Ch. 63: An African Safari and a Lawyer

Chapter 63: An African Safari and a Lawyer

“What is that...?” I thought to myself, “...Is that a fish head?”

The plate of African food was being put into my lap, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. I have been avoiding this moment my entire mission. Missionaries always have the tales of the famous African dishes, and my time had come.

“So, Albertha, what´s in it?” Bad question. BAD QUESTION.

“Well, carrots, tomato, pepper, (not so bad), sardines (a little worse), fish tail, fish head, an...”

“ Alberth“a, you better eat up, or your food will get cold.” I didn´t even want to know the rest.

I took a deep breath. I can do this, I can do this.....Actually, the first bite wasn´t that bad. The second bite all I could taste was sea salt, and some part of a fish. Oh no. This African fish stew was not going to be good with me. I discovered if I kept the plate far away so I couldn´t smell it and I swallowed fast, I would only feel the fishies slipping down. Gulp. Albertha told us while she was eating that there is a special dish they make for women who are pregnant and want to have their baby. She said, “We make this dish, they eat the dish, and out comes the baby. Just like that!” What are you trying to do to me Albertha....hahaha Fortunately, our lesson was a lot more appealing than our meal. She is the cutest little convert ever. Her husband (who is slightly less active) came in and we asked him to offer the prayer, and he started to protest a little bit, and Albertha points to him and says, “You WILL pray, and you WILL invite the Holy Ghost to stay in our home.” There´s nothing you can say more to that! And she made her own dress for church this past Sunday. It was pretty impressive.

Saturday was also a crazy day for us. We were supposed to meet with our investigator that had the really incredible experience with the Book of Mormon (the one with the light), but she was an hour late, so as we were sitting in our meeting spot trying to think of something to do for 45 minutes, a man named Frank came and sat down next to us. We had contacted him once before, so we just started chatting about life. He explained to us that he used to be a lawyer, but now he was retired. He was asking us about our mission life and what we believe in, and he said, “I get along with you girls, and I´d like to have you over for dinner. What about if one night you girls come over at 10:00?” (that´s a normal time when Spaniards eat dinner.) We explained to him how we had to be in our piso, at the latest, by 10:30 and how we actually have to call our District leader to tell him we are home. He just looked at us and said, “Look, I am a lawyer, it´s my job to get through loop holes. Go home at10:00, call your leader, and then come back out. It is simple. Plus, I have some great wine and coffee.” Oh great. We explained to him how we don´t drink alcohol...or coffee. He looked completely perplexed, but finally said he would make hot chocolate. We also explained the importance of us obeying all the mission rules. So, it will be interesting to see how our lawyer will progress.  Finally, Lucresia (the woman who loves the Book of Mormon) showed up, and she brought her other friend, so we excused her tardiness.  I was so excited. The friend that she brought was so great. We were explaining the Restoration, and the friend, her named Consuelo (comfort in English) was just eating it up. Lucresia just said, “Look, the Book of Mormon is just like the Bible but even better. You get to read about Christ without thinking so hard about what it´s actually trying to say. It just says it! And it’s relatable!” It was so great to see how her testimony keeps growing of the Book of Mormon. It just stinks how she works EVERY day. ALL day. She only gets off work one day every month, and it´s the last day of the month. Some day she´ll come to church and get baptized.... But for now, we can work with Consuelo. Then, later in the day, we had to help the Elders set up for their baptism, actually, we had to go pick her up from a town a half hour away on a train. She´s....well....let´s just say not quite there. I think she has some mental problems. I have never seen anything like it. She was crying hard for like 3 minutes, and then would be happy and smiling for the next 10 minutes, then panicking again, and then completely peaceful. I didn´t know what to do....I just kind of sat there trying to figure out how I could calm her down during one of her crying attacks. She kept repeating how she´s been emotional for the last 3 days, and that she just wanted to feel peace before her baptism. I was trying to think of something when I thought of the story of Alma the younger. Three days of misery and then joy. Perfect! I shared with her the scripture, and she was fine all the way through after that. What a miracle. After the baptism, we also had another little miracle with Josep. His daughter went with the Young Women to go ride horses, and so he was able to really tell us all the doubts and problems he has going on right now. It´s pretty much a mess. I felt so bad. It turns out that he has his ex wife who is the mother of his daughter, and his real wife who actually raised the daughter and is more like a mother to his daughter both in Colombia. The ex wife gave up Angela (the daughter) for adoption, and he had to go find her in the orphanage and pay to get his own daughter out while he was in Colombia. He brought her here to Spain with his real wife, but she could only stay for 5 years with her visa. Now, to make a very long story short the ex wife is coming to try to take Angela away, and Josep is trying to work to get his real wife here. He´s waiting for God to help him with the situation, and until something happens, I am afraid he´s not going to progress in the gospel. WHICH, is not how it´s supposed to work! We are working with him about if he shows his faith in God, that God will help us. We are really working with him though, we can feel the miracle around the corner!

This week though, I really felt like I was serving my mission in Africa. Between the African cuisine and continued visits with Albertha, it would appear that I had traveled to Ghana without realizing it. The African Safari doesn´t end there though. On Sunday, our ward did a “blitz”. A lot of the members and all the missionaries got together, and we got sent to visit all the less actives in our ward. It was a great activity. So, we went to the first two houses that we were assigned, and there was no one home. Then, we went to another less active home of another African, and actually, a Jehovah witness that was visiting let us in the door. I never thought I would say thank you to a Jehovah Witness...kidding! Sort of...anwyay. We got in there, and he wasn´t home, but his daughter was! His daughter is not a member and is investigating a lot of different churches and has a lot of questions. So we taught the daughter and she said she would love to go to church next week. I love working with the less active members. She´s 15, and we´re going to go get ice cream with her this week. Ice cream is one of my favorite tools of the missionary work. Who refuses ice cream??  It was quite the eventful week! In the words of some of my favorite Africans, “me do po po po!” (I have no idea of the spelling)

Les quiero!

Hermana Hopkins