As you can see from the two photos below, there is a considerable size difference between these two people. Yes, that's me. From a family sized vat of cream cheese to the large salsa dip that I now am, I have been on one heck of an adventure, and i don't think it'll stop here. Oh, so for those of you who
don't know me, I am Ryan Walburger, friends call me Chog. I am an aspiring writer who, at this moment, is serving a full time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. or at least I was.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. I feel like to better know my point of view, I need to take you back to the age of... well, this April. Us Mormons, when we become of age to serve a mission, are given an opportunity, to live and teach of God in an area we truly believe was called of Him, my area
was in the Salta, Argentina area. that's way south. everyone is tan, everyone does NOT look like the photo of Mr. squishy above, and for good reason too. My areas climate is comparable to the steam room at your local aquatic center. Except people wear less clothing. Its hot. 45 degrees with a near 100% humidity hot. now if you ever
want to know how your Christmas turkey feels like after being cooked, well, its dead, so he wouldn't feel anything. but i think you get the point.
55 pounds later, i find myself looking like an overcooked baked potato. as you see on the left. Happy aren't I? no. this is a staged photo. after losing that much weight, you must be thinking. oh Gosh, was he on the Jenny Craig diet? Did he get 3rd world tapeworms? No, but close. after leaving my first area in the province of Jujuy, I arrived in Tucuman, a land more suitable for fish than people. I felt like I was swimming half of the time, and the other half I was spending in a bathtub of cold water or laying on the floor in front of my dysfunctional air conditioner. then the fever set in.
The last three months of the mission was a torturous endurance match between the climate and my body. Sadly, my body lost. At just under the three month mark, I began to experience memory loss. my digestive system was powering down, and after several trips to the Argentinian hospital, the results were inconclusive.
Just a side note here, if you are traveling to Argentina, good on you, it's a beautiful place, and if your from Las Vegas, you should be able to handle the heat. but do not go to the hospitals. The hospital I went to had a family of cats living in the courtyard, and at least 50 pigeons in the front entrance. The sanitation laws are not the same.
Anyways, back to the main story, they sent me home. I am now waiting on the Doctors tests to tell me whether I had a bad case of Heat Stroke, or if i still have one of the following diseases: Malaria, Yellow Fever, Tuberculosis, or Hepatitis B.
While you lay on the floor waiting for your life to end in an unfamiliar country 10,265 kilometers away from those you love, you begin thinking about escapes. And in this time I created a world of magic, a fantasy land I could escape to in my hardships. Where I walked hand in hand with my character to the bowels of hell and back, to find my purpose of being in that forsaken desert.
well that about sums it up so far. I'm writing a book, a have some very difficult hardships that I experienced that will help fuel the drama that I will write to life, and I hope that one day, when all is said and done, that others will be able to join with me in my escape from reality.
If you look closely at the photo, the well worn pages of the Avon notebook shows the many hours of love to the current book I'm writing. I should rephrase that. the notebook shows the love of the series I am writing. In this book a paragraph summary of every chapter in my book exists. some of which are a page long. Before you ask, no you may not see. that would be like saying hey, would you like to see the Sistine Chapel before it was completed? Now, I'm not comparing my work to the Sistine chapel (or am I?) but it just doesn't feel write to reveal the masterpiece before its finished. But, teasers may be issued on later posts.
