Thanksgiving and Gratitude
We filled the house to over flowing but so grateful for this group of missionaries!!
An invitation to our African missionaries:
The last Thursday of November is an American holiday: Thanksgiving. Please join us tomorrow evening at 1900hrs for a feast with some of our mission family as we give thanks for our many blessings! Someone will come and pick you up!
Sixteen missionaries plus Hal and I!
The only turkeys we have seen here were a couple of live ones running around. So it was chicken again! Always chicken!! Elder Juhasz cooked a roast...too pink for me...and he was sick the next day so I was glad I didn't try it! It was his generosity though that counted!!
At the grocery store, I asked a clerk about yams and received a very blank look! Then I said, "sweet potatoes," and he showed these to me. The sign actually said, "Red potatoes." They looked kind of like yams so I took my chances. When I peeled them they were white though. And marshmallows come in packages of pink and white only. We tried anyway...it was pretty much a fail! Oh well, the missionaries loved the roasted marshmallows!!
Many of the missionaries brought pie! Of course that is the ultimate in any Thanksgiving dinner and obviously the most important!!! Jessica had sent a couple of cans of pumpkin with the Averett's when they came a couple of months ago, so I made the pumpkin pies. Crust is made from butter since there is not any shortening. And we made mashed potatoes twice because the first bowl emptied very fast!! Obviously, another favorite.
We had a little lesson on why we have Thanksgiving. I was very sad that even the American's had some very poor answers. They said things like, "Because Christopher Columbus discovered America," "because we like to eat," "to be with family." One said they had not studied American history since 8th grade so they couldn't remember. Another said the last time they studied American history while a junior and they only studied 1960 and sooner.
As I posted on Facebook: "I am grateful for religious freedom; for forefathers who had the courage to leave oppression and exercised perseverance and fortitude so I can be so blessed today!"
We truly do have much to be grateful for! Don't take it for granted.
I think the same is true of our testimonies. If we don't study and constantly remind ourselves of what we have worked hard for in the past, how can we possible keep it in the future?
"I plead with you to make time for the Lord? Make your own spiritual foundation firm and able to stand the test of time by doing those things that allow the Holy Ghost to be with you always."
"...fix your focus on Jesus Christ. Talk of Christ, rejoice in Christ, feast upon the words of Christ, and press forward with steadfastness in Christ."
"Nothing will strengthen your spiritual foundation like temple service and temple worship."
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