Flashback Friday: Scatter Sunshine

As I mentioned before, I had the chance to serve as a Mountain Momma/missionary in the West Virginia Charleston Mission back in the day. I loved, loved, LOVED IT! However, there were a few things that took getting used. Being frumpy always (okay, that is a lie. I already was quite comfortable with this....dang it), rejection, and the fun twangy accent. That last one was probably the most tricky and it took me about a month to understand some of the real southerners.

At the beginning of my mission, I was placed with my trainer/mammy, Sister Grover (now Jones) in Lexington, VA, a small and quaint town known for it's proud connection to Stonewall Jackson. Lovely people with very strong accents. Most of our time was spent knocking on doors and teaching, but several hours a week were reserved for community service.

During my first month, we spent this time at a local elderly home and planned on spreading sunshine to our aged new friends. To be honest, at first I felt a little uncomfortable with that demographic. I had not had much experience with elderly people and didn't know exactly how I should act or how loudly I should speak. However, we jumped in anyway and I gave my best shot.

One day, while visiting, we went around introducing ourselves. Unfortunately for me, the older women were nearly impossible for me to understand with their quiet whispers and heavy accents. I decided that I would just repeat back whatever name I heard, be corrected if needed, and carry on being friendly. This worked for a while. Me practically yelling my introduction and them politely whispering back.

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME? BIRTHA?! NICE TO MEET YOU BIRTHA! MY NAME IS SISTER VANCE!"

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME? PRUDENCE?!...." This carried on for a little while until I came across a particularly grumpy-looking old lady.

"AND WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"

The old woman muttered something back but for the life of my I could not understand her. I repeated my question but the answer was no more clear. I pressed on anyway, repeating just what I had heard.

"ANUS?!!!"

The room went silent and I suddenly realized that I just called the Southern belle a crude body part and everyone heard. What the?!!!

"No! Agnus!" the woman grumpily replied.

I tried to salvage the situation but it wasn't going over. Sister Grover kindly led me down the hall where we wailed with laughter at my mistake.

As you can imagine, Anus and all of her friends never really forgave me and we soon moved on to other forms of service in the community where I would do less damage.