I just got an email forwarded from Roland's sister that her son wrote from his mission. It contained a funny story that made me think of other mishaps that have happened because one of the people in a conversation didn't speak the native language.
My Uncle and his wife served a mission in Russia. They were talking to a group and said, "Let us tell you a little about the Burtons." They then told the audience about all their children. (Total of 6). The person translating translated it to "Let us tell you a little about our burdens". When they couldn't understand all the weird looks they were getting they stopped and figured out what had happened.
When we lived in Ithaca we had a great woman in the ward, Berta, from Mexico. She would sometimes translate for another Spanish speaking member. One fast Sunday Berta was helping the woman bear her testimony. The woman started out in English so Berta kindly translated it all into Spanish for us.
And now to the funny story from Alex, the missionary, serving in the French West Indies. His companion was having some health problems. Lost feeling in his toes. He came away from the Dr's office with a prescription. (Keep in mind this is a 19 year old boy). Let's just say he didn't leave the apartment for a few hours once they figured out he'd just taken Viagra.
Do you have any funny stories?
Hello world!
2 years ago
5 comments:
I am SO sending the link to your blog to my family and telling them to read it. TOO Funny!!!
That is hilarious. I made Jeremy listen to me read all three stories out loud, they were so funny. We missed you at ice cream tonight.
When my dad was on his mission to France (about 60 years ago) he was asked at the end of a meal if he would like a second helping. He meant to say, "Merci, mais je suis rassassie" (Thanks, but I'm full), but said, "Merci, je suis resuscite" (Thanks, but I'm resurrected). On my mission in Denmark (less than 60 years ago), we had to be very careful how we pronounced Holy Ghost (hellig and) so that it wouldn't be Holy Duck ("and" with a little ball over it that changed the pronounciation ever so slightly)
Oops, "Hellig and" IS the duck...not vice versa. No wonder I got so many strange looks.
Great stories, especially the one about Berta - so funny! I can't think of any right now, will have to come back if some occur to me
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