pizza and pasta

We had a certain missionary that arrived on Wednesday and by Saturday he was certain that he was going home.  He said he was feeling a little depressed but mainly there was no give in his decision.  He was positive he was not going to stay. He said he had lost his desire to serve a mission.  He talked to Dennis, his branch president counselor and then to President Call but still no change of his decision.  He was allowed to call his parents and at last he said he would consider giving it another try for a week. I was surprised that at the devotion on Sunday he reached out to me and wanted to shake my hand.  At the end of the week we wanted to check to see how he was doing so we took a pack of M&M's for each missionary in the district with the following note.  We felt like we just needed to visit with them and see how they were doing and particularly how he was doing.  We went about 7:00 in the evening when we knew they would be studying in their classroom.  His turn around was absolutely amazing.  It is as though he never had thought of leaving.  They all just need to get through the first week away from home, and having just made this major shift in their lives and yes getting through the pressure and stress of the first week of studying and constantly needing to perform.  

Every Tuesday night is pizza and pasta night. (This isn't my tray, but the elder next to me at the table)   The cafeteria gets pizza from Costco.  The missionaries love it and they can eat all they want. ( I jokingly asked some the Elders the last time it was served how many pieces they ate.  The max was three).  The only problem came one night when some of the pizzas must have been bad because the missionaries ate between 5:30 and 6:30 and then right after the devotional that started at 7:30 precisely on cue about 7 or 8 missionaries got sick between 9 and 10 at night.  They were up all night.  Dennis and I made house calls to 4 elders the next day and some missionaries came into the clinic with complaints.  It was interesting to track that situation and see that the ones who got sick all ate roughly at the same time and possibly from the same pizza.  They serve pizza here regularly and their have been no problems in the past.  Dennis bought a bag for medical supplies for the next time he had to make house calls.