Cultural Differences we've found

Cultural Differences: I need to tell you a little more about the stake conference we attended. The ward choir that performed was so much fun to watch. Ten of the 28 people were African. I don’t mean African/American. The missionaries that are assigned to that ward say that there are members from 10 different African countries in their (very impoverished) ward. Some of the women were dressed with the long dresses and matching wraps around their heads. It was fascinating. In the temple we have lots of Spanish speaking people. We love that. I was able to be in a Spanish session on Friday night and I loved that. The second most common language we have encountered is Mandarin. I’ll include an excerpt of an email I sent Caleb (who is serving his mission in Taiwan). “I was assigned to work in the baptistery this afternoon. When I arrived at the side of the font, I immediately realized that all of the participants were Chinese and the ordinance was being performed in Mandarin. Not only that, but the "cue" cards were written in Chinese script. It was so-o-o-o cool. About half of the cards were family cards. The older woman and the young woman identified them as their fathers, uncles, and grandfathers (and the female relatives of course). It was so amazing. One of the baptizers (who looked Chinese) said he would prefer baptizing in English. But he wasn't doing the family names, so no one minded. When they came to the confirmation room, I saw that he was a missionary, so he probably just doesn't know how to read the Chinese characters. He spoke Chinese without hesitation. But his companion read the Mandarin without any difficulty--so he obviously had a different background. One of the young women apparently doesn't speak English because she couldn't follow my instructions on where to go next until someone translated for her. On the name cards, on the top line it was written in Chinese characters and on the line right under it, it was written in the English alphabet. Names that included Lin, Tang, Lun, Nang, Chen, Woo and a lot of other names that I can't remember. It sounded like during the baptism the name of the person whose work was being done came at the end, but I couldn't be sure -- because it was all Chinese to me!” Then today we had a Korean lady in the session. When we have patrons who speak different languages they use language cards. It was great—she was presented at the veil where Spencer was receiving. I was at the next one and could hear the exchange. Spencer spoke English and she responded in Korean. Fascinating conversation. Spencer says it was hard to do when there wasn’t really any communication (from his perspective). But it is good that the Lord understands all of the languages  without any difficulty. As you walk down the street you see all kinds and colors of people and hear a multitude of languages being spoken. It is a fun adventure! In two weeks we should have a couple arriving from Singapore, Elder Tan and Sister Tang. He used to be an Area Authority. That will make the missionaries multicultural as well. What fun.

Our temple training in SLC was wonderful--just as you would expect it to be. There were 23 couples. In April there were eight and in March there were 11. So it was a large group for our trainers to accommodate. Five couples left a little early in order to arrive in Paris in time for the temple dedication. How fun would that be--to help open a temple?! There were three couples going to Nauvoo--including two sisters and their husbands. There were two couples going to Palmyra. But our group covered the globe--Manhattan, Washington DC, London, Frieburg Germany, South Africa, Bolivia, Paraguay, Samoa and Japan. One of our biggest thrills was seeing President Fotheringham from our first mission in Colorado. He was one of the sealers to work with our group and he requested that we be switched so that we could participate in his sealings. It was such a special highlight. We flew out on Friday morning. Getting our luggage packed and weighed was a challenge--but we made it. Our flight was 1 1/2 hours late leaving, but we were able to get the word to President Bench and he forwarded it along. President and Sister Bench are out of town and we haven't met them yet. President and Sister Nixon picked us up in Newark, NJ. He is a counselor in the temple presidency. We barely squeezed everything into the back of their CR-V. Our apartment is small, but it is manageable. The other temple missionaries had stocked us up with food to prepare several meals, homemade brownies, fresh cut flowers and laundry supplies. It was great. We only shopped a little on Saturday, which was a good thing, because the stores were crowded, the aisles are crowded and small and it was hard to get around. But at least we learned where a few stores are located. Sunday morning we lucked out. We are assigned to the Councourse Ward (Spanish) in the Bronx. It happened to be their Stake Conference, so the Nixon's rode out on the subway with us. Now we know how to get there for next Sunday. We came back on our own. We surfaced in an unfamiliar spot (we should have walked a block underground), so we had to navigate four intersections in a round-about to get to Broadway Street. But we are better informed for next time! :) Monday night we went out to eat with the other missionaries and we watched the "Fantasticks". It was "off"-broadway. It was just okay, not great. Tuesday we started in the temple. There are a few proceduaral differences, but we are learning them. It will take a while to learn all of the names of ordinance workers, missionaries and volunteers. We miss all of you, but we are excited to be here.

I feel bad that we didn't get group pictures last weekend when we were with our Brown kids and grandkids at Ben's house in Queen Creek on Saturday night and with the families of my boys, Chad, Nathan and Adam, along with Ron and Marilyn Tenney and Diane Timothy on Sunday afternoon at Chad and Ann Marie Dike's house in Mesa. It was really nice to be there when Jacob received the Melchizedek priesthood. Those goodbyes with kids and grandkids are always tough. But, we have faith in the promise that our family will be blessed if we are willing to serve missions. We left home bright and early on Friday morning. We had been so busy it was actually with a sign of relief that we were able to get in the car and leave! :) We connected with Kathy and John Palmer in Kanab at a diner. We visited and enjoyed lunch. We were on our way to spend the night at their house and they were on the way to spend the night with Emily in Prescott Valley. They had a grandchild being baptized in Tucson. I will miss my close friends and of course my family. But we are excited about this new adventure. Saturday morning we left Alpine and joined the Crawfords at Liberty Park in SLC. Rachelle tried to explain tennis to us while Dave was coaching the last team in the semi-finals. We missed out on seeing Gibson play, which made me sad, but it was so nice to be with him. The day turned out to be very windy and cold, but we were tough and enjoyed the time together. Sierra was at cousins. She gave us sweet, tender good-byes. We enjoyed a lunch with Dave, Rachelle and Sierra and had to part ways. That is always tough. Later, we had another fun meal at Terra Mia with John and Lynda Tenney, Carl and Linda Tenney, Dennis and Sandy Tenney and Tom and Cheri Sweetland. We LOVE our family and friends. We feel very blessed by the love and support we receive. We spent Saturday and Sunday nights in Hooper, UT at the home of Carl and Linda. We had a wonderful Mothers' Day with their family and attended their ward. We enjoyed playing games and driving around the Ogden and North Ogden area. And of course I really enjoyed the phone calls, texts and cards I received for Mothers' Day. Being a mother is the most wonderful and eternal calling of my life.

Mission #4 is about to begin!

Tomorrow we head out for mission #4! We will be serving in the Manhattan New York temple. We go to Salt Lake for three days of training in the temple. We are very excited about this new adventure. It will be very different to learn to get around on subways and walking! We will be there for 18 months. I hope that if you received the blog posts automatically, you will receive them again. Let me know if that happens or not!