Thursday, May 22, 2008

You call him Dr. Jones!

This movie is seriously awesome. It brought me back to when I was little, watching the trilogy, though I can't really remember a "first time." It was just those same old excited feelings, the "edge of your seat" stuff, and the cheesy lines that would sound extremely ridiculous coming from anyone else, but when Dr. Jones says 'em, it's totally believable. Just like anyone else running from machine guns would be blown away in no time, but Indy always escapes...and you buy it! And the sound effects...oh, my goodness, the sound effects were AWESOME!!

If you enjoy the Indiana Jones movies, you're gonna enjoy the new one.

Monday, May 19, 2008

David Got Shot

My little brother, David, is on his mission in Queztaltenango, Guatemala. Saturday was his 21st birthday. And I got a phone call Sunday morning from Tyler. Here's how the conversation went:

Tyler: Do you wanna hear some important news about David right now, or do you want to wait till you and Jana are together?
Sarah: No, tell me now.
[Sarah's thinking what the heck happened?]
Tyler: OK, but before I tell you, just know that he's OK. He's laughing, and joking about it...
Sarah: What happened?
[Sarah's a little upset and worried now, thinking why are they sending him home early?]
Tyler: David got shot in the shoulder yesterday. [Yeah, on his birthday]
Sarah: WHAT?!
Tyler: He's OK, he's OK!...

So, here's the story, as far as I know it:

David and his companion, Elder Perry, were on their way to an appointment with some investigators when they saw some kids playing with a football. They both got a bit nostalgic since neither of them had seen a football since they left the States. They stopped to show the kids how to hold it, throw it, catch it. When they continued their walk, they heard three gun shots. David felt like he had been punched in the shoulder/chest and he fell back. Elder Perry turned back when he saw that David wasn't keeping up. When David stood up he asked Elder Perry if he was bleeding, and his companion said "no."

They got to their appointment, and that's when they both realized that David was, in fact, bleeding...a lot. The investigator called an ambulance, which took him to a less than clean hospital. Fortunately, their bishop has a doctor friend who got him into a clean, private hospital very soon after arriving at the dirty one.

The Church has been heavily involved, obviously, even to the point of being willing to fly a specialist to Guatemala. However, this was unnecessary as there was a specialist in Guatemala City, who was sent to where David is and who was able to perform surgery to remove the bullet this morning (Monday).

David got a visit from Elder Christensen, a member of the Quorum of the Seventy, on Sunday. Elder Christensen then called my dad to let him know that David was in good spirits, was walking around, and looked very well. He also told Dad that David is "a fine young man." So, not only has our family, friends, and everyone in our home stake (since it was announced as Stake Conference yesterday) been praying for him, but we've even got the General Authorities sending up prayers in his behalf.

All I know is that prayers in behalf of our missionaries are answered. David thinks that the fact that he was wearing his backpack helped to slow the bullet. It hit him from the front, going thru the strap of his backpack (without tearing the strap off). He thinks that the pressure from the backpack and it's strap kept the wound from bleeding too much.

The surgery was successful, as far as we know. We won't know if there was a lot of nerve damage until he can start moving again. The bullet (a 9mm--bigger than the doctors thought, and could have done a LOT more damage than it did) was lodged in his right pectoral muscle, just between his lung and his clavicle. It was far enough in that the doctor went thru his back to pull the bullet out, completing the wound. And, yes, David is keeping the bullet.

He'll be released from the hospital tomorrow, and will stay in the mission home for about a week, and then it's back to the Lord's work! He did not want to come home, and he did not want my parents to go down there. Hopefully, within the next week or so he'll be back to good, only in a sling for a while.

The Church wanted to be sure that this wasn't a targeted event, that people aren't literally gunning for our missionaries, so the mission president woke the Chief of Police in the city to launch a complete investigation. Turns out, it was just a few bolos (drunks) shooting their guns. Apparently, that's not illegal in Guatemala. There aren't any hard or bad feelings being harbored by David, or any of the family, toward the bolo who's bullet was lodged in David's chest. Actually, I kinda feel bad for the guy.

Anyway, so that's the low-down. Kind of an interesting/ surreal/ exciting/ scary weekend for our family. We thank God that David is OK and that he was where he was supposed to be, doing what he was supposed to be doing, and walking/standing in the exact right place. I mean, if he had to be shot, he got it in the perfect place. And thank you all for your love and prayers.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Prince Caspian is....pretty good looking....

So, Jana and I did the insane thing and went to a midnight showing of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Wow....






Having just re-read the book for "The Naked Soul," I was a little disappointed in the way the story was told in this movie. The plot was the same, the characters were the same (though their behavior was a bit altered), but the storyline was jumbled and out of order...and added upon.

Having said all that, I absolutely loved it. I admit, I did cringe a little when the story shifted, but it all came together like it was supposed to in the end. I don't wanna give stuff away in case anyone actually reads this who hasn't read the book or seen the movie, but let me just say that I loved Edmund. He's great. He doesn't have a lot to say, really, but what he does and what he says, it's all a redemption from his bad ways in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.


I was also enthralled with Caspian, aka Ben Barnes. The character is valiant, and the actor is, well, good looking. Hello...

OK, that's enough about that. Go see. You'll love it. And now you're warned!

Friday, May 2, 2008

TGIF

I am so exhausted. I really just want to sleep all weekend, but that's not gonna happen. I went to bed way too late Wednesday night, so was tired all day Thursday. And then I went to bed too late last night...so now I'm just exhausted. It was all for the sake of getting a Birthday package ready for David, including Flamin' Hot Cheetos (with Limon), Sour-Patch Kids, beef jerky, and Ramen noodles, plus--and this is what took so long--a CD of MoTab, but songs he isn't expecting like "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" and "Oh! Suzanna" and "Deep River." Hopefully he'll enjoy it.

Jana and I watched "One Flew Over the Coo-Coo's Nest" last night. Wow. It was really strange, but I liked it. The Chief is my favorite character. He's awesome. I also watched "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." I really like that movie. I'm looking forward to "the Half-Blood Prince," even though we all know what's gonna happen...

I'm reading a book called "the Revenge of the Shadow King" by Derek Benz & J.S. Lewis, the first book in the Grey Griffin's series. Talk about a rip-off. Then again, maybe I was too jaded going into it to really enjoy the story. Although, the writing isn't all that great and the story is a bit jumbled. I'm still trying to understand where it's going... So, why am I reading it? Well, my nephew Hunter is really excited about these books. He says he likes them better than Harry Potter because they aren't as long or as hard to read. (He is, after all, only 10 years old) Anyway, he practically begged me to read them, as excited as he is about them, so I gave in. I mean, he's great he's reading at all, right? So, I'm humoring him. I just hope I don't get roped into reading all of them... He can just tell me what happens, right?

I'm going to go see Penelope tomorrow with my sisters and niece, kind of a girls night out. I'm really excited. I've heard good things about this movie, which looks really cute--and stars James McAvoy, so it can't be bad, right? Plus, I get to hang out with my girls.

This has somehow turned into a letter. I guess that's just my writing style. That, or it's all stream-of-consciousness, like writing in a journal. Oh well, at least I'm writing, right?