I am ever amazed at how every time I leave my house, something incredible happens. Dinner after the Maasai village was no different. After helping myself to seconds of the apple crisp, one of the cooks started up a conversation with Amy and followed her back to the table. Everyone there was uber-friendly, so this was nothing new. We're chatting, and then he asks us if we are Christian. "We are." "Where do you pray from? Protestant?" "No, we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is not very big in Uganda. Do you know it?" "Yes I do." "No, not Church of Christ." "No, I know. I know it. I pray from there." "No, really, are you sure? We are very few here." "Yes, I know. I was at the dedication of the temple in Helsinki ". GET OUT!!! YOU REALLY ARE LDS! I almost jumped out of my chair. I swear to you, Africa is the craziest place on the face of the earth. He met the missionaries when he was studying Culinary Arts in Helsinki. He told us his conversion story, his family's conversion story, and then we moved the convo to the veranda for some fresh air and hot chocolate. Some people have the gift of believing. Joseph has this gift. He just can't keep the good news to himself. J I asked him if he was surprised to find out we were LDS. No, he said. I was surprised. I asked if he met many LDS members at the Lodge. Nope. We were the first. But he said he wasn't surprised because he "witnesses" all the time. He's constantly sharing the gospel with staff members and guests and didn't even bat an eye when he found out we were members, like he already knew it or something. I practically fell out of my chair. He just expected it.
Who ever would have thought I would meet a member of the church at a lodge in far east Kenya over ice cream (which he snuck for us) and apple crisp?
1 comment:
Very cool story! I love hearing things like this. I was just at the Helsinki temple two weeks ago and wondering about what happened to all the people who went through the open house. Then I read this story - very fun. This world really is a small place and getting smaller all the time.
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