I have decided to start every email now with a Native American quote...some open the eyes a bit to how badly we bahana (white man) have treated them over the past couple centuries or so...but hey part of the prophecies in the Book of Mormon say that they will be "scattered by the Gentiles" but not quite to the point of destruction. They also say "The Gentiles shall carry the House of Joseph upon their shoulders" so basically we have to take care of them. Anyways here it goes.
"Do not grieve. Misfortunes will happen to the wisest and best of men. Death will come, always out of season. It is the command of the Great Spirit, and all nations and people must obey. What is past and what cannot be prevented should not be grieved for...Misfortunes do not flourish particularly in OUR lives- they grow everywhere." - Big Elk (Omaha Chief)
Its funny, I remember sometimes in Shiprock and sometimes here you will run into a really old person that has a super thick accent and doesn't speak english very well and they talk like that. All mysterious and full of wisdom like.. Kinda cool! Things are going good here in Hopi! Despite the lack of lessons we have we are seeing a bunch of people come out of the woodwork that we will be able to teach this week hopefully. I actually got a bunch of stuff to talk about today.
First off Sunday was awesome!!! Sunday is my favorite day as a missionary. I don't think it will be when I get back purely because I won't be able to have that awesome feeling when someone that you've been working all week with to come to church walk through the door...best feeling ever. But we had 5 people we are teaching come to church yesterday it was legit! We would have officially had 9 but those other 4 were completely unexpected to come and they surprised everyone. Tell you what, being in the only Hopi congregation in the entire world is really a privilege. I would put this group of 60 members give or take a few a week up against a Utah ward of 300 and the Hopi branch would win when it comes to showing gratitude, humility, kindness, and friendship to every single person that walks through that door. Its amazing and I have ALMOST teared up a couple times experiencing it. Last week the lady we are teaching that has committed to be baptized on the 18th of January came to church for her first time, and of course she is related to half of the people in the branch anyways, but literally EVERY single person got up and made a line and welcomed her and gave her a hug and of course all the sisters were crying cause they were so happy to see one of their family members come to church that never has before. Our branch president was standing up at the pulpit waiting for people to sit down so we could start the meeting. Yesterday with all of those new people that came to church the person who was conducting individually called out the names of those that came and welcomed them. It took almost 10 minutes but hey, its worth it. Only if every congregation in this church would have a welcoming party like that!!! Nobody would want to leave!!! Good stuff... you will have to come experience it for yourself someday. But during the meeting I was sitting in the very back row smack dab in the middle...surrounded by investigators on both sides it was awesome. Happy day.
Also we went to pick up a less active member before church started and Elder Pebbles was just waiting in the truck while I went and knocked and I heard this big "COME INNNN!!" from tons of people. I went in and there was about 30 people having a family breakfast! Completely unexpected! There was only like 2 cars outside....ya. Now it doesn't matter how poor or rich a Hopi is...if you walk into a house while they are having a meal you hear at least one person yell " Sit down and eat!!!" ahh music to my ears...so while my companion was sitting in the truck still unaware of my good fortune...and while the person we were picking up was getting dressed I had a hot bowl of whats called "blue marbles." Its blue corn all ground down into a fine powder with more Blue corn rolled up into little balls and all boiled together. Its really good actually! I had never had it yet and it tasted like corn oatmeal. It was kinda funny though with everyone watching the only white guy in the room eat, I said to myself if this doesn't taste good i better have the best acting job of all time...but luckily it was pretty good! We were also in a hurry and the guy came out and I still had a lot left so they just yelled "DRINK IT!!!" so I downed it. I got back into the truck like...ah man that stuff was soooo good!!!....Elder Pebbles looks at me all funny...what are you talking about?....I just got breakfast! Your loss for not coming with me!! Yes victory is mine.
Okay next...We had interviews with President Batt on Friday and that went really good. We talked for about 20 minutes. He told me that I am the only Elder in a very long time that actually likes Polacca. I about threw up! How can you not LOVE Hopi!!?!? Its da best!!! Then he told me a joke...He put his arms high in the air and was wiggling his fingers...he said "whats this?" i was all...i have no idea...He said "its a hopi playing the piano." That was pretty good...yes Hopi's are short...most of them at least. But President made notice that I wanted to stay here forever so hopefully I won't be moving anytime soon.
I also had an experience that really hit me deep and made me think how thankful i am for what i grew up with and what i have. We were having dinner at a members house and we got onto the subject of Christmas. We asked one of the young boys what he wanted for Christmas and he put his head down and he meant to say it jokingly cause he had a smile but by what he said there was kind of a heavy pause in the air and everyone sat there for a second in silence....the boy said "I already know what I'm getting...a lump of coal." Oh how growing up as kids in this country and a few more that " a lump of coal" means that you are a bad kid.... I haven't talked to Elder Pebbles about that but after the boy said that and I saw the faces of those around the table.....I knew that family would actually love a bunch of coal for Christmas just so they could stay warm for a few nights without having to worry about that.. I wanted to kneel down and pray for thankfulness right there. I will never forget that....On the subject of that family one of the family members comes to church but is not a member. He has been coming for a few years since he moved in but was never really interested. Now just yesterday he said that he would like to take the lessons!!!! WHOOOO!!! So we will be teaching him sometime soon.
Next...Cant remember if I mentioned this earlier but a couple weeks ago we gave a blessing to a young less active lady that was involved in a very bad accident. She rolled 4 times and her face got all messed up. Her boyfriend was driving and he had to be life flighted to Flagstaff. His back broke in 2 places and his right arm...he was really messed up. The boyfriend is not a member and has never really had anything to do with any church. But we got a call from her on Saturday night to see if we could give her boyfriend a blessing. We took Elder Kamka with us and and we sat down with the boyfriend and explained what a blessing is and how and why and everything so he felt comfortable. He said he wanted one so we continued. Elder Kamka said the blessing and afterwards the young guy started crying and said that Elder Kamka said a few things that were on his mind exactly and he also said that after a time in his life he stopped to believe in God...but after the accident he was wondering why he was alive because they both 100% should have died...he says he has renewed faith. That family happened to be some of the unexpected people that came to church yesterday! It blew our mind! We didn't even invite them! But then we set up time to meet with them this week. Good stuff!!! I am so happy to be here with the Hopi people. Thanks for everything and GO BRONCOS!
Love Elder Christensen
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