Lost in Translation

I just realized I forgot to share a funny story about when we were in Dumay...which shows how a little translation problem can get you into big trouble!

One day at the church conference, some of the Pastors received phone calls that there was a shooting in the market in Croix-de-Bouquets, which is basically a suburb of Port that you go through to get to Dumay.  It was stressful for some of them, as some of their wives were shopping in the market that day, and others live right next to the market.  I never heard that anyone they knew was hurt, so that was good.

We had some guys who were working out at the church at Tahmazoo that day, and so we called them and told them the situation and that they should try to avoid that area on the way home that night.  My recreation of the situation is the conversation went like this: they told the translator, "Someone was shot in the market in Croix-de-Bouquets and so we don't want to go there on the way home."  The translator told the driver, "They want to go shop in the market in Croix-de-Bouquets on the way home."  Yikes!

It was when they were right in the middle of the area, with people from a funeral procession all around them, the vehicle stopped, that they figured out they were in the exact spot they didn't want to be!  They told the driver, but the driver was upset about not being able to drive, that he got out of the vehicle and started getting into it with some people outside.  The guys inside tried to keep a low profile.  It all worked out and they got home safe, but they for sure got "lost in translation" that day!!

And a few funny Orrin quotes from Dumay:

One evening, Orrin went out to the porch where David was sitting.  "Dad, I think mom wants me to have a Coke."

Every chance he would get, Orrin would go up to the toolshed with other people to see what was going on.  He was up there for a little bit and when he came back, he heaved a big sigh.  "It was a long, hard day at the toolshop!"