Root Canal

Dearest Family and Friends,

This week has been quite the week both here and at home.

It is sad to hear that Grandma West has passed, but in the light of the gospel I know that it is only a transitory step in the plan that Heavenly father has for her. 

I was sooooooo excited to hear that Neal got his call!!!! It'll be a few more years till I get to see him again, but wow he is in for a treat. England sounds like a great place. Also I am super excited for Rachel to be heading out to Thailand so soon. I bet her dad must be so proud.

Well, last week I made an appointment to go to the dentist because i felt a little hole in one of my teeth. (You dont know how much willpower I had to use to call the dentist. The regular me would have avoided the dentist at all costs!!!) So last Wednesday I went off to the dentist to get that checked out. Boy was I in for a surprise. 

The dentist is a very nice fellow. His name is Dr. Lerman. We had a great chat and then we got started. After taking an x-ray of my teeth, he comes back into the room and tells me, "well, it looks like you've got yourself a root canal." NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! I'm glad I had at least some restraint because I was screaming in my mind haha. He could obviously see the worry in my face because he told me that it would be nice and smooth. So I reluctantly let him recline the seat back as he started working away at the tooth. The numbing was not very pleasant but I got through it easily. It wasn't until he mentioned that he was ready to drill into the nerve that I may have shed a tear of fear. He said "this is gonna hurt a bit" and began counting down from three while drilling. I dont know about you, but when a doctor has to count down from three, I know I am in for some pain. Turns out novicane does very little for drilling into nerves because at "1" I felt one of the sharpest pains I can remember. I literally had a mental image of rocks punching my brain as he got to the nerve. Luckily, that was the worst part because with access to the nerves, he numbed those up real nice and it was smooth sailing from there. So he worked away for a while till he realized what he had gotten himself into. Turns out the roots of my molars are very, very deep. Like we are talking grand canyon of the tooth world deep. He is used to seeing roots about 21ish millimeters deep but he said mine range from 26 1/2 to 28 millimeters down. So last Wednesday was only part one of the thrilling drilling experience. Luckily the worst has already past and next Wednesday will only require the rest of the digging. But I am so very glad that I went into the dentist when I did because it could have turned into an ugly infection. So I have definitely learned my lesson on this one.

So besides that interesting experience, this week in the field was pretty low key. I got to go on a couple exchanges with some of the elders in my district so that was fun. As for investigators, everyone just feels a bit stagnant right now. We are definitely trying our hardest, but we just need to get some more understanding on how to resolve their concerns.

But life is good! I'm munching on some pretzel M&M's right now so I am satisfied (now that I think about it eating these with a half done root canal may not be the best idea...... oh well) I'm loving the work. Its tough, but awesome!!! Love you all!!

Love, Elder Hogge