Brig’s injuries turned out to be mission-ending. President and Sister Woodley had rushed to the hospital as soon as they heard, and President Woodley had performed a special President’s blessing by laying his hands on Brig’s head and asking the Lord to heal him so that he might continue his mission. As it turned out, Brig would require several months of physical therapy, and it was decided that given the short amount of time he would have left after his therapy that he might as well return home.
Brig had mixed emotions about ending his mission this way. He loved Hong Kong and the people, and he was particularly proud of his language skills. On the other hand, Hong Kong had become a dangerous place for him. He tried to rationalize that the attacks were just dumb luck, but something inside him said otherwise. He knew that the Buddha and Samson were not just missionaries, but what they were, he had no idea. Besides, the Buddha was the best friend Brig had ever had, and whatever it was that he was in to, Brig couldn’t imagine doing anything that would cause him harm.
Samson healed remarkably fast and was out of the hospital in just two weeks. President Woodley credited the blessing that he had given Samson. Samson secretly credited his martial arts training but thanked the President and the Lord just the same. The Buddha’s opinion of Brig went up significantly when he learned from Samson that Brig hadn’t run from the fight when Samson had told him to.
Brig’s father and sister rushed to Hong Kong as soon as they heard of Brig’s hospitalization. They stayed with him until he was able to travel back to the US. He had re-injured his back and the Hong Kong doctor had prescribed Hydrocodone for the pain, which Brig recognized as having the same effect as the pills that the Buddha had given him for his hangover several months ago. Although Brig obviously didn’t realize it at the time, his relationship with opiates would be one of the strongest and longest relationships he would have in his entire life.
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