We absolutely love it here, and we believe that we were called of God to serve at this time with these people. They have such a simple gladness and joy about having the gospel. Their laughter is spontaneous and bouyant (in fact, Delynn says that I appear to be quite a bit more funny in Africa than in other places);) Actually, we have been most impressed with their level of education--especially the word choices and phrasing. Since we are both lovers of language, it has been wonderful to hear the diplomatic yet precise word choices. I am sure that we will be more impressed once we can understand more than every 3rd word! Seriously, we pray daily to be blessed with the gift of tongues, so that we can understand what they say. We have given some serious "deer in the headlight" looks this first week--then we look at each other for help--and the African person knows to start over.
One quick story: my wool suit may never be worn here, but since I absolutely demolished it during the two-week long plane trip I decided to find one of two dry cleaners listed in this city of 4M. We finally found it, and when I went in there were about 5 employees engaged in a conversation about wasting of food. They politely included me, and one said something about 1/5th of our food is wasted and could be helping the starving children. I nodded in agreement, and then engaged another delightful woman in getting my cleaning ticket. At the end she asked me (so I thought) if I had hunger. I replied that I did not. Do I have hunger at my house, I was asked. "I do not," I replied and nervously looked out at Delynn sitting in the air conditioned car for help. The kind lady asked me if I could bring one back on Wednesday when I picked up my suit. At this point, I inferred that she was talking about feeding the children (canned food drive perhaps?), so I desperately asked if I should bring one can of food on Wednesday. She then took my ticket and wrote "bring 1 hanger." Evidently the custom is to exchange hangers at the dry cleaners.
Ok, power went off (happens often), ac not working, we are sweltering. Grandpa's first blog is history. I had better get lots of comments or I will blog again!
Great post! That's a classic story! Fun skyping with you guys - glad you are doing good things there.
ReplyDeleteHahah! So take a "hanger", and a can of food! What could it hurt? I hear there are a lot of hungry people in Africa.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that you will get the hang of it by the time your suit is ready.... ;-)
ReplyDeleteGrrr. I didn't quite get that right....no name attached. That's what I get for making a 3rd rate pun.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it will work this time.
David..Loving your blog ..Is the heat helping your knees? I am trying to send you emails but it is not going thru...send me you email address again....I have a nephew in your Mission...Elder Brandon Gagnon..look him up..Duane
ReplyDeleteYeah, there are lots of tricks to cultures. When I was asked if I wanted to purchase some vegetables of fruits and I said no thank you, they looked so sad..(did I tell you this, sorry). I found out that it is, "Not today maybe tomorrow."
ReplyDeleteThat's really funny! So great to hear from you Bishop Heid! You and Delynn are the best & it's fun to see where your adventures take you...proud of you guys!xx
ReplyDeleteSo excited for you guys and the experiences you are having. Let us know when you get the suit back, and how it worked out. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat story....Made me smile.....
ReplyDeleteThat story is so totally hilarious! And I know exactly what you mean. With many of the Indian people we know that they are speaking English but we can't pick out a single word of it. After the first month we have begun to hear it. It is like learning a new language! Seriously! But the Elders are so amazing and such a great help to us. Learning IMOS in Provo was helpful but it only scratched the surface of what we have to do in the office!
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