A Scary Day for a Mom

This is a mom post.  Elder Oliphant had a bad accident and these are the emails I received regarding his injury.

First Email I received June 4,

Hello this Elder Garner I am the companion of Elder Oliphant we are at the Hospital right now, I believe that Sister Fingerle already contacted you, but I want to relay a message from Chase.

The nurses at the hospital are very nice and letting me use the computer at the front desk to write this to you thats why Elder Oliphant cant come.

he told me to tell you though that he is fine and not to worry to much. My mother would get mad at me because she would say that that is a boy answer, short and with no details, he really is doing good though and he is in good hands here!

Know that we are all praying for him and the ward is amazing here and will take good care of him!

with love from Elder Oliphant

Second Email I received, 

 Dear Brother and Sister Oliphant,

My name is Sr. Sibylle Fingerle and I am the wife of the mission president
of the Germany Berlin Mission. I am in charge of the health of our
missionaries. 

This morning Elder Oliphant played soccer and hurt his foot.
He went to the hospital for treatment and a X-Ray. The Doctor diagnosed that
his ankle is broken. 
I informed Dr. Burt (our medical adviser for the mission) and he recommended
to go for the surgery and keep you informed.
Elder Oliphant will have a surgery today to fix the bone and set a sheet and
he will stay in the hospital in Hamburg for a few days.
That is all we know so far but we will of course inform you as soon as we
have more informations.
I talked with him after the accident and he seemed ok. 
(He joked about this special Birthday present he received;) ).

We will pray for him and also for the doctor.

Please contact me when you have any further questions.

Have a good day.

Sister Sibylle Fingerle

June 5, 

Hey Mom,

So I'm in the Amalie-Sieveking-Krankenhaus in Hamburg. It's Fairly nice, there's a nurse here who has a daughter that did an exchange in Texas, and she LOVES Americans, so she's been helping me out a lot  :) 

I don't know how much sister Fingerle told you, but we were playing soccer Saturday morning and I went to slide into the ball to block it. My left foot slid, but my right one didn't. It hurt a lot at first, and it looked super weird, the members there quickly called an ambulance and I was taken here. It hurt at first, and they gave me a TON of pain meds. We did an X-ray and they saw that it was broken pretty bad. My fibula was broken into several different pieces, and the tendons that connect the fibula to the other bone there were ripped. They put a plate in with several different screws to hold the fibula in place. That has to stay there for 1-2 years. They also put a bigger screw in to hold the bones in place so that the tendons can grow back. That one only stays for 6 weeks, but I can't put any weight on my foot until it's out, because the screw is pretty fragile and could snap. I don't think they'll send me home, haha, I can't walk how could they? They'll probably have me stay here for the next few weeks. Worst case scenario they send me to work in the office.

I was on a bunch of pain medicine, but I hate how I feel when I'm on those so I haven't taken any for the past 12 hours or so, and I'm doing fine. I got a blessing from my companion and from the zone leaders who came down to stay with him, and the blessed me that the pain would be bearable, and it is. God truly does answer prayers and look after his children.

I'm going to be in the hospital for a few more days, at least until Wednesday they said.

June 6, 

Hi Mom, 

I don't know if they have those knee scooters, but I'll ask. Right now we're trying to decide if I'll be fine with just crutches or if I need a wheelchair.

The transfer was alright. Long, and hot, but alright. Also, the wheels on one of my suitcases are totally destroyed! Completely KAPUTT. I'll send a picture later. Elder Powell is with elder Seegmiller. They combined the two Erfurt programs, so now there are only two elders there, covering what used to be covered with ten elders.


I don't know much about the area, I've only met two families and been on three streets, the soccer field and the hospital. My companion is pretty nice. I actually knew him at the beginning of my mission, but I hadn't seen him since my first transfer in Leer. We get along pretty well

They give me shots every day to prevent blood clots.

The pain today is a lot more intense than it was yesterday, so I started taking the pain meds again, but they don't seem to have much effect. They gave me a hard cast, some crutches, and a wheelchair, so I can get around now when I need to. This hospital also doesn't have air conditioning, and it's June. I'm lying in a pile of sweat, and it's awful. I keep getting offered tea and coffee, and of course I say no, but every time I'm like really?? Do you want us to get heat stroke??

Also, I just talked with president, and he said that I have two options, either go home, or go work in the office, so once I get released from the hospital  I'll be packing my bags again and going to Berlin to be an office elder. So if you do send a package send it to the office. Man, I'm so sad. I have no idea what's going to happen now.

LG Elder Oliphant 

June 6, 

Hey everybody.

Well, my first week in Delingsdorf has been very interesting. I came
into my new area and I was super excited. We live in a city called
Ahrensburg, and the church is in the tiny village of Delingsdorf only
4 kilometers away. I'm not sure why they decided to build the church
in that tiny place, but it's there. Our area is basically a suburb of
Hamburg, we have a big ward, and I don't know how, but one of the
families found out my birthday was this week, and they invited us over
for cake! It was a lot of fun.

Sadly, not all is well. We play soccer here every Saturday, and
apparently in the past 10 years that the ward has been playing they'd
never had a serious injury until last month, and since then every week
someone has been injured. I guess this week was my turn. My ankle is
broken. :( I... Broke it. I'm. It sure what exactly happened, one
moment I was going to get the ball, and the next I was on the ground
in serious pain. I've been in the hospital since Saturday, and I'll
probably have to stay here until Thursday. Then once I'm released
elder garner and I will be going to Berlin to work in the office until
I'm better. I'm pretty upset about this whole situation, but I know
that there's something that I need to learn, and I know there's a way
to overcome this. These few days have already been the hardest that
I've gone through on my mission, physically, spiritually and mentally.
I'm very grateful for all of the prayers that I've already received, I
can really feel them, and I feel that God is near. I love you, and I
would really appreciate your continued prayers.

LG Elder Oliphant