I had my first day of church today! So I had called church headquarters in SLC to get the ward details, Bishop and number of my new ward and was prepared to track down whomever I needed to and get a ride to church. I called Bishop Ekpo on Wednesday but he was heading out to travel to the Nigerian Temple and wouldn’t be back until Saturday night. He actually came and picked me up at 6:30 AM on Sunday and brought me back to his family's flat to wait while they got ready for church. No, I have no idea why it worked out that way but I was so grateful for the ride that I refused to be disconcerted. His family lives only about four streets from me but the housing is as different as night and day. Bishop Ekpo (who was actually released as Bishop six weeks ago) lives in a small flat with his wife and two children. When I say small, please understand that I honestly do mean flat. In order to understand, I am not going to exaggerate at all. His entire flat consisted of a one room 15 foot by 10 foot. It had a small fridge, mini-freezer, bookcase with TV and all toiletries, food, and cookware. The far end of the room had a queen size bed that was jammed between the walls and another bookcase, which held the entire family's wardrobe. I sat on a tiny bench seat between the door and the bed and read scriptures while the small family got ready for church. I started to cry, looking at my surroundings and listening to Sister Ekpo talk about what a blessing she had in traveling by bus for three days to see the temple. We are always told how blessed we are, but when the reality hits you, its hard to keep your pride in the face of such humility.
Bishop, six kids and I crammed into an ancient Toyota and drove to church. We had to go through the slums in order to bypass the horrible road that the church is on. The rains come and wash the dirt roads until they resemble giant ponds among huts of peddlers. I met a lot of people and actually made fast friends with another ex-pat couple who are here working for Conoco Philips.
I pray that I will always be able to picture sweet Sister Ekpo in my mind when I think I have a challenge in circumstance.
22 comments:
That is a cool story. I am thankful to have a temple near by that we can go to as often as we want to. But there some who travel days or hours reach the nearest temple to them. So again thanks for sharing your first Sunday of Church with those who will read it.
Cherlyn
Makes yoy think how much we take for granted! Glad you made it. Tell us what the church was like.
hello julia mistress of the blog..the crazy man has entered the site... yes it has taken me this long to figure out how to do this. your blog is pretty interesting and seems to be kind of like a travel log..do you think
you could score one of those scooters and ride around the campus??that might be fun..what do you do to keep the stress away?? are you going to do more in the ward there? so since everyone can read this stuff I guess I can't say anything personal...like...hey what do I do with these personal love letters??I will from time to time sneak in and out of your site...ta ta...
You are going to be so grateful for your experience in Africa. I think it will give you so much perspective, and you can't help but come home a better person!! You rock!
That is such an inspiring story. It is true how we don't realize how much we take for granted. It is wonderful how we can learn to be better person when we get to know more of God's children.
What a great experience to have in your heart, eh? It's nice that you're writing it down, so when you write your book, you'll have everything. Hugs, e
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