Happy Thanksgiving

President and Sister Camargo very thoughtfully wanted to have a "Dia de Gracias" dinner for all of the "Gringo" missionaries. Hermana Camargo asked if I would help because she had never fixed a turkey. What a courageous lady she is! And what a fun time I had working with her.

I went for the over-kill as I thought of our family dinner, and began mentally preparing the shopping list. Our "super-mercados" in San Gil are stocked much like a 7-11, so I didn't know if I could find all of our traditional foods. Not to fear. This was a wonderful supermarket, the first thing we passed was an aisle with Smuckers Grape Jelly!!!! I only paused momentarily to give a quick "beso" to a bottle before dropping it in the cart. It only took a couple of phone calls to discovered that "sage" is "salvia" in Spanish. But now there was SAGE!!!! My hopes for the dinner escalated! All would be well.

Everyone pitched in to help, Elder Jenson gave a little resistence at first, (for full effect, enlarge this foto),

but quickly got into the spirit!

Once he got into the spirit of chopping, we couldn't stop him. Here he is chopping the big leaves of salvia, into itty-bitty pieces! He couldn't be distracted for a foto, very focused on the task at hand.

Mery (I hope I have the spelling right) always had a smile in spite of the HUGE mess we were making in the kitchen for 2 1/2 days. I so appreciated her quiet, "tranquila, hermana," as I worried about disturbing her routine. In spite of interrupting her frequently for help in finding a dish or a pan, awkwardly using the knives (E.Jenson became very adept at this), adding more dirty dishes as soon as she would get a batch washed, and generally, feeling very inadequate with my Spanish, she just smiled, and quickly found everything for us!

You can see the wonderful "pavos" sitting on the counter, waiting to be properly "dressed!"

Smiles are not in shortage here as Camila (daughter), joined the crew to help wherever she could. She speaks English beautifully, and was a great help, as you can imagine. She too, went out of her way to be helpful. . . especially when it came to helping with the dessert!

What a trooper Sister Camargo is, making extra trips to the store as I would think of something else we could do like looking for canned yams, cream cheese, or more butter (8 lbs wasn't enough?). She was willing to try anything, and did it all with this great smile. She seemed perfectly comfortable with the fact that there were 30 people coming for dinner, and that she was relying on this strange couple in her kitchen to put it together. (Talk about faith!)

I missed getting a picture of the huge laundry-basket-size plastic container of potatoes she had waiting for us on Thursday morning when we arrive...all peeled, cut into pieces, and ready to be cooked. Her moxy really showed when we suggested that she stuff and put the big turkey in the oven Wednesday night when she went to bed, so that it could cook through the night as we would need the oven for the smaller one on Thursday. She didn't hesitate a second, so we jotted down a few instructions, and left for the night. When we returned early Thurs. a.m., there was a big beautifl golden brown turkey sitting on the counter. I guess a major requirement for being a Mission President's wife is being fearless!

So these were our "Preparation Days" for the dinner. Here were the delightful results.

Mounds of Mashed Potatoes - Done with a Kitchen Aide Mixer!!!! I expect we cooked over

30 lbs of them.

Below, Presidente Camargo is waiting for us to get seated, see any foods you recognize? It was very "gringo-ish!

Que paso? Not one gringo at this table! When I mentioned this, one of them volunteered to go find one. I think they all enjoyed the gringo dinner.


Only Camila and I know what this dessert of a kind of pumpkin-y cakey thing, with cream cheese filling/frosting, and a drizzle of home-made chocolate, was supposed look like!!!! (And any of you who have seen the pumpkin roll on Amanda's blog!) But several wanted seconds...hooray for hungry missionaries!

The Elders all helped with the tables, serving, and whatever else we needed done. Thanks!

We ended the day with a song and a prayer, Elder Chapman, who was in the MTC with us is at the back left, he and his wife are serving in Barbosa. Pres. Camargo is looking over Elder Smith's shoulder. Elder Smith played soccer at BYU, and is a friend of Kassidy's...how cool is that!!! Elder Baque, is on the far left of the couch, he was transferred from San Gil to Bogota, a few cambios ago.

It was very nice to be able to help with this dinner, it was much like fixing the family dinner at home. It makes me feel a little closer to you all to be able share this day that we had in Colombia with you. I'm glad Elder Morley thought Thanksgiving was the third Thursday, so that I could have the pictures ready early! The kindness and love of our new friends here has meant so much to us. As I have said before, what a blessing this mission has been in our lives. Our new experiences and friends have expanded our world beyond anything we could have imagined!

We love you all, and wish you the very Happiest Thanksgiving, and a wonderful beginning to the a joyful holiday season, as we remember our Heavenly Father's hand in our lives.

Thanks for visiting!

Rather than start a new blog for this entry, I want to say that we left for San Gil, on Friday so that we would be home for Eduardo's baptism on Saturday. You may remember that we have been working the young missionaries in teaching this family. Here is a foto of the lesson where he committed to baptism. Blessings abound for us all, and their joy seems to be contageous.

From left, Presidente Amaya (1st Counselor in the Branch Presidency with Elder Jenson), Elder Ordones, Gloria and Eduardo, Elder Jenson, Hermana Jenson, and Elder Leiva. What a tender spot in my heart I have for the people in this picture.

This made a great ending to a very nice week, as we did more temple work for my brother Clarance. The next time we go to Bogota, we will have him sealed to Mom and Daddy.

Thanks for letting me share...

Pardon me for including Elder Morley, Assitant to President Camargo. He was one of the first elders that met us in Bogota, and was so helpful. We have become friends because of our contact at Zone Conferences, our trips to Bogota, and our need to pester the President once-in-a-while. He has shared a ton of powerpoints, and generally tried to make our life easier here. Every time I would ask him to take a picture at the dinner, he would quickly turn the camera, and snap one of himself. He did erase some of them, but I still had this one. He has it down to a science don't you think?

Seriously, he is going home this week-end, I want to tell him how much I appreciate his help, enthusiastic support, and genuine concern. We wish you well, Elder Morley, and I hope you find yourself on the right side of the football field! Remember, you can run, but you can't hide, we will find you!