Fried Rice and Five Gallon Buckets

Last week we decided it would be a good idea to have our District Meeting (for all of our missionaries) at our new house.  In case of an emergency (earthquake, political revolution, any kind of natural disaster, etc.) the plan is that all the Elders make their way to the senior couple's residence and then we contact the Church to get us out.  Since most of them had not been here, we felt it was a good idea to have them all familiar with where to go.

We decided to make the meeting a little special and had the Zone Leaders order chicken and fried rice lunches from a little chop house called the Green Hand that's downtown.  We were told the meals would be ready at 2 p.m., so knowing how Africa time goes, we went about 3 p.m.  They were still not ready but the girls were putting the lunches in the bags so we decided to just wait.  I stayed in the car and Elder Thayne went up to the side of the little shack to talk with the girls as they finished packing them out.  All of a sudden, one of the girls stepped out of the back of the shop, walked over and straddled the gutter where Gary was waiting, lifted her skirt and proceeded to go to the bathroom in the gutter.  When she was through, she casually walked back into the shack and continued packing the lunches.  Needless to say, the Elders had two extra helpings of fried rice and chicken that day! I don't think we'll ever get used to the casual way everyone goes to the bathroom in public.

While we were living in our old place in Nkwabeng, our air conditionaing kept going out.  The young man who came to fix the AC was named Daniel.  He speaks very little English, but he and Elder Thayne really hit it off and have become great buddies.  Gary asked if he wanted to learn about the Church and he said yes so the Elders are now giving him the lessons.  He is about 28 years old and lives alone in a rented room. He's asked us to be there when he has lessons and we are excited to be a part of this experience.  It is so humbling.  We went to his room in one of the unfinished cement buildings and he brought out two little benches (like footstools) for Gary and I to sit on.  Then he brought out three five gallon buckets for him and the Elders to sit on.  So here we were, the five of us, sitting in a little circle, talking about our Heavenly Father and His prophets.  Daniel has such an innocence about him and is so eager to learn.  These are the moments that make this mission worthwhile.