The Real Elder Price, Part 3: Companionship

There were surely challenges. First, Elder Kesler and I tried to understand the differences in our culture. We talked openly about these differences and about how we cannot let them distract us or bring conflicts.

We learned to serve each other. For example, one day, my companion made my bed when I was working out. I started doing it too for him, and then we were doing it for each other. We were always looking for something to do to serve each other.

In the center of all this is the will to live the gospel. When we truly live the gospel we continually strive to become like Jesus Christ. My companion had this desire and I had it. And we became friends.

They all became a "band of brothers," these missionaries. Elder Seth Lee once referred to them with that very descriptor. I told him I'd send him a candy bar if he could identify which Shakespearean play it was from. He gave me the correct response (Henry V), and immediately confessed that Elder Price had given him the answer. I sent them both Snickers bars, which arrived three weeks later. Shakespeare's words do describe these missionaries, coming from all over the world and managing to bind themselves together: "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers!" (Act IV.iii)

Elders Daniel Kesler and Aime Mbuyi

Chiloba Chirwa's entry into the band was heralded by Elder Wigginton: "We received a new Elder from Zambia! He just arrived today seems very sweet and funny. He also is a hugger! Awesome!"

Over the course of their missions, those two, Chirwa and Wigginton, would be paired twice, and would have their friendship cemented in some of the hardest hours either would endure.

On January 25, 2009, I received a strange email from Elder Chirwa, whose writing was usually well-phrased. This email was disjointed and full of misspellings.

dear sister young

thnkyou for your help. I am feeling terribly ill. I think i may have chicken pox. I hate bein ill its such a shady experience especially on a mission.

I cant wait to gt to the temple again. I may not remeber all the deatails but the warm feeling of being there is still with me.

Missionaries praying before a soccer game

We have had a busy week. we are wiorking on a teaching plan to focus on famillies and build a foundation for the district.

Thatnks again i am having a hard time concenrating on the screen, i mus t go .

Take care

As it turned out, Elder Chirwa not only had chicken pox but malaria.

Elder Wigginton reported a few days later:

Elder Chirwa is on quarantine for his chicken pox and malaria, and we spent four lovely days and nights at the medical clinic. Our arrival there was interesting. Last Saturday morning, resting trying to recover from my sickness, Elder Chirwa stumbled to his bed. I asked how he was feeling. He said bad, so I asked him to take his temperature again. It was 40 C, or 104F. I called the doctor and we got him checked in. His fever rose to 104.5 before we got there, and I supported him up the six flights of stairs. He was immediately hospitalized and stuck with an IV to bring down the fever.

Elder Chirwa with Pointe Noire family

We spent ninety six hours together with him suffering a lot. I felt for him when they came in to inject him with a syrup looking substance in his leg . . . the needle being over two inches long. He squeezed my hand and curled in pain as they sent this medicine through his quad. It was a ten by ten room and I had a little cot to sleep on.

His recovery took several days, and the chicken pox left him with some scars. I sent him ointment for the scars and a book on suffering by Neal Maxwell: If Thou Endure It Well—a book he would come to value deeply as his mission continued.