I'm going to start off with a little giggling.So we speak kinda British english here, using terms like 'alight' for stopping a taxi. "Charlie, could we alight here chip chip cherrio." So we have this 'oxford dictionary of current english' at the apartment that we have been having fun with. These british definitions make me laugh.
I was looking up a word, can't remember which one, and came across 'higgledy-piggledy' inside the oxford dictionary.
Higgledy piggledy - adv. adj. In confusion or disorder. Origin = probably with reference to the irregular herding together of pigs.
Also came across 'dicky'
Dicky - adj. british informal. Not strong, healthy or functioning properly. Origin = perhaps from the man's name Dick in the old saying, "as queer as Dick's hatband."
So this week has been a higgledy piggledy week leaving me feeling as queer as Dick's hatband haha. However after some fufu and some sleep I'll be back to normal haha.
Well luckily we baptized 5 people this week as a district! Yahoo. We got 3 more coming up this weekend. We should baptize even more in November! The whole mission is going to be doing a lot more baptizing because we just got word that all of West Africa, except for Ghana Accra mission, was only making people come to church 3 times before they could be baptized. We were making them come 4 times before they could be baptized. Well President Smith came back from a meeting and lowered us down to 3 times at church before we can baptize them. Yippee! This will speed up the process more. I just hope the retention will be there. I hope and pray it will. These mission presidents think this stuff out. I will just go and do.
Speaking of go and do, I have a great 1 Nephi 3:7 story I gotta share. The scripture states,
"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."
So we show up for the baptism to meet Elder Zadi and Elder Collings filling the baptismal font, however only 1 of the 2 faucets were working. The 1 working faucet was only flowing small and would take an eternity to fill an entire baptismal font. So we were running all around higgledy-piggledy trying to figure it out. We went and grabbed the yard hose and fished it through the window to the faunt, even that water was flowing super slow. The font wouldn't have filled in time for the baptism. I then said a little prayer asking for help. We then went to the janitorial closet and started scrounging. I located 2 bright red "Antispetic Toilet Bowl Perfume" containers, I knew my prayer had been answered. The containers were already empty and cleaned ready to use, I chuckled because I knew my prayer had been answered ;) Someone had already used all the toilet bowl perfume and cleaned out the containers. They even already cut off the top of the containers so they could fit underneath the sinks at church. So we took about a half hour filling up the containers using the water from the bathroom sinks. After a bizzilion and a half trips, the font was filled. The Lord always provides a way and He always answers your prayers.
I will get a picture of the toilet perfume containers for you next week okay?
So we had a triple threat, actually quadruple font filling threat, 1 slowly flowing faucet, 1 slow flowing yard hose and 2 toilet bowl perfume containers with missionaries on a Chinese fireman drill font filling frenzy. We got it filled. All of our candidates showed up and were baptized.
We baptized Bea A. She works at the rock quarry. The place has purple granite rock. She is a tough and tall woman. Very slim but has hands like cement. She is around 60 years old and keeps up with the rest of us. She is in the literacy class, she can read but is improving. She is a hard worker and has great faith. She couldn't catch a tro-tro to church because they were all full and only had 60 pesways to church and back, couldn't afford a taxi, so she walked all the way to church. She is great and will be a great help to the ward. She rocks!
We also baptized Jeffery, who is the grandson of Sis Joyce. Sis Joyce named him and raised him. He is great. He is learning well. He is a good kid, very sincere. Sis Joyce was really glad that he got baptized. He can be a stinker so she thinks he needed it - haha.
We also baptized another of sis Joyce's grandkids, sister Bervilyn (pronounced Bevelyn, don't ask me why). So she lives in the house with her mother and little brother Junior Reginald. Her mother, Irene, used to come to the church for 4 years when she was little but stopped. The mother gave us permission to baptize her and for her to always go to the church. After baptizing the kids we visited the family and the mom said, "well the only one left to join is me huh?" She then said that she would but needs some time. She works 2 jobs, one being a night shift nurse and is going to school. She will join very soon I think. Pray for her could you?
Bervilyn is one of the smartest little girls I have ever seen. She is 8 years old and can read up a mad storm. She is really awesome and will be a great leader in her life to a lot of people.
The other day we were contacting by sis Joyce house and I heard, "Elder Bills Elder Bills!" I turned and saw Bervilyn, Jeffery and Reginald running towards me running towards me in full little kid sprint. They were coming from school and had their backpacks on so while they were running they were slish sloshing the kids around. They were so happy. Bervilyn arrived first, then chubby little Jeffery then Reginald at the end because of his small little legs. It felt really great. They recognized me as a representative of something and Someone great. I know that they weren't really running towards Elder Bills, but rather towards Heavenly Father. I'm so glad that I got to teach them, play games with them and baptize them. It was great.
I also tracked down a child of record, Wendy. She is 8 and lives with her grandpa. I had a feeling like I should talk to her when I saw her passing in the hallway. She said that she wasn't baptized yet. So I grabbed her and found her grandpa and explained. He agreed and called the mother, who is a return missionary, and she said, "I was wondering when we were going to do that." So she came down and saw her daughter get baptized. The grandpa did the confirmation. It was great. He stated that she would serve a full time mission and find a worthy male member of the church and marry him in the temple after her mission. The girl is smart. She knew all the words to the Spirit of God song. It rocked.
Well this whole week was pretty cool. We will continue to work hard. Hopefully we will baptize Elisabeth and her daughter Kristy this week. I'll letcha know on Monday.
The church is true.
Good work guys on the Halloween party for the BYU ward. The kids will really have fun. Just incessantly nag them on the phone about their assignments so they will remember (Freshman). For the few select good ones who fulfill their assignments, write them a little something and drop it off for them thanking them for their work and dedication. They will always remember it and will continue to be helpful for the rest of their life.
Speaking of being a helpful person, go check out that dvd about the life of Thomas Monson. Holy cow! Go watch it now!
Well Britt butt, glad you had fun on your rollercoaster funfest. Glad you are having fun with Dave. Do take up the golds gym, do it with mom. Then Dad will also loose weight if you all do. It'll be a Bills family Olympic team. When I get back I'll be about as big as a string bean and we can all wear matching lyrca and take a picture. Dad would shed a tear haha.
MONKEY ISLAND 5! Well I know what I am doing when I get back. It involves
1. Britts house
2. Big bag of chips and mega loads of salsa
3. MONKEY ISLAND 4 with Britt
4. THEN MONKEY ISLAND 5 with Mom and Britt
I'm not a video gamer but the wit in the Monkey Island games is irresistible. Man that is AWESOME. HEAD BONKS all around.
Well I gotta run family. I love you all.
Thanks for the dough. I had to cover my companions butt last couple of weeks because of his medicine and he blew his sub. I'm only letting him eat 1 cedi of dry gari from now on if he blows his sub. Thanks for helping with the money. I only use your money for coke and doughnuts haha. I'll buy some new garments for my Birthday and dispose of my current yellow ones. They kinda look like army camoflague...Love the handwashing out of a bucket haha.
Mountain goat foot.
We walk and ride a lot. No paved streets here really. Don't worry, I got it fixed and polished for 2 cedis.
These really are my favorite shoes ever.
My late night snack. Coke, bananas, banku, peppe (salsa kinda thingie, freakin' hot!), onions and a big fish tale. I buy the banku at one place and the fish and peppe at another. I'm picky with my banku. Only the best fermented corn dough for me (pinky up).
We baptized sis Bea A. (woman to my right) and here are Sis Joyce grandkids. We baptized Jeffery, the small boy on right, as a child of record and then Bervilyn as a convert. We are now working on getting Bervilyns mom to come yahoo!
Little Reginald is only 6, but will be baptized when he is 8.
Wendy was also baptized (small girl on right) and was confirmed by her grandpa (on right). I tracked her down during primary and found out that she was not baptized yet but is 8. There is her mom (on left) who went on a mission to Nigeria.
I like bananas, coconuts and...watermelons...There are massive amounts of bananas around. I can get about 8 for 50 cents.
Bishop Engmann giving his baptismal certificate to Jeffery. We are going to print this photo and give it to Sis Joyce. She was unable to attend because of a funeral, but she will love the photo.
Elder Cobbinah and his friend from his home stake. His friend is about to go on his mission to Nigeria.
Bishop Engmann and Bervilyn. She is really smart. She can read PA!!! She is sis Joyce granddaugh
