A Night for Couples in San Ramon

Friday, March 13, 2015

Mike and I were invited to the small ward of San Ramon to be their guest speaker(s). Note: I said maybe 5 words in español, hence the () around the s. They had an activity for married couples. 

It was well attended. Over half of the men were either not members or not active, so it was a great event. We asked them to put questions in a box about whatever they wanted to know about us or from us. "Time Out" was a concept that seemed to be new to some of them when resolving conflicts. How to deal with anger was asked. It gave Mike the opportunity to talk about reading the scriptures every day to become more like Jesus and less carnal like Satan. Mike talked a bit about the eternal marriage concept and how that helps solidfy a marriage. The played a game where the couples would imitate each other.  My limited vocabulary came out with Mike coming home from working and saying "Tengo hambre".  Google translate that!

 The Bishop's wife getting things prepared.

 Bouquet of flowers made from paper and the vase

is from the top of a soda bottle. Everyone was

given one to take home.

I gave mine to a hermana's apartment to give it

some cheer.

 The evening started around 8:30pm and was still going strong at 10:00 pm. 

Uruguayans always eat late dinners starting around 9:00 pm.

Bishop(tall) and his cute wife(short) 

 Newly married couple

 Spinach filled raviolis. Very yummy.

 Our two servers, the Bishop and another High Priest.

Everyone went home happy and well fed both physically and spiritually.

Aerosillas, Definitely not OSHA Approved, but a Great Adventure

Monday, March 2, 2015

We took a real P-Day today. Play-Day!  We took the Ness'and the Harris' to Punta del Este. We were gone all day and then came to our apartment in the evening and BBQ'd hamburgers. We invited the Anderson's to join us as they had to work today.  It was perfect weather too!  The video tells it all!
YouTube: Punta del Este

Just some tickler photos that are part of the video.

The rest of the week was spent feeding missionaries of course.
Tuesday was Concilio and that is always an all day thing by the time we serve breakfast and lunch and do all the clean up.  Then it starting raining like crazy so we waited around so we could give the missionaries a ride to their bus stops.
Thursday at noon, we fed 4 elders at our apartment and we BBQ'd pork chops for them. We had left over carrots from Tuesday, so I made carrot cake. Yummy!  It would be a little better if the canned pineapple down here was a bit more pineappley. It only comes in rings and is kind of bland. I have to blend it to make my own crushed pineapple.  But, of course no one else noticed.  They went back to work full and content.

Mike with an inmobiliaria signing contracts for a new apartment.

Can you guess what is all over our beach today?

Thousands of dead fish all up and down the coast.

Under investigation. 

Friday I knew I was cooking for Elder Pin and Elder Leavitt. It was for Elder Pin's birthday dinner.  Somehow though the other two elders that live with them got invited as well.  I am totally fine with the more the merrier!  So Elder Tucker and Elder Ford were coming tonight too.
We told Elder Pin it was his choice for food. At first he wanted beef stroganoff but when we told him we had a BBQ and could do pork chops, he quickly changed his mind.  So, we did a complete repeat of what we did for lunch yesterday.

In the midst of all this prep work, Elder Pike calls me and sheepishly asks if I have any ideas about where 4 of them can eat for lunch. They have come in on the bus to attend the temple with one of their converts at 2:30 pm.  They used all their money for the bus and had nothing for food.  So, we BBQ'd hamburgers for them with all the fixin's.  I think there must be some kind of Hogwarts magic going on that allows only missionaries to see a sign hanging outside my window. I think it says,

"Cocina de Hermana Burnett, abierto 24/7."  

But, I wouldn't have it any other way!

It is really smelling bad outside!

Hooray for the people in orange!

Hobbit House in Uruguay

Friday, Saturday, February 27, 28 and Sunday, March 1, 2015

Friday. Was able to stay in our apartment and do some housekeeping items.  The views are always interesting.

Do not see a cruise ship very often.

Beginning surfing lessons. School starts in a couple of weeks for these kids.

Today there is very little wave action.

Saturday, We had some of our scheduled Capilla Abiertas and Capacitaciones fall through this weekend.  It worked out for the best though because President Cook invited us to attend the Rocha District Conference with him and Hermana Cook this weekend.  Our assignment was to teach familysearch.org at the priesthood session on Saturday evening.  It is about a 3 hour drive one way.  President Cook drove his vehicle so for a change, we were the passengers and it was a wonderful drive and visit with the Cook's.  Our presentation did not go as planned. Seems like they never do.  We had probably about 10 bretheren there and none of them could remember the ldsaccount username or if they even had an ldsaccount set up.  We were hoping we could show them "by their own experience" how easy it was to add their family members to the tree.  We did show them someone else's account but it is always better if someone from the audience can have success.  We also showed them how to add a photo using their smart phones.  With such little time, it is hard to teach anything this big.  But, it was a start and maybe they will invite us back where we can spend a whole day doing nothing but hands on classes with individuals who are interested.

We spent the night in La Paloma, a nice quiet beach community.  

Beautiful lighthouse right next to our hotel. Didn't have time to visit though.

Ballena is a whale. You can see them here in August, Sep and October.

Nice hotel too. It actually had a textured ceiling!  First one we have seen.  

Sunday we went to the Rocha morning session of conference.  Our iPad and Android saved the day for a wonderful, patient mother.  She has a 6 year old boy that has autism and our family knows about behavior issues that comes with that.  The mother has an older daughter too who seemed to be a huge help for her brother and mother.  Mike pulled out his iPad and we had that little boy entertained for about 1/hour straight. I helped entertain the sister with lds art puzzles on my Android. Hermana Cook also stepped in with her iPad that had different games.  I saw the mother breathe a huge sigh of relief as she sat back and was able to really listen to some of conference.  Her husband abandoned her and the kids when their son was diagnosed with autism.  I have no idea if any kind of help or training is available to this family like it is in the States.  I applaud mother and daughter though for coming to church!

It is humbling to me to watch families and how they travel to church. 

Dad, Mom and 2 little boys.

If any lady has a good reason for wearing pants to church, this would be one.  But, she is not the first lady I have seen riding a moto to church in full Sunday dress. They certainly follow the counsel given by Elder Dallin Oaks in October Conference 2008.

"How we dress is an important indicator of our attitude and preparation for any activity in which we will engage.  If we are going swimming or hiking or playing on the beach, our clothing, including our footwear, will indicate this.  The same should be true of how we dress when we are to participate in the ordinance of the sacrament.  It is like going to the temple.  Our manner of dress indicates the degree to which we understand and honor the ordinance in which we will participate."

I know that during the winters here, I would love to wear pants instead of a dress. But this image will always remind me that this woman understands the principle and is willing to sacrifice comfort to follow the principle. And so I shall follow her example. I won't wear pants to church in the winter, but I will wear my long john's under my skirt! 

We found a hobbit house here in Uruguay!

How Fast Can You Feed 150 People?

Monday, February 23 - 25, 2015

This was a busy week for cooking and feeding missionaries.
Elder Francisco J Viñas came to our mission to visit, do some training, and speak at 2 multi-zone conferences.  More about Elder Viñas
So Monday, we cooked lunch for a group of about 50.  Mary was the head chef and she always does great food.
Tonight was also FHE with the temple group.  They had no planned lesson because the couple that was scheduled could not attend because of health issues.  So Mike was volunteered by all to give another lesson on the 2nd coming.

Tuesday was the beginning of our zone's efforts to provide lunch for 150 people on Wednesday in the Malvin building.  Last Friday, the zone leaders of Este, Elder Alder and Elder Oliver had asked my opinion on what to prepare.  They were in charge.  No one wanted to really do pizza again.  It either comes late, or cold and it is not cheap.  Subway was kind of the same deal.  Would they deliver on time? Would the sandwiches be fresh or soggy?
The elders were instructed that everyone be fed in one hour, so that the conference could continue after lunch.  As we bashed some ideas around, we decided that a burrito bar would be a great option and could be done within budget.  We would do black beans with hamburger, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and if we had enough money, we would splurge and do sour cream.
With that plan in mind, the elders tested that night how many beans and how much hamburger would fit in a burrito.  They came back with the results and were excited about how good they were.
Sunday night the elders talked with Hermana Cook and she told them that she did not think they could do all that.  She wanted them to order something else on Monday. I don't think they told her that they had been talking with me so she probably didn't know I was involved.  They were pretty disappointed. Hermana Cook and I talked about the plan. After she knew I was more than willing to do this, she gave us her blessing.  Sooo...on with the show!
Tuesday was spent in Hermana Cook's kitchen cooking hamburger and lots of pots of beans. Hermana Harris and Hermana Ness came over and helped. Hermana Cook was not home because they were attending the conference in Maroñas with Elder Viña. The elders chopped all the tomatoes.

This was our list of food to buy and prepare:
450 flour and corn tortillas
450 slices of cheese  (we did slices because that would be easier and faster)
10 heads of lettuce (we should have done more)
20 lbs of tomatoes (could have done more)
40 lbs of beans  (we had one large pot left over)
40 lbs of hamburger
11 sour cream containers (16 oz)
My bean recipe called for cooking a whole onion and squeezing a juice orange into the pot.
40 oranges, 40 onions, lots of garlic, kosher salt
150 crisp apples (they are really good right now)
150 ice cream bars for dessert
The elders were in charge of buying all the drinks. (soda and water)

We were done cooking at around 6 pm.

That evening we had maintence in the Malvin kitchen to help us fix the big stove they have there. We needed that to reheat the pots of beans.  The first item of business was to get their propane tanks filled which they did that morning.  Second now, was getting the burners to light. It seemed like nothing was going to work.  This wasn't crucial because we could have brought in our little stoves we have for missionary apartments and set them up in a classroom, but fixing the big kitchen stove was the better option so I went into a little room and said a prayer.

Within 10 minutes my prayer was answered and the stove was working. I gave a quick prayer of thanks! The maintenance man also brought back the chest freezer that was lent out to youth conference camp.  That helped alot.  Mike also brought in from storage some smaller refrigerators and we set those up in classrooms.
The elders set up all the tables and chairs and put on the tablecloths.  They had contacted their whole zone to come early tomorrow morning to be instructed on how to serve the food.  We were going to serve "Peggy Clark" style.  She knew how to move the masses!
We had four tables set up and each table had the same food and a server to go with it.

Wednesday - D-Day!
This had better work! Pressure is on because we have a general authority visiting and we want a good meal! Can we feed 150 people 3 burritos, an apple, soda, and ice cream in 1 hour???????????  Would we have enough food?  We found out this morning, that most of the missionaries came to this conference fasting.  YIKES! They will be famished.

Five large pots of beans and hamburger mix.

Tortillas in the warmer.

Two more crocks of beans. We had a total of 4. Notice the transformers.
Uruguay does not sell crock pots. These are from the States that
others have graciously brought and left here. 

Refrigerators in classrooms full of soda. For some odd reason, Malvin
does not have a refrigerator in their kitchen.

Makeshift kitchen in a classroom.

Freezer full of ice cream bars. 

Our four serving tables.

On your mark..get set...go!  Mike is
standing at the door directing traffic because they have
never been served like this before.

The sisters always eat first.

Order: Plates, tortillas in box, slice of cheese, beans, sour cream,
tomatoes, lettuce.

They go through the line and get one burrito. They can come back for
more later. (which they did!)

Elders waiting in the foyer for the sisters to finish.

And now the Elders flood the room!

How long did it take to get 150 people through the line for their first burrito?

Watch the video to find out. 

With a sigh of relief, all were fed very well. Elder Viñas said it was one of the best "conference" meals he has had!  We did run out of tomatoes and lettuce, but a burrito is still good with just cheese and beans and if you run out of cheese, it is still good with just beans!
Clean up took a while but we were all "happy campers" when all was done. We froze the leftover beans and tortillas to be used at a later time.  The beans could certainly be used for a potato bar!
Elder Alder and Elder Oliver said they were going to sleep really well tonight!
Thank you to everyone who helped this event to be a successful one.