Missionary Moments - Power of Love

The Following is an article from the LDS Church News, 4-26-2008:

Lisa Chavez was raised a member of another church. However, as she grew older, she came to consider herself non-denominational. Her good friend Melinda Silverman was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who often tried to interest her in religion.

The one thing Lisa knew from her religious rearing was "Mormons were bad."

Several years ago, Lisa had a 3-year-old son who lay desperately ill in a hospital. In desperation, she asked Melinda for help. Her friend sent missionaries to the hospital; they gave the boy a blessing. Within 30 minutes, the little boy had regained strength and was running around. The family was astonished.

Out of gratitude, Lisa agreed to invite the missionaries to her home for a meal. Afterward, the missionaries made an appointment and began teaching her the gospel, but it was evident that lifelong traditions and prejudices were hard to shake. Over the course of several discussions, the conversations became a difference of ideologies and often ended in an impasse.

During a moment of quiet in one discussion, Elder Roman Matthew from the Marshall Islands spoke. He hadn't said much on previous occasions because of his limited language skills. Mustering courage and speaking in halting English, he bore his testimony. Lisa rejected his testimony and said he was misguided.

A tear began to roll down Elder Matthew's cheek, then another down the other cheek.

Lisa softened and apologized. "You haven't hurt my feelings," he said in response to her apology. "I love you."

Elder Matthew spreading the good word in Colorado.

Several nights later, she decided she would listen again, this time, with the desire to learn. A testimony blossomed and she was baptized about four weeks later. Her husband soon followed in baptism, as well as her mother, who hadn't attended a church in years.

Lisa now resides in the Pueblo West 2nd Ward, Pueblo Colorado Stake, and eagerly seeks opportunities to share her testimony. — Shaun D. Stahle

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Photo of Roman Matthew's Baptism: Elder Bryan Boaz, Zach Mizutani, Roman Matthew, Matson Matthew, and Elder Brian Tanner.

Roman Matthew was one of the first Marshallese people I met in Hawai'i. Considering that my companion and I were nearly killed when we got lost going to his home and accidentally entered the restricted section of Pearl Harbor, it was a memorable experience for me being able to meet him for the first time. He helped me learn Marshallese and was later baptized by his older brother Matson. Since then, I have been adopted by the Matthew family.

Two of the neatest experiences of my life were being able to take care of both Matson and Roman when they came to Utah before entering the MTC. One of the most memorable experiences was when I left him unattended for a few minutes in the Cougar Eat on BYU campus and found him a few minutes later eating vanilla ice cream in 20 degree weather! Here's a kid who's never experienced cold like this before, and I found him chowing down on vanilla ice cream! His mother would have killed me had she known I let him do that.

Not long after he entered the MTC, "Elder Matthew the Second" experienced several severe headaches and even blacked out once. He ended up staying in Utah for a little while longer to make sure he was healthy enough to continue on his mission to Colorado. His sister, Mala, and I couldn't help but think these headaches were really ice cream headaches caused from too much ice cream consumption...

The church news article took place in Pueblo, CO, which was his first area. Contrary to what this article says, he speaks English perfectly after having lived in Hawai'i for many years and graduating from high school there. Similar to other Marshallese people, he's shy at times, and no greenies really talk very much in their first area anyway...well...the normal greenies that is.

Elder Roman Matthew and a piggy friend.

After much success, "Elder Matthew the Second" finished a highly successful mission at the end of February of this year. He had an hour layover in the Salt Lake City airport which his mother asked me and several other Marshallese people in the area to try and see him. Several Marshallese guys all work at the airport, including Bryan Boaz, my companion who helped teach him, so we had a pretty good chance of being able to see him. I had planned to go, but had talked myself out of trying to see him because I didn't think there would be any chance for Bryan to find him, get him out of the secure area of the airport to met to chat, and then get him back through security and onto the plane in the space of an hour.

Just as I was pulling up to work the next morning, I got a phone call from Bryan Boaz who asked me, "Guess who I have with me?" I nearly choked...ROMAN? What on earth was he still doing in Utah the next day?! Apparently Roman had been having so much fun "bwebwenato/talkin' story" with the guys in the airport that he'd missed his plane home. Who misses their plane coming home from their mission? My mother would have killed me...his mother had practice already when Matson was delayed getting home due to a huge typhoon, but still...

Bryan had found Roman still at the airport the next morning when he went to work. Not knowing any of our phone numbers, he had spent the night in the airport. Wanting to correct that mistake, Bryan had wisked him home, fed him breakfast and shower.

Cassidy Matthew, Brian Tanner, Elder Roman Matthew, Abija Bano and Bryan Boaz in the SLC airport, Feb. 2008.

It was a miracle that one of the missionaries that had baptized him found him while going to work in the airport that morning. The coincidence is too baffling for me to explain otherwise. Bryan had answered Mama Matthew's prayers and had performed the work of an angel in saving him. Elder Roman Matthew was able to have a farewell party after all, seeing four missionaries that he'd known in Hawai'i.

My mother found the church news article that began this post last Saturday and went ballistic. My father and her were telling everyone in my home ward about this, and everyone was so excited to see an article about someone that had been baptized by someone they know in the church news. I just think that it was interesting that this article was titled the Power of Love, because really, that's what makes the Marshallese people so amazing to me. When we are filled with "iakwe/aloha/love," we cannot be surprised when Missionary Moments happen everywhere we go.

Baby Shower

I went to a baby shower today.

Now I know what you're thinking, I'm a handsome, single, free-lovin' guy. What on earth was I doing at a baby shower?

That's easy to explain. I was invited.

One of my good friends (who just so happens to be Happy! Wahoo! I love Happy People!) was having a baby shower and decided to have a co-ed baby shower. She invited me and all of my roommates to come. The others felt uncomfortable about the idea of going to a baby shower, so they chickened out. I guess I just love her more than them, either that or I'm more starved for entertainment and adventure.

Getting a gift certificate at Target (because I didn't feel comfortable picking out baby clothes or diapers...I don't even know if it's going to be a boy or girl), and having made a hilarious card, I felt ready for my cultural experience with the female gender. Not having any sisters, it felt like scenario Terry Pratchett wrote about where a knight enters a cave with a nearby sign saying "Here be Dragons."

The Front and Back of the Card, featuring myself and Mrs. Duncan with Michelle Chisholm, my roommate's sister.

Hoping into my car, I began driving towards the address on the card. 18 N. 1500 E. Now, I don't know how well you know Provo, but there is no such place as 18 N. 1500 E. The area where that address should be is actually part of the state mental hospital. Now, I already knew that there was a mental hospital there, but since the address said there was a house there, I figured there must have been a cottage or something there right next to it. I'm sure they joke a lot about their crazy neighbors. Maybe the patients do their yard work or something, right? That seemed perfectly logical at the time.

The inside of the card, featuring members of the Waipahu 3rd Ward Primary. From left to right, Sister Boaz (neice of my companion who taught me Marshallese), Paul Ceaser (grandson of the woman who made the amimono flowers in my car), Jun Jun (William Swain Jr., the son of the man who translated the Marshallese Book of Mormon), and Brother Boaz (again, the nephew of Bryan Boaz). Further proof that Marshallese kids are the cutest in the world.

So there I was driving up to the state mental hospital looking for a baby shower, thinking how absurd all of this was. Of course there was no cozy little cottage with mental patients doing the yard work outside, just the mental hospital, with loonies running around in the road, like I'd been expecting.

Now, a more stubborn/crazy person would probably burst through the doors of the loony bin shouting "Hey everybody! The parties here! Wahoo! Where's the baby?! Who has the baby? Did you bring the diapers?" and so on, and would probably found himself doing the "yard work" a few hours later.

Because I'm not that dumb or stubborn, I broke down and called them to find out that the correct address was really around 1800 N. Whoops, now there's a typo. I found the real address and had a crazy fun time with my friends there. Mrs. Jessi was literally twice as big as the last time I saw her, which I thought was awesome. Oh, and don't worry, there were more guys there than girls when I showed up, and I didn't see a single diaper. The only baby shower game I saw was Mario Kart 64 on the Nintendo, so it hardly felt like a baby shower at all. No dragons at all.

I have a British friend (who is also Happy) who is always trying to get me to quit my day job and become a movie writer because she thinks my stories are hilarious. That scenario with the guy bursting into the mental hospital looking for a baby shower probably make for a pretty unique movie. We could even call it "Baby Shower."

Maybe I shouldn't quit my day job just yet...