Sleepless in Brazil

Many nights we can't sleep. So I get up and write. I have been keeping a paper and pen journal that I refer to it as my small plates; in it I am recording my study and reflection on the scriptures. Usually about midnight I am tired enough to sleep.

Sometime the sleeplessness is due to taking our medication late at night. I have to take my thyroid pill in the morning before I eat and then wait at least four hours to take any vitamins or minerals. I usually get busy and involved with the missionaries and forget to take them until around 8:00 at night when I shut down the help desk. Vernon/grandpa sometimes forgets to take his pills before his meals so he takes them at night and he has the same problem.

Sometimes the sleeplessness on Sunday and Tuesday night is caused by the spiritual impact of the day’s activities and our minds and hearts are just too full to sleep.

Sometimes the sleeplessness on Monday nights can be contributed to the missionaries that are leaving. There is a tradition here for missionaries to gather in the court yard just outside our window to sing, take pictures, and say their last good-byes, before going out into their various missions throughout Brazil. The missionaries start about 9:30 p.m. and are suppose to end at 10:00 p.m. but usually things do not quiet down until about 11:00 p.m.. Lights are supposed to be out at 10:30. When Vernon/grandpa and the President attend the send-off the missionaries usually end on time.

Sometimes the sleeplessness on Wednesday and Thursday is due to getting new missionaries that are tired, but wired, and forget that quiet time starts at 10:00 p.m.. Vernon/grandpa and the President have had to go and knock on some doors, turn out their light and lovingly remind them it is time to lay quietly in their beds, even if they can’t sleep.

Usually we are not sleepless together.

Fortunately for us we have two other rooms where we can go if we can’t sleep. Fortunately we can take a nap in the afternoon on Sunday, especially now that I don’t have to practice leading the music for the choir. Taking a nap in the afternoon, however, at our age is also a cause of sleeplessness at night.

Fortunately we have our preparation day on Saturday and can sleep in a bit. The missionaries, however, start their classes at 7:30 A.M. with a song and their classrooms are just across the courtyard from our room. Often I think of this struggle with sleeplessness as preparation for the next life when we won’t need to sleep to stay healthy and alive.