Adios and Happy Birthday

Sister Hansen invited the Assistants, Office Elders, Elder F and us to lunch as a farewell to Elder Griffin and Happy Birthday to Elder Watkins. She asked Elder G what his favorite thing to eat was, and he said chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. I've seen the steaks at Costco or Sam's, but she couldn't find them so made them herself. I know she won't ask missionaries their faves again or she may have many new culinary experiences in the next 3 years. But she did a good job, and it's more than I'm ready to attempt. My great contribution was a big bowl of fruit, compliments of Costco. I did remove the strawberries and added a very light dressing of lime juice, honey (about 1 T of each) and fresh chopped mint. YUM. I think I'll put that combination on everything! Good thing mint grows in a pot at the mission home.

Here are a few names that I'm positive you will only hear in LA: Oranjello, Le-uh and Le$ah. Now for the pronunciation: Oh-ron-jallo, Le-dash-uh, and Le-cash-ah! And, yes, those are exactly how they're spelled! Holy cow!

I almost forgot the best story of the day that President Hansen shared with us at lunch. The Hastings, our senior couple in Oakdale, are on fire in their area. They teach. They befriend. They reactivate. And they're great examples. After only 1 month in the field they had a young African American man very close to being ready for baptism. He'd had most of the lessons but was leaving town for a month. When he returned last week the Elders taught him the law of chastity. "Oh no! That's the hardest one of all!" was his response. But he took it very seriously and told his girlfriend that he was going to live the law. After thinking about it for a bit she asked if she could also take the lessons! Awesome!