"Manuia Asofanau"

Manuia Asofanau:

First of all, thank y'all so much for your love on my birthday, I really appreciated it! 

Side note: some guy tried offering us a smoke (Not in a creepy "hey kids, want some drugs?" Kind of way but in a genuine nice way.) Then he caught himself and said, "y'all aren't old enough to smoke are you?" We said no but as we walked away we realized we are old enough to legally smoke which was weird.

Unfortunately I had to go on exchange on my birthday with my district leader, Elder Tafua  who is indeed Samoan. It's not that I dislike him or hate going on exchanges, I kind of just wanted to be with Elder Shiday so the burden of decision isnt placed wholly on my shoulders. The day was ok, in fact, it was pretty normal. We did some contacting in the morning, had lunch at Chick-fil-a where I realized I've been ordering the same thing from Chik-fil-a for years. We had a few lessons in the afternoon and dinner with one of our bishops in the evening. He found out it was my Birthday  so they made a cake and sang for me which was really thoughtful but it meant I had to sit through the birthday song awkwardly, I was hoping to avoid that this year. 

After din-din we went to do some more contacting when we smelled something barbecuing or something. "Africans?" Elder Tafua asked, "No, Samoans." I answered recognizing the smell. Elder Tafua grabbed me and started for the smell of burnt chicken and the sound of dubstep. We found them at the back of their apartment building with a ratty green couch placed in the mud, the mud being created by a running hose that had been used to fill up a kiddie pool devoid of kiddie's. Mosquito's were flying around biting anything with a pulse.  All of this was next to an old cemetery, just your classic Texan evening.

Elder Tafua walked up to the two Samoans drinking their Heineken.

"What is up, my dudes? He asked

"Are you Tongan?" Growled the one with long dark braids.

Elder Tafua looked a little nervous, "Haha no, I'm Samoan" he replied sheepishly.

They started asking him stuff in Samoan but Elder Tafua speaks poquito Samoan so they made fun of him for a minute but soon became friends. Turns out one was a Less Active and he was a little embarrassed talking with us so he went inside to fix us a plate. 

Long braid guy's name was Miki and he was insanely drunk and wanted to hear a scripture so Elder Tafua blew his mind with a scripture about praying or something and then one of the women came out and handed us a bag full of chicken and Miki shook our hand and held onto mine for way too long.

He asked how old I was and when I said 19 he called me a baby face which doesn't even hurt my feelings anymore.

Then Elder Tafua told him it was my Birthday and Miki grabbed my hand again and said, "Aight, Imma sing happy birthday for you.

Happy birthday to you. Ayy.

Happy Birthday to you. Ayy.

Happy birthday dear Elder Murdoch. Ayy.

Happy birthday day to you. Ayy."

Then, while still holding my hand he and Elder Tafua sang the same song in Samoan but with more "Ayy's" and more snapping. 

All in All it was a pretty wild birthday.

I know this gospel is true, I know that even though I'm just a 19 year old baby and do know this much is true.

Je vous aime,

Elder Murdoch