Visiting Teaching....

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. :)

I have a dear friend who got some news on her 29th birthday this past year. She found out that she has cancer--of the lymphoids. Well, on her birthday they thought it was just in her kidney and the kind of cancer that just had to have the kidney removed and all would be well. So, a few days after her birthday the kidney was removed. Then the bad news just kept on coming and coming. The cancer was worse then they thought. The cancer had to be treated with chemo. There was a large lump above her heart. It seemed like every time I talked with her the news got worse and worse. But the crazy thing is, her attitude got better and better. Her name is Talisha. She is a mother of two wonderful little kids, a 5 year old girl and a 2 year old boy. She is a wife to a man she loves. She is a friend who is teaching me so much.

Over 4 years ago when we first moved into our home I was given a calling to visit teach Talisha. It was really hard to get a hold of her, and even harder to catch her at home and visit with her. Every time I went, I thought I was teaching and helping her. Boy was I wrong!

Talisha had her last Chemo treatment this past Thursday. Tonight I texted her, because I knew she was at work still (yes, she has worked through it all) and asked if I could bring her dinner. She almost always tells me no. She doesn't want to be a burden to anyone. But today has been cold and rainy, now it's snowing, so I tempted her with homemade chicken noodle soup. She couldn't resist that one:). I took dinner to her house just as she was getting home from work. She is beautiful! She shines from within. She hugged me and thanked me, and I felt blessed once again just to know her.

She had really thick, long dark hair. She was told she would loose it all. She hoped she wouldn't. After her first treatment it started falling out everywhere. She cried, but only a little. She called her good friend who is also a beautician and had her shave it all off and then made a trip to the Mall and bought two great wigs. One long hair, one short. She's having fun with it all.

I guess the thing I am learning the most from all this is that it's your attitude that makes all the difference. Talisha tells me that when she gets her chemo treatments there are two kinds of people, those who are going to beat it and those who are ready to die. She's going to beat it! She already is.

For the first few days after she found out she just cried and cried. Then she got a Priesthood blessing, and things started making more sense to her. She says she doesn't know why she's going through this, but she knows she is supposed to and she needs to learn something. So she's doing everything she can to learn it.

We learn a lot from visiting teaching. I'm learning that no matter what life throws at us, we can make the best of it. Learn from it. When we pray, don't ask "Why me?" ask "What can I learn from this."

So tonight I want to send a big THANK YOU to Talisha. I love you! You are amazing!!!