Three Things!

May 29, 2011

Here are three interesting things I've experienced this week. They don't have much to do with missionary work or church itself, but they are unique experiences that stuck out to me this week.

MILK
I stand in the grocery story looking at the shelves in front of me. I am not in the refrigerator section of the store. The shelves contain cartoons of a substance that claims to be milk. They are stamped with statements like "Produced July 2010, Consume before July 2011." I'm scared...
I love milk. By myself I usually drink an entire gallon in a week Since getting to the Philippines I haven't touched the stuff because milk is not something that ought to be stored on a shelf with a life span of an entire year. I'm comforted only slightly by the fact that it says consume within one week of opening.
My love for milk and my curiosity finally pushed me to experimentation. So I purchase a small "snack size" cartoon of milk and a package of cookies to go along with it. After giving it a day in the fridge to get sufficiently cold the cartoon is opened. Final judgement- it's... tolerable... is that really the word I'm using to describe milk!?! Tolerable! There are somethings that I'm really excited to get home for. But until then, it's decent enough to satisfy a milk and cookies craving.

WATER BOTTLE
One of our investigators has a one year old daughter named Allea. This week during Sunday School, Allea discovered my water bottle. She figured out how to get it out of my bag and hand it to me. Since it was in my hands and I was thirsty, I took a drink and stuck it back in my bag. She then got it out again. After this, I'll admit to paying very little attention to the teacher as I watched this sweet child display her intelligence. She looked back and forth between me and my water bottle then sat on the ground. She shook the bottle and watched as the liquid inside it moved around. She then stuck the top of it in her mouth (lid still on). She glanced back at me with a face that said "well, that didn't work" and stared at me for a long time as though trying to remember what I did. She put the water bottle back in her mouth (lid still on) and tilted her head back. She experimented along this path for a while before deciding she still was missing something. After another minute or so of staring at me, she smiled as if she finally figured out what she needed to do. She placed her hand on the lid of my water bottle, wiggled her fingers as though doing magic, put the water bottle back in her mouth (lid STILL on) and tilted her head back. I so wish I could have taken a picture of her face when she discovered this didn't work.

... okay, so after all this writing and thinking and ect. I've forgotten what the third thing I was planning on writing about was. Brilliant eh? Ah- I remembered! Hurray for planners!

THE FAN FAMILY
The Fan family was a referred to us by another investigator. The have 8 children between the ages of 19 and 3. When we came to visit, most of the kids were home, but most of them also (regardless of age) kept their distance and stared at me with wide eyes. We started talking with the mother and sat down to teach her. We sat outside because during sunny days outside in the shade is much cooler than inside. I tried my best to make sure I stayed focused on the lessons and not the kids. The youngest three quickly lost interest and went back to playing. The others, however, couldn't seem to get over the idea that there was an american sitting in front of their house speaking Hiligaynon. They insisted at the beginning of the lesson that they were busy and couldn't join, yet they took turns hiding around the corner, peaking out the window, and standing just inside to door to listen. The window seemed to be the preferred location as it was still within hearing range but was more difficult for me to see. Well, at least they listened- even if they claimed they were too busy. I'm excited to come back to teach them again. The mom promised that next time she would gather the kids to listen instead of just letting them pretend not to listen. She smiled as she apologized that her kids were "too busy" eaves dropping to join the lesson.

Life's great!