We took some Branch members to clean a long-neglected apartment. Cobwebs along the ceilings and under the study tables seemed to be accepted decorations. Only the centers of the floor were deemed worthy of sweeping, let alone mopping. The walls were a showcase of fingerprints and shoe marks. Every horizontal surface was covered with clutter.

I gasped as I opened the refrigerator door. A voice spoke behind me.

Sister, we cleaned the fridge this morning. You should have seen it before.

Water dripped out of the refrigerator onto the floor. Apparently the drain line had frozen. The freezer tray was frozen in thick ice on the bottom of the compartment. The tip of a plastic sack stuck out above the ice where it had frozen in its death throes.

Spilled food and grime covered the inside and outside of the refrigerator. A cup filled with an unidentified whitish substance and a slimy soup bowl with green floaters leered from the dank interior.

Where’s my camera? We need pictures for the mission bulletin board.

No, Sister! We will keep it clean now. We promise!

A special Happy Mother’s Day wish to all mothers whose children have been taught what clean really means and do what they have been taught.

For God hath not called us unto uncleanliness, but unto holiness. 1 Thes 4:7

Five hours later we wearily stumbled out of the apartment.

Who would like an ice cream cone?

The votes in the affirmative were unanimous. Elder Hall paid for the cones and took the tickets to the dipping station. All of the sister received their cones and then Elder Hall ordered.

One dip Double Dutch and one mango please.

We walked out to the pickup with our ice cream. One of the sisters looked at Elder Hall’s cone.

Elder Hall, I tried to order two different kinds of ice cream.

But you only have one kind.

Yes. She told me it was not allowed to give two different kinds of ice cream on one cone.

But she gave me two kinds.

Yes. I heard the other clerk ask why she had given you two kinds. She said it was too hard for her to explain it in English, so she just gave it to you.

Maybe there are advantages in not being able to speak the native language here.