The subject was brought up by an interesting experience. In the ward there is an awesome nigerian family. They recently made me part of their family tribe. We even celebrated our naming ceremony yesterday. My new Bening City name is Osasu Mwen (pronounced VEH) meaning "God guides me". They are so nuts, you are going to have to meet them when you come. In fact, i already let it slip that you are coming to pick me up and they are counting the days until they get to meet you. They figure that you are a lot like me and that excites them. So much in fact that the head of the family said that he was going to prepare himself for the encounter because "when two elephants meet to fight, the earth suffers". So plan on it. I bet i could even get you all hooked up with your own names.
Quick side note. As we ended the naming ceremony Felix, the head of the family, explained the importance of having a name. It was supasweet. He started talking about how we usually act like the name that we have. It is the thing we hear more than anything so it influences us a ton. He then compared it to the importance of taking upon us the name of Jesus Christ. People should be able to recognize us for the name we have taken upon ourselves. It was way cool because he did it all in his wild nigerian preacher voice. Im currently working a lot on my wild nigerian preacher voice. I have taken the liberty of adding that to the list of things i want to be when i grow up.
So you asked why the other leaders or considered as greasers in my mind? (yep, thats right, i am actually answering a question, feel free to freak) ((double side note: I just accidentally burped really loud. Dont worry though, there is only one other guy in here other than us and my companion took the liberty of being embarassed for me.)) So, as for that, it has everything to do with the movie grease. Naturally they are who they are. The intimidating group of rough necks that have perfect hair and cars. They just fall into place. And its not that i consider myself to be the girl... so maybe i do at times, always, but thats no big deal, right? Okay, im confused on many different levels, lets move on.
Maybe i should just stick to ignoring most of your questions like usual.
Mom, you are such a rebel! I cant wait to see how we work out this whole package thing. Is she planning on visiting the temple? she can just leave it with us there or with somebody around. It will work its way to me somehow.
Okay, im just gonna start popping in some of the happenings of that last couple weeks in no specific order. Sorry for cutting you short last week, i will do my best to get you up to speed. The most important stuff has all played out a bit more so it is even better and more juicy.
First things first, i got to do a baptismal challenge for a cuban last week! The greatest thing i can tell you about the whole experience can be properly expressed in the form of a joke: why do cubans always have such short hair? Because when they get to the barber shop they always say, "cortame el pelo, chico." If you dont get it, ask mom. There you have it, he was elect.
I am going to go ahead and answer your question before you even ask it- No that joke was not part of the interview, it just came to mind right now when i was recalling the experience. He was golden, not much more about it. It was very fun.
I will now share the wonders of Wilson. Wilson is a colombian that we are currently teaching. He is so so so so saweeeet. When we first taught him about praying on his own about the things we had shared he asked us if we could do a fast together so he could get an answer... yeah, no joke. Of course we said yes (while or stomaches screamed NO!) and he felt really good about it. After that whole experience we went on to have another experience, a first for me, at the young single adult family night. That was a treat. Great crowd for nearly the whole time, then it happened... I thought it was a myth or urban legend of sorts, but it happened. I had always heard of people who attends stuff like this that are in no way eligible to be there. You know, the old creepy dudes. Well, these ones blew me away. Like 5 old, and we are talking old, canes and everything, came waltsing (more of a waltz waddle) on in like they owned the place! They didnt fool me with their big smiles and huge hearts, i knew deep down they were pure evil. They hung out in the bag just sucking the youth out of the room with their old person charm. Then the worst part of all- Wilson left to use the restroom for a moment so we stayed to mingle. He didnt come back for a while so i went to investigate. I didnt believe my eyes. He was in the middle of the geyser group talking to them and being nice. I turned to my companion and let him know we were ruined, he was mixing in with the entirely wrong crowd. He didnt seem to see the danger, but it was real. He made it out alive thanks to their need to go home to put their teeth in water. i dont know how many more close calls we can handle. Since then Wilson has done really well. He is a little scared of his own capacities to stay strong after baptism (awesome doubt), but there is some serious progression and promise.
Next you will hear of Leonardo and Jenny. Also from colombia. They are breathtakingly perfect. They are a young MARRIED couple that are here studying. As elder jackson put it, "I have been waiting to find a family like this my whole mission." They are just soaking everything up. It is hard to explain. They just get it. The best part of all is the find. We had set out for what was to be the best day so far this transfer. THe whole evening was filled with super sure appointments. Well, we went from appointment to appointment to find out that somebody forgot to tell the people we were supposed to teach how awesome the day was going to be because they all failed on us. AFter each fail, we set off to work the area and follow the plans. They all failed so effectively, in fact, that we had to stop to decide what we wanted to do. One of the goals we have is to never wander around. Even if that is all we have to do, we will at least plan to wander so it is not just us doing the wandering, but we can at least let the Lord in on it. So this is the best part. I was looking back and i realized that everytime we ran into a failed lesson, we made a move to another place. Each place we went to then led us to another place and another plan. Had we changed one plan, we would have ended up in an entirely different place. This is what i love about this work. The importance of the individual in the sight of God. We ended up on a street we are not usually on all because of hte chain of plans we had carried out. We saw them, felt it, talked to them, and they are incredible. In one lesson they were telling us about how many missionaries they have seen in their lives, it was actually impressive te hear. Then Jenny asked me why we talked to them. That wasnt the kicker, it came when she asked me why none of the others had ever talked to her and her husband. That one hit me to the core. MAde me rethink things a bit. Good one to dwell on.
Okay, i am out of time, sorry.
loves,
Elder Sky
192ish
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