Blessings and Bubu - UPDATE

Just for a quick update on this story, the missionaries and Bubu both keep telling me about more Marshallese people who want to get baptized. While I was having lunch with the Elders, Bubu and Handy yesterday alone, Bubu got a phone call from a lady named Nejinta. I'd met her the same night I met Bubu at the same party, and she had also asked me to give her child a blessing that same night. I went by and taught her a lesson a few days later with the missionaries, but haven't seen her since. Anyway, Neginta called Bubu yesterday because she'd just found out that she was going to get baptized and was asking if she could get baptized too. Crazy.

Oh, and Paul Ceaser, Handy's grandson, is going to get baptized with Bubu, also by me. This is getting a little out of control.

Paul and Brian after church

Let's hope it stays like this!

Blessings and Bubu

So a few weeks ago, we had a big crazy Marshallese birthday party here in Spokane for a baby (which coincidentally enough was the same day as Handy and Phillip Ceasers' birthdays). Marshallese first birthday parties (Kemem) are always wild, and provide lots of quality entertainment. My favorite part is at the end of the party, everyone forms a procession line to go greet the child, who by this point is usually screaming his/her head off at all of the scary strangers. Upon greeting the child, you of course have to give the baby money.

A Kemem in Hawai'i

Marshallese children, of course, are running wild everywhere during the whole party.


While sitting at a table with Handy, she introduced me to Bernice Rolfo, or as I call her, "Bubu" or "grandmother." She is an older woman, who was feeling very weak and in a lot of pain that night because of her dialysis treatments.

We hadn't been talking long before she asked me if I could give her a blessing, which caught me by surprise. This was a common request I got while I was a missionary, but I wasn't dressed like a missionary or anything, so it was surprising that she would recognize me as one who could give a Priesthood blessing.

I gave her a blessing not long after that once we had some privacy, and she later told me that all of her pain immediately left her body. She was able to rest that night in peace.

After that, Bubu and I became really good friends, and she adopted me as her grandson. She went trick-or-treating with me and Paul on Halloween, and was demanding earlier that day that Jen needed to come to Spokane so she could meet her (only a few hours later Jen sprung her trap on me). She was overjoyed to meet her and has two pictures of us proudly displayed in a frame that says "World's Best Mom" in her front room.

A few weeks ago I was taking Handy to church when I asked Bubu if she'd like to come too. She did, and brought two other granddaughters with her, which made everyone really excited. She began meeting with the missionaries and has since decided to get baptized next week. When the missionaries were talking to her about it, she got really excited when they told her I could baptize her. Her granddaughters also got really excited about this and are close to baptism themselves.

I've had a lot of experiences lately to give blessings to people who have asked me for help. It has been really humbling for me to realize that a lot of people here recognize me as one who has authority from God. It makes me really grateful to be here to help these people like this in my small way.

Going to that party also made me somewhat of a celebrity among the Marshallese here in Spokane. Everyone the missionaries talk to claims to know me know, which makes missionary work a lot easier for them. I think this is pretty crazy...Who'd ever thought I'd be a Marshallese superstar?

Handy's grandson, Joyle, and Brian playing at the Kemem

Halloween 2008

Halloween was a great day for me. School got out at noon, my homework was all done for the weekend and I was allowed me to spend the rest of the day playing. I went trick-or-treating with Paul and Handy Ceaser, which was a blast. I realized trick-or-treating is a lot like tracting like an LDS missionary, except you get more candy. Paul made off like a bandit with about four pounds of candy, including several king-sized candy bars.

After dropping them off at their home around 10:00 pm, I started driving home when Jen called me. She told me that her brother had called her after a friend of his living here in Spokane called him. His friend is another first-year law student, and has supposedly been stalking and spying on me for a few months now for Jen’s brother. Jen told me that the girl had gotten really drunk that night and was stranded in a park down town and needed a ride home. Being the perpetual super hero that I am, and probably against my better judgment, I told her that I’d go try to save my stalker from Halloween mischief.

With hordes of wild Halloween spooks lining the streets of down town, I really didn’t want to have to get out and search for the girl on foot. At first I figured if I just drove around I could find her and shout for her to come get a ride. I spied a figure dressed all in black, just like Jen had described to me sitting on a bench some 20 yards into the park from the road.

Shouting and hollering at her to come get a ride, the black figure finally heard me, raised their arms into the air and began shouting back in a drunken drawl, “Whose callin’ me?!” Getting frustrated, I realized I wouldn’t be giving the girl a ride unless I got out on foot to find her.

Parking on the road, and muttering to myself about the hero going to save the world, I approached the figure on foot. Up close, the figure appeared to be wearing a black hat, mask, cape and coat which completely covered their body, so it was extremely hard to make out any features. On the figures chest was a small neighborhood watch sign with a black figure being crossed out on it. Somewhere from deep within my memory, I recalled how this sign had scared me as a child, so I initiated conversation with the person with some trepidation.

The Neighborhood Watcher

“Hey, are you Anne?” I ask, thinking to myself that I probably didn’t really want to talk to this person after all.

The figure in black replies in a drunken drawl, “Hey man, you gotta light?” What is it with this park and weirdos asking me for cigarettes?

“I’m afraid I don’t. Are you Anne?”

“You don’t gotta light?”

Getting frustrated, I repeat, “I don’t.”

The black figure then caught me off guard by saying, “You’re really cute.”

Stunned, and unable to discern if the figure in black was actually a boy or girl, I was extremely creeped out. I couldn’t say anything.

“Yeah, you’re really cute.”

Annoyed, I asked a different question. “Do you know Scott Perlmutter?”

“Yeah…yeah I do” was the reply, which made me think, “Finally, we’re getting somewhere!”

The figure continued, “He’s actually my brother.” And immediately the figure cast off the hat, mask and cape to reveal not some creepy drunk person, but my lovely girlfriend, Jennifer! She jumps into my arms and I just stand there for a moment in amazement before saying, “Ok, you win!” She giggles and we kiss and it was beautiful…she made it up to me for having scared the tar out of me!

The Neighborhood Watcher unmasked

You see, with Jen living in Provo, UT, and I living in Spokane, it’s rather difficult for us to see each other on a regular basis. Jen had only come her one time before, and that was when I was first moving here, so seeing her here again was quite a surprise, and especially since she filmed it too.

Now, to my credit, I’d been suspecting she was going to do something like this for a while now. She’d been telling me about how she was going to go to a salsa congress this weekend for months now, so I knew that she was going out of town this weekend. I’d suspected that she was really coming up here, and kept dropping hints that I knew her true intentions, but she was eventually able to convince me that she wasn’t coming about two days before she came.

Enjoying Grandma Perlmutter's Hawaiian Pineapple Chicken at Brian's Apartment

The surprise was wonderful and we ended up having a great weekend together. Jen knows how I love surprises, and this was the best surprise anyone could ever hope for.

Brian and Jen along the Spokane River

She told me that she’d used the money she would have spent to go to her favorite salsa congress in San Francisco to come here, which was a big sacrifice for her. I was amazed that she would do such a thing for me. It really meant a lot to me to know that she cares more about me than salsa dancing, which is one of her great loves in her life. Knowing this gives me an awesome sense of responsibility to take care of her and our love and to make sure I live worthy of this love in every way.

Jen brings so much joy to my life. Not a day goes by that she does not make me laugh or smile. It’s impossible for me to talk with her and not do so. Seeing her smile makes my heart sing. Because of her, it’s hard for me to have a bad day or be too stressed about my schoolwork. She balances me with her personality and spirit and I love how she is always able to make my fears go away.

Brian and Jen along the Spokane River

For these, and many other reasons, I love Jen Perlmutter!