Balling
Hey everyone,
You never know what type of situations you will run into as a missionary, but looking for ways to come in handy always results in something interesting. This week we went to a community garden where a bunch of old Chinese people spend their days happily weeding and caring for their vegetables. None of them speak any English at all, it's like their own mini-China in this place. We were talking with some of them, each of them wanting to show us their new plants, when we had an old guy come over to us and start waving his arms: "Need English!" He had us follow him across the garden to his little plot, where we were coldly received by an old lady from Nepal who barely spoke any English, and definitely no Chinese. The old man wanted our help because the Nepal lady was upset with him, but he didn't understand why. She kept yelling "Not Nice!" and you could tell this sweet man was so flustered, he knew he must have done something wrong but had no idea what it was. My Chinese came in handy as I translated and helped them reconcile the issue (the Chinese guy's plants were growing over onto the Nepal lady's plot and she wasn't having it). I was just standing there thinking: ''Am I really in a community garden in Australia speaking Mandarin to sort out a conflict between an old Chinese guy and someone from Nepal?''
Pretty unique and awesome stuff.
We went back to Grace's house and finished weeding her yard. While there, she had about 6 of her friends come over for lunch. They are all from Syria and were speaking Arabic. They were a little confused when they showed up at their friend's house and there's 3 young guys in the front wearing grandma gloves and pulling weeds. Then Grace told them who we were and how we were helping her. All the ladies were so sweet, they kept saying how good of boys we were and asked if they could adopt us. Then one of them asked if we could pull her weeds too. I love meeting and helping people from all different cultures, and seeing how each person really is a child of God. And love really is the universal language.
We had been trying to get in contact with Bian (an old man we are teaching English) because we hadn't talked in a couple weeks. He had a knee surgery recently so we hadn't been able to get ahold of him. Then one day he randomly answered the phone. After many many days of no contact, he jumped right into the conversation with no delay. It was so funny, he gets really focused on speaking English so he can't hear your questions. It went a little like this:
Me: "Hey Bian hope you are-"
Bian: "Hello! I am great. I have surgery. I live in hospital. I can walk in the courtyard. Right now I am resting in the courtyard."
Me: "Awesome. So was everything-"
Bian: "I am resting on a bench. I can see a cloud. The weather is not too hot. My knee is being restored."
'Conversations' with Bian always make my day.
One thing that's been a little disconcerting about knocking doors in Australia is that most people have a screen door that they leave closed when they talk to you. And some of the screen doors are so thick that you can't see the person you're talking to at all. I've learned from experience that asking people to open it so you can see them ALWAYS comes across as creepy and NEVER results in them opening it. So, once in a while we have 'kànbújiàn' conversations (look-but-can't-see). One such conversation this week was pretty funny. After hearing the door open, I couldn't see past the screen door, but heard a disembodied voice say "I don't know".
"Hey, how are you?" I said.
"I don't know" was the reply.
"We are missionaries spreading a message about Jesus Christ. Do you have a few minutes?"
"I don't know".
"Wait... Do you speak English?"
"I don't know".
We got word of a Filipino basketball night so we decided to drop in this week. When I showed up in my slacks and tie, the 25 Filipinos didn't believe I was going to play. "You gonna change bro?" they kept asking. "You not gonna be able to play in that"
"Just wait and see" I told them.
First time I got the ball I squared up and swished a three from downtown. I didn't hear any more complaints about my attire after that. It was all fun and games from there, and we made a lot of new friends to invite to church.
This week I learned that my Chinese companions grew up hearing all the same childhood stories that I did. The realization was both nostalgic and hilarious for me, mainly because when the Chinese names of the stories are so funny when you translate them. See if you can guess what they are supposed to be:
The Sleeping Queen
The White Girl and 7 Child-like Men
Small Red Hat
We taught a lesson with the sister missionaries in our district, and we split up afterward to go to our next appointments. We walked down the street and talked to a middle-aged guy who was pulling some weeds and offered some help. He wasn't interested and waved us on our way. We didn't think much of it and kept walking down the street. Less than a minute later, I glanced back and saw the Sisters talking to the exact same guy. They had ended up walking the same direction as us and ran into the same guy, not realizing that we had just talked to him. I watched, thinking "Wow that's going to be awkward, he's probably going to be really annoyed with them since he just got done telling us he wasn't interested"
I couldn't have been more wrong. This guy, who was cold as ice to us, was smiling and shaking their hands and exchanging information. Then the Sisters left and kept walking. We waited on the street until they reached us. They informed us that he had asked them to come teach him that Saturday. I was shaking my head in disbelief. Sometimes Sisters just know what to say I guess. Anyway, I was happy. It was pretty funny.
English class was a blast this week, we had a bunch of new people show up. It was amusing to watch the dynamic between the new and old students, especially since they're all old Chinese people and their teacher is a young American. One new lady was really embarrassed to speak English out loud and the rest of them encouraged her and then applauded when she did. It was sweet. Seeing the new students made me realize what a strong connection I've formed with those that we've been working with for a while, like Joy and Enjoy. They told me they've been married for 53 years. They feel like my grandparents and I love seeing them every week. They're some of the kindest people I've ever met.
I was playing the piano in the chapel one day while waiting for our district meeting to start and a construction worker who had been working on the chapel wandered in. He listened for a while and then came up to me and told me he really liked it. I told him I was playing on Sunday and he should come. We talked for a little while and I learned that he was from Iran and had moved here just a little while ago. He told me he likes to work on our chapel since it's really peaceful there. I jokingly asked if he wanted to take a shot at the piano. He told me he used to play a little bit and would give it a go. He made it sound like he was going to attempt to play Hot Cross Buns or sometbing. This guy was covered in splotches of paint and wearing his ragged orange construction shirt, so when he sat down and whipped out the fastest Mozart I've ever heard, I was shocked. I was watching in astonishment as this humble construction worker was flying up and down the piano, absolutely killing this classical piece. It put my lousy rendition of 'Called to Serve' that he had complimented me on utterly to shame. After a downright professional performance, he got up and thanked me, and told me that he had always wanted to play the piano in the chapel but didn't know if he was allowed to. I was really glad to hear him play. I learned not to judge people so quickly. You never know who's going to be a maestro.
The ups and downs of life as a missionary are sometimes seen all in just a few minutes. Before church, we had all 5 people who had planned on coming cancel at the last minute, for various reasons (one of them took the bus for an hour in the wrong direction and called us from a different city). We were a little disheartened when we learned that no one would be coming to church that day. But then, by the time church was over, we had a bunch of new investigators contact us and set up lessons. We met with each of them and taught lesson after lesson for the whole rest of the day. I knew the Lord was blessing us.
Chinese people love to bring up Trump whenever they find out I'm American. Most of the time I just smile and nod, but this week I remembered that I have a picture with that guy from the MTC who looks just like Trump. So the next time an old Chinese guy started talking about politics, I pulled out the picture and he freaked out and then got all his friends to come see and they all looked at me with a newfound wonder.
We discovered a new method of finding people this week. Our mission president encourages us to use our strengths, so my companions and I went this park where they have chessboards built into the tables. There's always a bunch of old Chinese guys playing Chinese chess. Two of them will play and then like 10 more will be gathered around just watching. When we've approached them in the past, they won't even look up from the game to listen to us. So this time we went in and challenged them to a game. They were delighted by some new opponents. Both of my companions would play against them while I talked with each one of the spectators. By the end, we had 3 new people wanting to come to church. Now I just need to learn how to play Chinese chess.
A few weeks ago when we were driving somewhere I saw this one African family out in their driveway. I only saw them for a split second as we drove past, but for some reason they kept coming to mind over the next few weeks. Then, one day this week, we had just finished a lesson and we walking back to the car. Then I realized that the area was familiar- we were back on that same street where I had seen that family. All the little reminders I'd had about them over the past few weeks came to mind and I told my companions that we needed to go knock on their door. We turned the corner and began walking up the driveway. Before we even made it to the door, however, a little girl came running out of the house and jumped up and hugged me. I was surprised by the warm welcome. She was so sweet (I learned later that her name is 'Happiness'). She held my hand while I walked up to the door and knocked. I saw 2 more kids inside and they came out and greeted me just as enthusiastically. Then they ran to get their dad, who came to the door with a big smile, shook my hand and introduced himself as Isaac from Nigeria. Before I even said anything, he told me that missionaries used to visit him, but they hadn't been back for almost 3 years. He was talking to me like we were old friends and I was touched by how genuine and loving he was. We invited him to come to church and then set up a time to come teach him and his family. I was in awe of how God had led us to this family, and was grateful for Him showing me another miracle.
I'm out here doing my best and forgetting the rest. Hope you all are well :)
告诉我关于你的面谈
Elder Halverson
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