Improvising

Today we went to visit one of the families we Home Teach (meaning we visit them monthly to see how they are doing). We noticed they were not at church so we decided to drop by with one of the Liahonas (church magazines) that were handed out today at church. The brother answered the door and explained why he was not at church. He had something very important come up with his work so he had to take care of it. Elder Mathews wanted him to know that we understood that things like that happen and sometimes we do have to miss church to take care of them. He wanted to say some Biblical thing like the ox was in the mire. Unfortunately he did not know the Portuguese words for ox or mire. So he basically said the donkey was in the hole. (And I thought my Portuguese was the comic relief of the island) At first the man looked confused and then smile and nodded his understanding. Isn't it amazing how the gift of tongues works! As the conversation continued it was clear that the man had understood the improvised analogy. He took the magazine and thanked us for thinking of him. And we left with a new Mathews-ism - the donkey is in the hole.