generally not in pain, and are blessed with the feelings of good health.  Until this week we have not missed a day of serving in our missionary responsibilities. 

Family Design

I mention all of this in reference to the Street Exhibits because we had a few days of concentrated “stress” in finishing the project coupled with additional medical stress in dealing with the healthcare system.  This stress resulted in a bout of bladder infection for me and I believe an increased flare-up of a foot ulcer for Norma.

A quick update:  before coming on our mission I had a medical TURP procedure on my prostate in order to be free of having it while on my mission.  The operation in Portland has not turned out to be very successful.  I have had chronic infection since the procedure for which I take a daily antibiotic pill.  Sometimes that infection spreads from the urinary track to become a more severe bladder infection.  That can be caused by stress.  (This is more information than I intended to give, but so be it.  At some point I am going to write a more extensive report of my Danish healthcare experiences).  I have been working with the urology department at the Frederiksberg Hospital since April to see if they will perform a new TURP and put me back in order.  The answer is finally, “yes”.  In order to get this far, it has been necessary for me to “jump through many, and large, hoops”.

Finished Family Panel

The date for the operation was set for November 30th.  On November 17th they called and asked if I would like to have the operation on November 24th.  Of course I said yes.  An hour before I was to go to the hospital, they called and said there was sickness at the hospital and the operation could not be performed that day.  They would get back to me with a new date.  I had not heard from them by the 25th of November so I called to see if they had selected a new date.  They told me there was a letter in the mail and that the new date is December 12th.  If a hospital cannot set a date for surgery within thirty days then the patient has the right to request a different hospital including a private hospital.  Since the first date was set on November 6th, the 12th of December is more than 30 days; therefore, I am requesting a private hospital.  We will have to wait and see if that is going to be possible.

Finished Book of Mormon Panel

All of this information is given to make you feel sorry for us.  No, actually this will maybe help you to understand why, after fifteen months, I could not report at the Temple because of a sever fever; however, Norma has not missed a day.  With a more powerful medicine I was able to go to the Temple on Thursday and feel as good as everyone else.

Now, back to the report of the street exhibits.  They were finished on Thursday as promised.  The President unveiled them at the Aarhus Zone Conference and immediately took the exhibits and the missionaries out to a city plaza to test them.  Friday’s Zone Conference in Copenhagen was treated the same way.  During the course of the two conferences there were about 30 Books of Mormon distributed and about 60 discussions during the course of a couple of hours.  We are now looking forward to a successful missionary effort for the Christmas Season in downtown Copenhagen.

Finished Pedestal Sample

Well, after intending to only sprinkle the blog with a little bit of medicine, I see that the small brochure of my first-hand experiences with National Healthcare will maybe be a small book.  Enough for now.

We love you all,

Mom and Dad

Ældste og Søster Larsen