Happy Thanksgiving.

Well today is Thanksgiving.  Although this will be a very different Thanksgiving for me, since it is the first time I have been away from home or family, I have a family of a different kind this year.  One of the teachers here is American. So every year she invites the American student missionaries to her home for dinner.  And our boss, Flemming, is understanding of its importance so he gives the American's the night off (as long as we find someone to cover for us...).
This year I am so thankful that I have been plunged into the lives of these kids.  They have redefined mission work for me. I am thankful that I have the opportunity to come over here and share God's love with them.  I am thankful I have connected with the other missionaries so that we are our own family, especially during the holidays. I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to travel a little bit and see the rest of this amazing world that has been created just for us. And I'm thankful that I can feel the love from home in various packages and letters.
Last night we had Thanksgiving number one.  We decided that we were going to have a Thanksgiving dinner for the high school boys.  On Tuesday I spent about 6 hours planning out what we were going to make and how I was going to pull off enough turkey for 40 people...having never made turkey before in my life.  I figured out all the recipes and finally went to bed Tuesday night.  Wednesday morning I woke up at 9 and started the three 12lb. turkeys.  Now even though the school is ok with kids eating meat. They won't allow us to prepare it in the main kitchen, for understandable reasons.  So I had to use the teaching kitchen upstairs. But of course since this was a school day, that kitchen was being used.  So we had to defrost them in three different sinks of three different kitchens in two different buildings. So every 30 minutes I was running around changing the water on these turkeys.  At 1:30 we were allowed into the main kitchen to start our other dishes. At 2:15 the classes were finally done in the school kitchen. So I went up stuffed, seasoned and prepared the turkeys for roasting.  Dinner was at 6:00 and I lost all my missionary kitchen staff at 5:00 do to required chores they have to oversee every day here at school.  So I was running around like a headless chic...um...turkey trying to get everything done.  At a quarter to 6 the turkeys were done. And so was everything else, but in two different kitchens. So I was running back and for between the two, mashing potatoes, dishing out green beans, getting the rolls warmed, serving the vegetarian stuffing, and carving a turkey.  Luckily one of the other Danish missionaries who has at least carved a roast chicken came in to relieve me with that part...his half looked carved, my half looked murdered.  So I let him do the other two.  We served dinner to and desert to the guys a little late but it all came together wonderfully and they seemed to really appreciate being about to share in a big tradition of America.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!