So Monday we took Chanelle to the airport and said our goodbyes. Sorry to see her go - it was a short 4 days. Then we went grocery shopping, which is always an adventure because you have to go to 2-3 stores to get different things and there's no guarantee that any of them will have what you need. We've gotten a little creative in what we eat and the crockpot and rice cooker have become kitchen essentials.
On Tuesday, It was an African dish that I had the maid teach me how to make. She comes on Tuesdays for 4 hours and I don't have enough for her to do because it is a small apt so I've decided to have her teach and cook a meal with me. First we walked abut 20 minutes to the vegetable stand and bought the veggies.
Then we came home and bleached them and prepared them and then we shredded the coconut. She brought her coconut shredder (every african kitchen has one) with her and I did it and it was hard! I only lasted about 10 minutes and got barely anything so she took over. I thought we were putting the coconut with the cabbage, but nope! she poured water over the coconut and I squeezed it and squeezed it to make coconut milk. She had me do it 3 times and my hands got a workout!
Then we put everything in a big pot and cooked it all for awhile and voila! Couve!, which means cabbage but it's not like our cabbage.
That afternoon, we picked up the director of S and I for all of southeast Africa and the guy, Jaime, that oversees us, and they came to our apt and trained us and then I fed them dinner. We ate it over rice and it was really good! While we were eating, a man came to the door with a sack of shrimp for sale. Dad had seen him on the street the week before when he was selling fish and told him if he ever had shrimp, that we would buy it, so he remembered and asked the guard where we lived and the guard brought him to our door. We negotiated a price and ended up buying the whole 3 kilos from him, which dad just told me is 7 pounds. So after we took the men back to the hotel, we fixed the shrimp. It was ALOT of shrimp to dead-head, shell, clean, and prepare for cooking and took us awhile to do!
Wednesday morning, we met at the church to do S and I training with the branch presidents. I led the music and Dad and I spoke (and I cried of course) to them before the directors did. The men are so humble and good. And so young!! One branch president was 27 years old!! But they're faithful. They're a more stoic people and I joked with one of them that its so embarrassing when I cry because the African people don't and they just stare at me, expressionless, when I do. I acted it out for him and he laughed and laughed when I said that!
Yes, I was the only woman..... After that meeting, we came back to the apt and I fixed shrimp, potatoes, and corn. I asked Jaime if he liked shrimp and he said no, so I fixed him couve from the day before. But then he tried a couple and said he liked it and had seconds and both men asked for the recipe for their wives. So the Yankee cooking was a hit....haha! Later, at 4:00, we did training for the S and I teachers and we spoke then too.
On Thursday, we went shopping again and prepared for the Kretlys to come. On Friday AM, the Kretlys came and we had to get ready for the district conference on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was a leadership meeting and the chapel was full. On Sunday, the Kretlys did a fireside for the youth at 8 am and I wondered if we would get good attendance that early, but the church was packed all the way to the stage! Dad and I wondered where they were going to put the adults when they came at 10:00 am. At 10:00, the place filled up!! There were over 1,063 people there. They had to sit on the stage, in the aisles, and they had an overflow room. The church hired 5 buses to bring the people from farther away. It was amazing! 63 elders were sustained and when they all stood up, Dad and I cried.
The mission has made a video "It's a Miracle", about the weddings,
and subsequent baptisms, that have taken place in the last 9 months.
It's based on the talk Neil Anderson gave in general conference.
President Kretly showed it in the Sunday session of district conference
and it was very touching. The people loved it and were very moved by
it and the spirit was very strong in the meeting.
It's about 15 min. Here's the link:
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