January 29, 2013

Aaaaaaah yet another Tuesday!

Hello there! It has been a great week this week! We had two baptisms! There are three in the picture, but one is 8  years old, and doesn't count for us. So...two baptisms in the dats box, and three souls brought to Christ! Or...at least put on the right path! We baptized the three little girls. They are members of a family that is less active that we found with the help of the Bishopbric in our ward. Activated family AND baptisms! Best of both worlds! Also, a fun little tidbit...these kids are CONVINCED that I live on the moon. When we visit them it's always in the afternoon when the moon is coming out. They always ask me where I'm from, and I point to the moon! I tell them, "Look...everyone on the moon has red hair! I'm from there!" And they're pretty much convinced. It's hilarious. 

So, this week my companion and I went to do a baptismal interview for a companionship in my District. We got there early, and the church was opened up, so we went in and sat down on some stairs that are inside. As we were just sitting there chatting, my companion noticed something! It was a scorpion! Or, an alacrán as their called in Spanish. His first reaction? Well...he's Tongan, so it's obviously food. We took the stinger off and started to play with it. Kind of creepy little creatures, these. But...apparently when you take off the stinger, it dies, just like a bee. Well I went into the interview and did my thing in there which was....awkward. Women here need to learn when it's appropriate to breastfeed, but I won't get into that story.  So, I got out of the interview, and there was my companion, scorpion in hand, just waiting for me to get out of the interview so that he could eat it! As soon as we made eye contact, he popped the thing in his mouth! He told me that it tastes like crab! For his accent, we thought he was saying that it tastes like crap, but nope! Who knew?

Scorpion = Crab! But now that I think about it, it kind of makes sense!

So we've got this investigator that's really really old. Well...he's not THAT old, but he only gets around with a LOT of help from his walker. He's a sweet old guy, and wants to get baptized, but his familiy won't let him. But every single week he attends church, even though every once in awhile he just wanders off and we have to go find him. Such was the case this week. After the second hour, he just disappeared! We went looking for him, and found him out in front of the church. We asked him, "Where are you going?!" And he informed us, "Oh...I'm just going around the corner to pee!" .......huh? We informed him that that wasn't necessary, that there are bathrooms inside! He looked very relieved, and we headed back into the church. Funny old man. 

Well...that's all I've got. We're going to be opening a new area next week, and there are some CRAZY changes happening in the mission...we have a change meeting on the 5th, or a week from today, AND on the 19th, three weeks from today...and apparently there will be about 50 missionaries entering in those two changes. IIiiiiiinsane. But I'm excited that I'll be receiving two new missionaries in my district so we can go crazy in this area that is SUPER ready to have more missionaries!

I love being a missionary, and I love all of you!
Love,

Elder Hopper