A million and one stories from the week,
- The commitment curse continues! So every time I go to commit someone
to something important, something bad happens to drive the spirit
away, eg baby farts, dead bugs in my eyes, dogs breaking their legs in
bamboo chairs, kids faceplanting the concrete, but this one is
probably the worst one of all. We were teaching on the porch the dad
of a lot of our RC's, and hes the critical one because once we get him
we really are gonna start baptising the rest of the families up there,
plus hes only home one afternoon a week if were lucky. So he was
really feeling the spirit, I had just borne testimony and was about to
ask him to be baptised. We all sit in a big circle around the porch,
and the two year old grandson walks into the middle of the circle,
just pops a squat and poops right in the middle of everyone. I was
willing to ignore it. I continued, but it truly ponged so so bad, and
everyone pulled their shirts up over their mouths and ran away from
the porch except us and him, and hes doing his best to be polite, and
I'm doing my best to continue, but it reached a point where I couldn't
have my mouth open anymore. It was bad. Were still working on him now.
On that note, they don't have nappies here for kids so they either
just go straight into their shorts or pop a squat wherever they are. I
can't lie and say I haven't been hit by spashback more than a few
times. The worst is when you're teaching a mum holding a little kid
and all of a sudden she looks down and her shirt is all wet with baby
pee. Most of the time they just carry on, doesn't seem to phase them.
- All Christmas people kept inviting us over for Tupig and were so
excited for it. Everyone I asked I double checked to ask if they were
actually talking about having two pigs at their Christmas parties and
they all said yes. I was super disapointed to find out it was this
coconut rice cake thing made in banana leaves, until I had it and it
was delicious.
- Christmas Eve we went on lockdown at 5pm and had a lot of time to
kill. We bought a brownie mix and made experimental cupcakes in the
toaster oven of every single mix in we could find in our house. They
were all delicious and we have struggled to exercise ever since. On
Christmas Day we skyped our families which was so good! Afterwards we
went out for lunch, and in true 'A Christmas Story' style, I had
Chinese food on Christmas.
- The husbands...have all hit little roadblocks as they all went away
to visit their families over Christmas and quitting smoking has been
hard. I'm hoping to see at least one of them baptised before I leave
but they have to go a month with no slip ups so when we see them
tonight we will find out how they've done. Fingers crossed and a ton
of prayers for them.
- Our 17 year old has quit smoking and was looking solid for baptism.
I think I mentioned last week that he had a second girlfriend that
came to church. Turns out he actually has 6 girlfriends and one of
them is pregnant. Sooo. Baptism isn't looking close on the horizon no
matter how much he wants to straighten his life out. Sad result of not
having come from a loving family, so take note!
- There is the sweetest old man in our ward, hes 87 and he was born
without fingers but he is this rediculously amazing carpenter, plus he
can't read, he can't hear and he can only speak Ilocano. He comes to
church by himself as hes the only member in his family and he keeps a
pocketful of candy to give to the kids at church. We were talking
about how hungry we were just as he walks out and reaches into his
pocket and give us each a box of fish broth seasoning cubes that
expired in 2008. And then three candies to the girl standing with us.
Great. But hilarious. Hes so nice.
- New Years Eve we go on lockdown at 5 again but are gonna get zero
sleep as our street already resembles a Ministry of Sound club on a
regular day, let alone New Years so thats gonna be fun. They've been
selling fireworks on every street for the past week and groups of tiny
kids have been buying them and lighting them off in the middle of the
streets. There's no sort of safety restrictions here and kids are just
yolo. Its awesome though, and were jealous, sort of.
- I realised the other day that convention is on right now and I
couldn't care less that I'm missing it. I love it here and life is
good, and were doing work with eternal consequences. I love my
mission.
And I love you all. Peace be with you,
Until next week!
Sister McKim
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