Feeding Friends - Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010

I was awake before 6:00 waiting for the alarm. This was way too early to get up on a Saturday, let alone "P" day, but I had work to do.

We were excited to have five missionaries coming for lunch today, and I had a dessert and another salad to make -- plus clean the apartment. We had scheduled it for 1:00, but last night the AP's called to ask if we could do it at 12:30 since they had an appointment at 2:00. Sure, no problem.

After showering and getting myself ready, I started making the dessert which was a Betty Crocker cake mix with fudge and chocolate topping drizzled over it. Elder Hales received it in a package from his Grandmother and said he would donate it to the dinner if I wanted it. It looked so yummy on the box that I couldn't turn it down, and since it was an American made cake mix and chocolate to boot made it even more desireable. I was thrilled! And it was a hit!

I made a huge potato salad last night to go along with the BBQ beef on buns. So this morning I made a large fruit salad with fruit cocktail, apples, bananas, canned peaches and pears, and pineapple chunks. It was combined together with a sauce. Lays and Doritos chips rounded out the meal.

After combining the shredded beef to the BBQ sauce, I placed two casserole dishes of it in the oven to warm through. I only wanted it on low, but my oven doesn't do low. So I had to fan the oven door several times to keep it where I wanted it to be. Oh, the joys of cooking in a foreign land on foreign appliances.

My cell phone rang and I expected it to be a medical call, but it was Elder Ravanales who is from Chile. He was concerned about his family's safety in the earthquake that happened in Chile early this morning. He wanted to know if we could call his parents to see if they were okay. Rich tried all day and could not get through to Chile. He was trying to call them through Skype, but the internet connections were probably affected by the quake.

We needed three extra chairs for the table, so Rich went to the office to get one more folding chair. We each carried one home from the office yesterday, so now we're good. Then he went to an heladera (ice cream store) to purchase a kilo of vanilla ice cream to eat with our cake.

The five hungry elders seemed to enjoy the food and conversation. Elder Hales said, "I think this is the best lunch I've eaten since I've been here." Now that's a way to win the heart of the cook, I'd say. Elder Pugmire (holding the bottle of pop) goes home March 10 to Provo. So this was sort of a farewell dinner for him. We can't have just any missionaries to dinner, as they can't leave their areas. All of these elders live in San Fernando.

Our five best friends are Elders Peterson, Fernandez, Pugmire, Hales and Coria. They are all terrific young men and we enjoy them a lot.

Clean up didn't take long and although I could have used a nap, it seemed more important to take a trip to our fruit and vegetable market to stock up for the week. We are hooked on fresh fruits and veggies. The peaches, pears, and plums are to die for. Coming back from the six block walk (one way) I ran out of steam. I was so glad to get home and to be able to stay here all the rest of the day and night.

Oh no, not again!! We have no water -- well, we have no cold this time. The hot water seems to be okay. Whatever happens with the water lines around here is a mystery. Hopefully by morning it will be fixed, or a straight hot water shower might be impossible to do.

I worked on two journal entries tonight before bed. It's been a great day!