So, some of you know that I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting on Sunday, Jan 17th. The topic was prayer, as outlined in the True to the Faith booklet, with an emphasis on sharing my own personal experiences. I had been contemplating my talk for almost 2 weeks and knew exactly what the Lord wanted me to share, but I was not feeling well at all from allergies and a possible sinus infection. I decided to write out my entire talk so I could just be on auto pilot while standing in front of the congregation, especially since what I was taking about made me cry all the time while I was thinking about it.
On Saturday morning I took one Mucinex pill which worked really well, but also made me feel jittery and dizzy. I was still feeling this way on Sunday morning as I got ready and went to church. I decided not to go up on the stand until after the sacrament in case looking over the congregation made me more dizzy. When it was my turn to speak I stood up and said, "I just wanted to warn you that I'm not feeling very well so I took a new allergy medicine which is making me feel jittery and like there are spiders crawling on my skin. If I start swaying back and forth you will know why." Some people chuckled, and I saw a couple people say "Awww.." with sympathy.
I began my talk and half way into it, I started to see stars, everything within my scope of vision became fuzzy and gray and slowly diminished until I could see about as much as in a door's peep hole. I knew I was about to faint. I stopped speaking for a few seconds (which I am sure made everyone look up to see why I stopped speaking), and said to myself, "Get it together. Get it together!!". The next thing I recall was waking up on the floor behind the podium as a nurse was pounding my chest. I could hear everyone for a second or two before my eyes could open. Finally I made out about 10 shadows of faces, and slowly looked through them until I found Brian's. I was thinking that I was such an idiot, and then I wondered if my legs and everything were covered from my fall. Luckily they were!
They told me that I had passed out and just as I was falling the Bishop stood up and caught me, then laid me on the ground. Then four medical students, two nurses, the bishopric, and a friend with a bottle of water raced up to see what happened and to see what they could do. Brian said that initially he just stayed in his seat since the girls were with him, and he figured the med students would have everything under control. Someone behind him nudged him and said he should go up there, so he did. I must have been out a little bit because I didn't wake up until everyone was already hanging over me. I was soooooo embarassed.
After the nurse yelled at me for not eating any breakfast, the bishop asked what I would like to do; leave the chapel, sit for a rest, finish my talk, or whatever. Brian whispered to me that he would carry me out of there if I wanted him to. I was thinking that would be nice, but also be embarassing. I really just wanted to finish my talk. I felt like what I was saying was really important for someone to hear.
After a rest hymn, and a few sips of water, I finished my talk as I sat in a chair behind the podium and read into a hand held microphone. I didn't really know what to say to overcome my embarassment so I said, "I am so sorry. I am soooo embarassed. I feel like I need to move out of the ward now. Here I am telling a story about Brian falling on the floor when he started shaking and I do the same thing. It's like a really good prop for dramatic effect." and then everyone laughed and I was a little more at ease.
I don't think I looked up once at the audience from then on. I tried to concentrate on reading the small print and bringing the spirit back into the meeting. Afterwards many people told me that there were many people crying during the beginning of my talk and that the spirit was really strong through the meeting even with my fainting. I knew that the Lord wanted me to share my message, and I am glad that I was able to finish. Oh, and if anyone wants to read my talk, I can forward it to you by email.
Brian's cake...
Ana's cake.
One of Ana's fav foods right now is mozzerella cheese sticks so she was really excited to have them as part of her b-day meal.
Some of you know that I am a nanny, so unscheduled time comes only a couple hours a week. I had scheduled a combined visting teaching with 2 sisters from the ward. I showed up with cupcakes and asked if we could sing Happy Birthday to Ana, and this would be her "friend" b-day party. There were 7 kids, 3 moms, cupcakes and even some presents pulled out of a closet. Perfect!
Hearing stories from Grandpa as he goes through his geneology journals & doing temple work for actual ancestors!!
