Well,
just like that it's been another week! And yes, despite eating raw
claw, I am still alive. We were told after eating them that on the
Northern part of the island eating shellfish is temporarily off-limits
because of "red tide", a bacteria that comes and goes, but when it
comes, and you eat shellfish, you get paralyzed and sick. So far I can
still move all my toes, so we're good! Honestly, the raw clams
themselves weren't too bad, it was the greenish goop inside the stomach
of the clam that made it a little less than desirable. The clam already
ate it once... it doesn't need to be eaten a second time. :)
But
yes! We had the chance to go clam digging with the chief, Sid! It was
great. He has a massive 3500 diesel truck and we just drove for a while
along places that you wouldn't think that vehicles could go along the
beach and in between boulders and through forest and through rivers and
found a pretty prime clam digging spot. After we had a good amount of
clams, we went around delivering them to people. We were taught how to
shuck clams, but we still made a deal with one of the recent converts
here that we'd give her half of the ones left over if she would shuck
them all. We're going to experiment making some clam chowder later. But
the people on the islands here are just great. We have great discussions
with Sid and Cindy. And whenever we go over for a lesson or even just
to drop something off, we can't leave without them feeding us something.
They're very generous.
Oh
yeah! I also got my Haida name this week. I don't have my planner on
me, and that's where I wrote it, and so I don't remember how it's
actually spelled, but it's pronounced "eethahlingeye K'awjee
Culth-gull", which means Fierce-eyed Gorgeous one. Actually it means
"Yellow Haired Boy". But... you know. And in this culture, it's very
offensive to pronounce a Haida name incorrectly. If you pronounce
somebody's name wrong, you just give them $20. At a recent feast,
apparently somebody from a different clan pronounced a chief of a
different clans name incorrectly, and it was so silent you could hear a
pin drop. So the matriarchs of the clan went around collecting money,
and they gave the chief whose name was mispronounced $3000. So... you
just don't try to say people's Haida names.
The
work is going well, though! Haida Gwaii isn't a big place, and so we've
talked to a some people a few times by now, but there are still a few
rocks unturned and a few trees we haven't looked behind. The people on
the reserves here are very willing to speak with us, and we do find a
lot of new people to teach every week, and there are some very faithful
investigators that just make the world go around. In smaller places you
come to better appreciate how much the Lord does soften people's hearts,
you can see people who weren't into talking the first time change their
minds.
We've seen a
lot of miracles as well! Eric is still doing well and excited about his
baptism on April 6th (...or around there! Whenever President Tilleman
can make it up.) There are a lot of miracle people on the island.
When
we pulled into Masset and got cell service on Sunday, we got a
voicemail from a recent convert in whose home we were planning on
holding church letting us know that she would not be able to have church
at her place because she needed to be at a feast that her clan was
holding to celebrate one of the families adopting some children. So...
that left us without any building to hold church in. We kind of were
stuck! We literally started calling less actives and investigators to
see if we could hold church in their homes. (They don't need a ride to
church... church needs a ride to them...) We decided to swing by the
community hall that we usually hold church in that has been closed for 3
weeks for renovations, and they hadn't started anything yet, and so we
were able to just hold it there, so that much was good. We held church
there with the misssionaries, one recent convert, one investigator, one
member. Quality not quantity.
Well, it sounds like everything at home is going well! Thanks for all of the emails and the support! Love you all.
Jed:
Congrats
for building a speedy school bus. It looks like a good vehicle.
Hopefully you didn't learn TOO much at the MMA thing that you went to.
And look at your hair! Is that how you do it now?
Elder Blotter
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