We bought a broom, mop, rags, paper towels, toilet paper, soap, windex, toilet bowl brushes and cleaner and two garbage cans. In Africa, when you put things like this in a bathroom, it will be gone when you go in the next day. So, we planned for the concert by doing everything the day of. If it disappears after that, we will be so gone...Ha.
That evening we headed out to a missionary farewell of a young man in the Chatsworth Ward. Elder Sullivan is 18 and will be going to Ghana on his mission. His older brother has already been on his mission about 18 months, so they will not see each other for 4 years. His family invited us to come to the farewell party on Sunday, so we brought all the cleaning supplies to give to Bishop Chetty.
When we arrived, everyone was in the Chapel and it was just like going to church. We were about 15 minutes late, because Brother Sullivan told Elder Kyle that although it was supposed to start at 6PM, most people would probably not get there until 6:45. No one is on time around here, except maybe us. We found out later (after waiting 45 minutes) that they had speakers, songs, etc. just like Sacrament meeting. The talks were from people that have known Elder Sullivan for a long time and were his teachers or in the presidency when he was in primary. Most wards aren't that old, and these ladies looked pretty young...but that's the Indian heritage.
The first speaker sang Elder Sullivan's praises. She said she always admired him as a child, because he was always reading the scriptures and was very spiritual. She said that she saw him recently teaching a class and was very impressed with his ability to teach and not be nervous. She talked about her mission and told him that if he would pray daily and obey his leaders that he would be blessed with a great life. She also said how great it was to go on a mission and how much he was going to love it. She bore her testimony of her blessings since she returned from her mission and said she knew without the mission she would not be so blessed. She told everyone that she was sure he was ready and able to go on a mission and would bring many souls into the Gospel.
The second speaker, my friend that teaches Relief Society...I had her photo in the blog from last Sunday...She also remembered him in Primary and talked about he and his brother and how he always wanted to be like his big brother. She said she liked the other sister's remarks, but that she wanted him to know that missions were hard...very hard. It is hard to be away from home; It is hard to get up early every day; It is really hard not to see or be with your family. But, she also said that it would be worth it, if he served well.
Both talks were great and the young man talked as well. He looks so young! And, his parents look so young. It's hard to believe that they have sons that old. Their father spoke too and he is a really good speaker as well and used to be a rebel-rouser, so he never went on a mission and is so excited to send his sons on a mission even though he admitted that it would be hard financially to have two sons on a mission, he thought it was worth it.
After the 'service' we all retired to the 'party' room to have food of course. It was interesting. They had sisters make various finger foods and then put plates together with saran wrap over them, so they could control the amounts and everyone got a little bit of every thing. It was time consuming but a very smart way to do it. I was eating one of the finger sandwiches and it had a kick to it, tasted kind of salty, like some sort of fish. I found out later it was sardines... that is a first for me. It was hilarious to see the elders keep going into the kitchen to get more of the egg salad sandwiches and chocolate cake squares. The picture to the left has the young man going on a mission in the red jacket and his mom. One of the elders looked like he had eaten at least ten of the little sandwiches and the other elder (in photo) was in the kitchen opening a container of cake to grab some. He was embarrassed when I caught him doing it. The elders are really fun.
As you can see from these photos, the main people cleaning up, besides the sisters in the kitchen was the Bishop and the young man's father. Everyone else was sitting around or leaving. We helped awhile. The photo to the left is Bishop Chetty. He worked harder than anyone... A gentle, quiet man.
Oh, I found out that the Elder's mother works for the post office and saw my letter about the package they are holding. She told me that I shouldn't have called the man at Durmail a bad boy. Ha. I never said that. I just said that he wasn't very nice. She told me that was not a good idea to express this feeling. She told me to contact the Medicine Control Council and that the people at the post office did all the right things they were taught to do...a tad bit defensive, I think...Ha. I was actually very nice about it until this one guy started questioning me and being very rude.
This photo is the young man's father cleaning up and taking down tables. These people are so nice and so happy and so loving. We really enjoy hanging out with them and they seem so happy to have us there. Our only problem is how they all want to wait on us as if we are honoured guests. And, they won't let us do anything. On our way home (in the dark), we missed our exit on the freeway, which caused a little tension, but we turned around at the first chance and Elder Kyle started to go the wrong way into oncoming traffic, just to make sure I was awake. Luckily we made it home, none the worse for wear. Driving here is never dull.
I can't wait to read about the concert...Dying with anticipation here!
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