Monday, December 28th

Hello everyone!

Well, the biggest news from this last week, and the thing I'll
probably spend a bit of time talking about is my brown
recluse spider bite.

So, on Monday, I noticed a little blister on my hand and
opened it up to drain it. Well, I thought that would be it.

On Tuesday it had grown a little bit and my hand had
swollen up quite a bit. Well, we cleaned it out and
re-bandaged it up, and we were on our way.

Well, on Wednesday, it had grown quite a bit, and we tried
to get puss out. We didn't have too much luck.

Christmas came, and it had continued to grow. Late
Christmas night, puss started coming out. We cleaned out
all the puss, and then there was a good-sized hole in my
hand. We cleaned it up, took a picture, and then bandaged
it up.

On Saturday, things weren't getting much better. We were
out tracting, and a couple of people we contacted said that
it was a brown recluse spider bite, and that I need to take
care of it right away. So, I called Sister Miller (the mission
president's wife). She agreed that she thought that's what it
probably was, and called a doctor in the mission presidency,
and he called in a prescription for me.

Supposedly the brown recluse is something like the fourth
most venomous spider known of.

Today, my hand is looking a lot better. The swelling has
receded quite a bit, and it looks as though the bite is
starting to heal over. I'm hopeful that it won't get much
worse. Please keep me in your prayers. Thanks!

In other news, I loved talking to y'all on Christmas. It was
good to hear from each one of you.

I can't believe this week will be 2010. I wish y'all the very
best New Years.

As for me here in Zapata, it will probably be like every
other week...maybe get some sparkling cider for New
Years, or something like that. Please pray for the work here
in Zapata. I love you all.

Love,
Elder John