Evening, 17 December 2011

May I tell you the wonderful satisfaction we feel as we come back to our little flat from teaching a lesson to Spencer and Shelter Stuart, the African couple who have immigrated from Zimbabwe!  We sat down together in our lounge room and marveled that we are here having these amazing experiences!  This is the best thing that could be happening to us when our bodies are starting to wind down, and we can’t do the things we used to be able to do.  Way better than just being tourists or staying at home puttering in our garden, or whatever!  Where else could we be having these amazing experiences but in the mission field!  We love this!  Love this!

The Lord is really in the Stuart’s lives.  He led them to us!  We know that, and we hope they feel it as we do.  They have promised to read the Book of Mormon prayerfully until we come back in 2 or 3 weeks.  They are wonderful, educated people who have high standards and beliefs.  They know their Bible, and are so loving and generous.  They asked us to have tea with them when we return.  She is very tall, and black, around 40 or so, and diabetic.  She put her arms around me and called me “Sister,” but really meant it!  She said they will visit us in America, and I believe they will!  They seem rather well-off.  I can’t wait to introduce them to our family.  They are just a little bit hard to teach because they are so converted to their Pentacostal church, and want to tell us about it.  But Elder Ashby is so good at making them feel undefensive about that, if that is a word.  He tells them that we are simply going to add to their knowledge of truth.  We find that they quote many of the same scriptures we do, so we agree on many things.  Please pray for them.  More and more I know that your prayers are helping God’s work here.  We have never yet been turned away when we have asked if we can come into someone’s home and teach them!

We had a good laugh one day when Ray ran into a shop for something while I stayed in the car.  The man at the counter looked at him kind of funny, and finally asked, “I thought it was younger guys who do this.  Aren’t you kind of old to be one of those missionaries?”

  (Later…) We just drove back into Bridgetown from Manjimup, where they turned out for “Carols by Candlelight.”  It was nice, but it still doesn’t seem like Christmas to me.  I think it’s so strange that they sing things like “White Christmas,” and “Winter Wonderland” when it’s the exact opposite here.  It’s as if they think the real Christmas is celebrated in America, and this is only a copy! 

 So many things are copies here (not speaking of Christmas now).  Things like businesses, foods, products of all kinds.  For example, Rice Krispies are Rice Bubbles.  Kraft mayonnaise does NOT taste like Kraft mayonnaise in the States.  I don’t know how they get away with that.  Hundreds of things are close to the American names, but a little bit different.

Many words are shortened.   Biscuits (cookies) are “bikkies,” relatives are “rellies,”  breakfast is “brekky,”  chocolates are “chockies,” lipstick is “lippy” and Christmas shopping becomes “Chrissy shopping.”  Have you ever heard people described as “cheeky” or “dodgy”?

  

We’ve noticed a difference in the accents even between Perth, Albany and Bridgetown.  In Albany, for instance, if a word ends in a long “o” as in the word, “know,” they put an “oo” sound on the end of the “o,” almost to the point that it sounds like two syllables!  We love to hear them speak.  But there are many other accents, from Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Africa, and many other nations who have come in the last 50 years, so we often have a bit of trouble keeping up with the fast talkers!