Chapate Gestapo
We were in a refugee complex on Friday, we had tried to contact a handful of people but no one answered there was also a flash flood warning that was moving it's way west. It had been at the doctors office we were just at for Elder Shiday' s leg and now it had started to rain here. We were bolting to the car preparing to go take shelter until it was safe to drive. On our dash back I stopped to give a Nepalese lady a "finding faith in Christ" card but when I tried to talk to her she ran and got her son to translate. They wanted to know where the church was, it attracted a large crowd of other Nepalese people asking where the church was and what time the bus would roll by. When we told them there was no bus they were all disappointed and walked off except for one guy and a woman whom I presume was his wife.
The guy tried to practice his English on us but he didn't speak much and then he would tell us a joke in Nepali but we wouldn't understand, it was all very fun but the rain was coming and we had to get going.
As we excused ourselves Elder Shiday asked where we could buy something called Chapaté (don't know how to spell it) for future reference. They thought he wanted it now though and it also looked like they wanted it. They started excitedly speaking to one another pointing in multiple directions. We tried to excuse ourselves but it was too late. The woman turned around and shouted at thin air and I kid you not, 5 seconds later this roughly 5 year old Nepalese boy just appeared from Oblivion and started running. He squeaked, "Follow me!" And we did. As we tried to keep up with this friendly chapaté spirit the man was doing some crazy dance moves accompanied by his wife clapping a beat for him.
The kid led us to an apartment and then he vanished. We were forced inside and commanded to sit down but after a few seconds and some shouting from the kitchen the man grabbed us and we were on the move again. Apparently there was no chapaté there. We ran towards another apartment across the complex and the guy kept dancing and shouting at cars to stop. "Stop" Was one of the few words he knew in English.
We made it to the next apartment where another small group was waiting outside. We asked one of the kids there how much this was going to cost and he said, "the usual. You got the 1dollah2dollah3dollah4dollah."
An older lady showed up and let us in. The guy was now throwing the craziest vocals I've ever heard as we shuffled in and sat down. The older lady started furiously throwing rice and other spices into a pitcher and mixing them up. Another kid and Elder Shiday tried to explain to me what Chapaté even was. I, meanwhile tried inviting a few more people to church but no one was interested. We were served chapaté and before I tasted mine a Chinese boy that had somehow gotten mixed up with the rest of us took one bite and just couldnt take it (too spicy). I ate a bite of mine and thought it was fine. If you know of a breakfast cereal called "honey smacks" it tastes like that only spicier.
Here's something spiritual:
We were at Angelique's and her Less Active friend was there poking fun at us. Apparently he was the one that originally fellowshipped Angelique's mom and her kids. He was talking himself up like he was the sole reason they got baptized. He started asking absurd questions and we tried to arrange a time for us to come over and answer them but he said he was always too busy and that if we were going to answer them, we had to do it now. We didn't have time to go off on a tangent with him but Angelique just started laying down righteous judgement. She told him she knew he wasn't that busy. And that he could start coming back to church and letting us come over. Then he said that we didn't know the answer to his question and she said, "maybe not. But they always do their best to find answers so if you let them come next time they will tell you." It was awesome to see her defending the faith like that.
Je vous aime,
Elder Murdoch
Pictures:
1: our parking lot after a normal rain storm (not a flash flood)
2: Chapaté lady
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