May 27, 2012

 Another Sunday has arrived.  This one will definitely go better than last week.  Prayers assigned, blessing of the sacrament taken care of, hymn numbers are received on text (or SMS as they call it over here) extra time if speakers don’t use all of the time, is prepared for.  And all went well.  I spoke on how to have successful families and Brother Nobebe one of Rick’s councilors spoke on service and then Rick had to fill about 10 more minutes, which he did quite well.  The scheduled prayers didn’t actually show up so two spur of the moment ones did it, however.  After sacrament we both went into primary to help out and we actually separated the Jr. and Sr. primary today.  It helped, but we had the 4 children in Jr. Primary, and, boy what a job.  Two of the children come from the same family and they have got to be ADHD or something, especially the little boy.  Rick took him over.  We decided it just needed to be a nursery class rather than trying to teach Jr. primary age children. So, color, toys, one story, run around outside, more toys, etc.  Next week has to be better.  The primary needs help!!

After church we went over to Sister Helen Dell’s home for lunch.   

 

She is like the mom of the branch.  She tells you like she sees it, but is very giving and caring.  She is a very nice lady. The Relief Society president and her husband were there also. They are great people.  She made a lovely lunch which included fish (hake) with onions and not sure what else wrapped in a crust, mashed potatoes, corn, peas and a wonderful salad.  Very yummy!   For dessert she made a pudding with crapes, bananas, custard, and cinnamon and whatever.  Served warm with ice cream and it also was yummy.  I have had some really great desserts since we have been here, all of which we have never had before.  Embracing the culture can be great! After the Cockbains left, we had a really nice visit with Sister Dell.  She liked how Rick sparkled her kitchen. (he washed the dishes) She told us about her life. She joined the church when she was thirty and has worked as a nurse most of her life. She has never married, speaks with a lovely British accent and loves to talk. It was a great visit. Rick looked at her microwave, it has been broken for around 8 month to see if could be fixed.  It is quite old. 

 

She has a wonderful garden with all kinds of fruit trees. The lemon tree in her yard and it is loaded with lemons of which she gave us some along with, grapefruit, guava, and granadillas’ which she grows at her place. We left feeling we had spent time with a truly great lady.