He's Elder Ball Again

Marcus got his mission call!  And he's gone!  It took seven weeks to get his new assignment after he finally got his papers turned in and it felt like the longest weeks of our lives as we waited.  Finally, Marcus got a late phone call on Thursday, October 4th, exactly six months to they day he returned from Brazil.  It was the stake president telling him he'd been assigned to the California Los Angeles Mission (CLAM).  Marcus cried and hugged us when he told us the news.  Marcus doesn't cry so that says a lot about the relief he felt.  The stake president said he could leave whenever he felt ready so Marcus told him he wanted to leave on Monday.  As in four days away!  He quit his jobs the next day and we started gathering all the stuff he needed.  We even squeezed in one last surfing session on the boat, thanks to the beautiful summer-like weather we had on Saturday.  That night we finally got the official emails and itinerary and we found out he wouldn't leave until the following Friday.  Yay, more time to prepare!  But also awkward because he'd already started saying so many goodbyes so he basically hid out at the house so he wouldn't see people since they thought he had left :)

But the nightmare is finally over.  Marcus said this has been the hardest thing he's ever gone through and I agree.  I've cried so many tears as I watched him navigate this unexpected, life-altering turn of events.  We have had so many good people support him and show him extra love and encouragement as he healed.  The outpouring of love and prayers on his behalf has been incredible and is the reason he was able to endure the last six months.  

His concussion recovery has been a long journey. Randy and I naively thought Marcus would come home, rest in a dark room as much as possible, eat good food to gain some weight back, and return to normal life in a few weeks.  We were so wrong!  We were wrong about how long his recovery would take and wrong about what he needed to do to recover.  Turns out sitting in a dark room is the worst thing you can do for your brain.  I'm so thankful for helpful friends and family members from near and far who reached out with suggestions, clinics, and methods they had heard that might help Marcus.  And we tried them all!  I spent hours on the internet searching for anyone who could help us and not just tell us to "wait it out." His recovery was incremental and often I had to look back at how Marcus was when he first got home so I could see the improvements.

When Marcus returned from Brazil, he was weak and underweight, and threw up almost daily.  His head constantly hurt and his eyes couldn't focus so reading was torture.  His eyes were also sensitive to light so we lived in a dark house for weeks and dimmed the TV screen so he could pass the time watching TV.  He'd take slow walks around the neighborhood only to come home with a headache worse than when he started.  Things were bad!  We flew him to Utah four different times to meet with a chiropractor and to do intense rehab therapy at a concussion clinic.  He drove to Boise where an acupuncturist was able to relieve his headache for the first time since his fall.  We met with two neurologists in Washington along with doing an online course on concussion rehab.  I was determined that Marcus would recover even though many told us this would be his new normal. Marcus was willing to do anything and see anyone who might have a solution.  Finally, in August, Marcus was able to start working out at the gym again and started working part time at our office.  He still had headaches but he learned to push through them or when to back off.  Eventually he got two more jobs, trying to earn as much money as he could, and to give him an excuse to get out of the house, while he waited for his call.  

And now he's in sunny L.A.  His mission president is from Arizona and was actually born in Okinawa.  Geographically, his mission is pretty small but it has over ten million people living in it.  He's assigned to speak English but I'm sure he will find some Portuguese speaking people to talk to. 

There was no big dramatic farewell at the airport this time. The boys said their goodbyes to Marcus before they left for school and then Randy and I drove Marcus to the airport later that day where we just dropped Marcus off at the curb after giving him long hugs and a lot of encouragement.  

Missions are HARD!  Marcus knows exactly what he's getting himself into and he's willing to go back out anyway and that makes me stand in awe of what he's done and what he's been able to accomplish.  The Apostle Paul said "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me."  Marcus is proof of that.