Hey Yall!
This week was great and the silly moment ties in with the awesome
moment as well so they shall be combined today.
First couple things to share about is week was it was a pretty darn
normal week. We got some haircuts because a lot of haircut places
aren't open on Mondays, which I learned. But there was a specific one
we wanted to go to because it caught our eye. It was an awesome lady
named Vicky and is a black barbershop. If there is one thing I've
learned on my mission, it's that black barbershops will leave you
looking fresher than Febreeze. With very affordable prices none the
less. And come to think of it, we've got two Dallas Daze worthy
moments this week. So this can be official number one. We pull up and
see the barber poll goin, those are how ya know they're legit, not
anyone can have a barber poll I've learned. So we roll in and time
stops, I'm pretty sure we were the first white people to ever set foot
in the shop. It was like we walked in and shouted, "ALL EYES ON US!"
We couldn't have drawn more attention wearing bathrobes than we
already had, even the blind dude was lookin at us! Vicky was trimmin
up a dudes afro and doing a dang good job, coulda slapped Wonder on the
side and called it bread, and greets us. She legit asked first, "how
are Yall Doin! Are Yall lost?" We cheerily replied how we weren't lost
but lookin to get some of the best haircuts in town! She said, "well
alright write your names up on the seating list!" We go do that, and
take a seat and the patrons waiting and Vicky begin goin back to
normal. Got revival African America gospel choir music bumping, some
goofy talk show playing, vending machines from the early years of
Moses high-school , it was like a time machine. We sight see the signs
around and I notice that she only accepts cash, I being not a newby to
this, had withdrawn a 20$ so I could get a haircut when we did. Elder
Dertina did not. So we told Vicky we needed to go get some cash,
apparently she didn't believe that we really intended to have her cut
our hair cause she said, "there's an ATM down the street or there's a
salon place a little further down the road to go to?" Well we went to
the gas station and got a drink and withdrew some cash, or would have
but the gas station didn't let us know they don't do money back until
AFTER he payed. We then sought out a Brookshire's and got the job done
and bought some handy dandy little trees for our car. We come back to
the shop and Vicky then knew we meant business. Well Vicky began
asking us who we were and having the whole, "you're dressed silly
what's wrong with you" conversation which was goin awesome. Elder
Dertina gets up there and she starts goin to town. It was like the
sculptor and the statue of David man. She took her time makin it look
good all while talking to her about missionaries. She gets done and
Elder Dertina has the best hair cut a companion of mine has ever had.
Best part? He says how much do I owe ya, she's all "12$" WHAT!?!? Was
like a 30$ worthy cut. So he tipped her some extra and that was that,
then there's me. We began talking where I'm from and more about
missionaries and she loved it. Began cutting my hair and we talk about
her career and such and she says, "it's cool Yall came in here, I
really have never gotten to practice on any Caucasians at all, so I
hope it's good for Yall." Aka, Yall are the first white people to ever
come here, so this is sweet. Hahaha it was awesome! We talked to the
whole store and it was a grand experience. My haircut was 15 and she
loved the little swoopy thing I do with my hair in the front and made
sure to leave it be. So that was funny and we invited her to the
baptism Saturday. She said if she could get off she would be there. It
was a really good teaching experience and a really good haircut. But
it was a first for me! Moral is, if you want a bomb haircut and don't
have a certain favorite, find yourself a black barbershop and you win
the game of being fresher than fast food places claim they are. And we
all know how fresh they claim to be!
Next, after a few days of finding peeps to teach, we decided to help
again on the house thing we are gonna be living in. We have grown
really close with the Keith family that is Doin it for us and they're
kids are awesome. One of em, Ashlynn, comes out and is all, "I want to
help!" Well when 6 year Olds say such they never are much help as they
are an extra body but what the heck ya know? So we get her a scraper
thing and show her how to mud the corners of dry wall and prep it for
me to put the corner on. For the next 3 hours Ashlynn sits and talks
to us and literally turns out to be one of the biggest helps ever! She
was mudding faster than I could put on the corners and she was doing a
good job too! Her brother came and helped a bit too but she enjoyed
doing it, he did so much because she was doing it and couldn't let her
show him up. So he left pretty quick. It was awesome, we got a ton of
mudding done on the drywall thanks to the help.
Then the finale of the week. Al's baptism. We went and got things
ready for it that afternoon and set it all up. We had the programs
perfect, the piano and decorations, awesome statue of Jesus. It was
sweet. Elders aren't incompetent like many members seem to think. Al
showed up an hour early so nobody but us were there. We gave him the
jumpsuit we thought should fit him, he goes in and tries it on. We
were waiting outside and we here, "it don't fit" We look and there's
Al.....half dressed with no shirt in the middle of the church so elder
Dertina runs and grabs him and I run and get another jumpsuit, we have
him try that. Once again no luck. So we are scrambling, the relief
society president hadn't brought the rest back so we had no jumpsuits,
but we had some white pants? So we grab some and run out and have Al
try em. After 5 tries, some fit! Though he can't zip the fly up but
you couldn't tell so it was good! Well the white shirt came from Elder
Dertina cause he had felt to bring a couple extra shirts and they fit
Al! So we got him one of those and perfect timing he was there. So we
walk in and the program starts after about 10 minutes. Everything is
goin well, a recent convert gave their first talk and did an AWESOME
job. Doin sweet, then comes the baptism. I was confidant it couldn't
be that hard. So Al and I start walking back. He makes is way slowly
down the stairs into the font cause he's got a bad leg from a stroke.
After having practiced it all before, we get into the waters of
forgetfulness and it's now as if we hadn't practiced at all! Hahaha
meaning, we stand and I hold out my hand for him to do the thing ya
know and he just stands there, and I'm like "grab my arm..." He grabs
it with his right hand, "other hand" he grabs his right hand with his
left hand, "no other arm," he grabs his left hand with his right hand,
"no grab my left arm with your left hand, " takes it by the under
side, "no over the top," back to square one, "okay here (forcefully
shows him) now put your right wrist in my left hand, like we did ya
know?" He just takes my hand and I'm like whatever it works, feel like
Rex Kwon Do. So we go, I say the words, big moment, go to put him in
the water.....! Aaaaannndddd he resists and goes stiff as a board,
"I'm scared man, I got a bad leg I don't wanna slip." I tell him, "no
that's why I'm here I got you." He's all, "you got me?" "Yes I've got
you," We try again. Say the words, almost there! Again.....doesn't.
After 6 attempts and a very embarrassed Elder Hiatt, we get a chair.
We put the chair down in and he sits in and just has to lean forward.
Perfect, easy, no worries. We go for it, I say the words, Goin
awesome, Aaaaannndddd Al can't bend over far enough and just puts his
face in, he thinks he's good and comes up smiling but it wasn't done
yet, he couldn't bend over his belly. So we try again, nothing.
Man things were getting rough, our bishop is a witness and trying to
talk him into it all, we are just trying to do get this down any way
possible. Well we eventually call in the parachute squad and Elder
Dertina comes and gets in white too and we both are in there. We
decided to go forward and so Al almost makes it under the first
attempt, and the second Elder Dertina and I just are like, this one's
happening, so Dertina kinda bends Al's knees and is like getting him
to squat a little lower and I help him bend over enough and BAM all
the way under! he was immersed and came out so happy! He was so
excited to be baptized like Jesus was, just scared of drowning. So
that was awesome! It was about a 15 minute ordeal but we finally got
him through it. After which it went awesome the rest of the way and
life was good. Al kept apologizing for his fear but he was so thankful
and so happy. It was so darn cool. He told all of his family and
friends about him being baptized and found the truth. It took him a
long time to finally pray and ask if it was all true, and finally he
did, knew it was true, and is now baptized and confirmed. It was a
blessing to see it go through, and kind of intense.
Through it all, embarrassment initially and such, afterwards it was
honestly so awesome. The spirit shown through and I definitely can say
that it's real. I've never had the privilege of that before and the
peace and happiness you feel is overwhelming. Sometimes baptisms don't
go totally according to plan, but it was able to happen. I was so
caught up in the smoothness when in reality, who cares! Someone took
their first step to following our Savior and who cares the logistics.
It made me realize that the decor, the program, the any of that, it's
all fine and good but the point is is we have the priesthood authority
restored to baptize people by immersion as Christ was, sometimes it
can be a struggle, but what a blessing it is to feel of the spirit
that comes from it.
It was awesome. And a good week.
Hope everyone's well! Love yall!
Elder Hiatt
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