So Dalin has been out almost two months. His letters are all very upbeat and tell of the work he seems to be constantly involved in. He says he absolutely loves what he is doing, but I get the feeling he is frustrated with how slowly he perceives his Spanish coming along. I have to remind him that most foreign language-speaking missionaries say that they are in the field a good 3 - 6 months before they are close to comfortable with the language, and they have spent 9 weeks in the MTC learning it before they go into the field. Hopefully he will continue to gain confidence in his teaching ability. His mission president's wife told me that he has already started teaching in Spanish and that she is very impressed with how hard he is working and how well he is learning.
Wait, why did I have occasion to speak with Sister Donaldsen, the mission president's wife, you ask? I got a call at about 9:00 a.m. on April 8 from Sis. D. telling me that Dalin had been up all night having chest pains, so because of his high blood pressure and family history, they had sent him to the urgent care to get checked out. Now I know how hard it was for Dalin when his dad had a heart attack last year, and I also know that he has been very vigilant since then about eating better, exercising, and taking his meds. So at this point, I am sure Dalin is scared and pretty freaked out. I hated that I couldn't be with him. Turned out the urgent care sent him on to the hospital to get further testing, and an EKG, stress test, several blood pressure checks, and a mom's terrible day later, we learned at about 6:00 p.m. that he was doing ok. It seems that his blood pressure was not stable and was causing angina. The doctor there put him on an additional high blood pressure med, so now my 19-year-old son takes two pills for HBP. Bummer. Better safe that sorry, though. Sister D had called a few times during the day to update me, and then after I talked to her the last time, Dalin called. It was so wonderful to hear his voice after a verrrryyyyy long day of worrying and praying . . . .even if he sounded a little perterbed at having to disturb his work further to call and reassure his mom. :) I'm telling you, you never want a call from the mission president's wife. From what I've heard and know, it's not usually good news. I did get to hear from her what a great missionary Dalin is, though, and how much they like him. I guess that was good.
So far, Dalin is still with Elder Esplin in the Santee 5th Branch. I will keep everyone updated on his progress and goings-on. I miss him like crazy, but I am very much at peace at the same time. He is a good boy. (Wish I had a current picture of him to post, but he is not very good about things like that. In fact, his letters are usually about three paragraphs of bare bones, so we are lucky just to know he is alive!)
