Peanut Butter Cookies: Sister Johnsen had 3 visiting teaching appointments on Tuesday, and she always tries to bring something with her for her sisters. After teaching Elysia and Eleanor Antonia a piano lesson, she set out to deliver the peanut butter cookies, and left Elder Johnsen at the church to make copies of the Race for Life for the upcoming Priesthood service night. Unfortunately the printer broke shortly after he got started.
When Sister Johnsen stopped at one of her sister’s houses, Tessy, to deliver the cookies, she found it was Tessy’s birthday. The Meyuns Elders were already there, and Tessy gave us all dinner to take home.
We stayed up late to help the Elders remain awake so that they could take Elder Gubler to the airport. He had to go to Guam to train for a new missionary. We got to bed around midnight.
Red Rooster for dinner: Sister Johnsen was supposed to have a piano lesson but the student didn’t come, and Elder Johnsen was also at the church waiting for the copier repairman who didn’t come. Then we met all the Elders for dinner at the Red Rooster. It was Elder Adams LAST dinner in Palau. We ate on the balcony, and saw the best sunset we’ve seen since we have been here in Palau.
We decided to actually go to the airport with the Elders to see Elder Adams off. Sister Johnsen made him a sign and filled his “Elder Adams” plastic cup up with candy for the trip. Each Elder has their own plastic cup at our apartment, and they have written their names on the cups. We let Elder Adams take his cup with some treats inside. We got in bed at 1:15 A.M! (We don’t even stay up that late on New Year’s Eve).
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread: Someone gave us a ton of bananas that were going bad fast. On Thursday Sister Johnsen made 6 loaves of banana bread and there were still some bananas left over, so Elder Johnsen made a huge bowl of banana and strawberry jello with lots of bananas. Tessy had asked for Sister Johnsen’s recipe for banana bread so Elder Johnsen delivered two loaves of banana bread to her, and then Elder and Sister Johnsen gave the other three loaves away. There was only one left and Elder Johnsen thought he should have at least one because it was his idea to make the banana bread in the first place.
The copier repairman came and explained what the printer problem could be and said we could get a part from the USA which “might” fix it. We just need to order it and wait until it comes!
Chocolate Cake with White Mountain Frosting: Elder Johnsen tried to fix the copier himself but to no avail. You should have seen him, he looked just like the Xerox repair men he remembers from his old days at ExxonMobil—they would come and work on the copiers all dressed up in a white shirt and tie. He pulled the automatic document feeder and the scanning bed off the copier to see if the repairman might have overlooked something easy to fix, like a broken belt or so other problems. He learned from the internet that these were common problem for our copier, but everything looked fine; he decided that maybe the repairman knew what he was talking about after all. Elder Johnsen still needed about 130 copies of the 4 page talk by President Monson. This would cost about $48 to copy at the local copy shops and it isn’t in the branch budget.
Sister Johnsen made a layered chocolate cake with White Mountain frosting to welcome our new missionary to the island. He and Elder Gubler arrived on Friday night about 8:45. We all went out to meet them. Then we brought the elders to our apartment for cake and to get a little bit better acquainted with our new missionary. His name is Elder Pauga and he is from Hawaii. He has a firm handshake and broad shoulders. Elder Johnsen guessed on the way home from the airport that Elder Pauga was a rugby player, and he guessed right. Elder Pauga has moved around a lot and seems very comfortable in new situations. We are really happy to welcome him to Palau.
Apple Crisp & Brownies: Sister Johnsen had two piano lessons on Saturday morning and then she and Elder Johnsen went out to visit members. They were back in the afternoon so Elder Johnsen could be Elder Wright’s companion while he filled the font for the baptism that night. Elder Early took Elders Gubler and Pauga and introduced them to their investigators—not only did Elder Gubler get a new companion but he also is getting a new area as they are now working in Meyuns.
Sister Johnsen stayed home and….you guessed it…cooked! The Elder said they needed some desserts for the baptism that evening. Sister Johnsen decided to make apple crisp because she hadn’t made that one while on Palau. Elder Johnsen was helping peel, core, and cut up the apples but then he had to go. Sister Johnsen had to take over that job and didn’t think about the fact that the butter that was mixed with oats and flour was supposed to be cold. By the time she got the apples ready the butter had melted. But that was only part of the problem. The recipe called for ½ stick of butter and she added ½ cup of butter. Now she had to decide what to do, so she double that part of the recipe and globbed it on the apples instead of sprinkling it on.
The plan was to next make a mango crisp, but after that crisp catastrophe, her cooking confidence cratered, Sister Johnsen made brownies from a box. The apple crisp and brownies must have tasted OK because we didn’t bring anything home with us after the baptism.
The Elders have been teaching one of the high ranking members of the Seventh Day Adventist church here in Palau, and he came to the baptism. Sister Johnsen was asked to lead the music for the evening. While Jacquline was dressing after her baptism the Elders asked Sister Johnsen to lead the group in a few hymns. They suggested two, but when they were almost over Sister Johnsen didn’t know what to sing next. It came very clearly to her that we should sing, “I Believe in Christ.” We are always thankful to Elder McConkie for writing the lyrics to a song that expresses to our non-member friends our strong belief in the Savior. Elder Johnsen said later that this was the very best song we could have picked. That is because Sister Johnsen didn’t pick it, the Spirit did.
Roast, Carrots, Potatoes and finally, the Mango Crisp: Sunday is our day to have the Elders to dinner and we have never had a roast here, so we made our pot roast with carrots and potatoes like we do at home. Elder Johnsen was determined to use the mangoes that a member had given us, so we made the dessert on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately no one, except for Elder Johnsen and Gubler, liked it that well. It will not enjoy a repeat performance. (Elder Gubler is like Mikey in that old Life cereal commercial, he will eat anything!)
Chocolate Chips Cookies and Popcorn: When the Elders came back on Sunday evening Sister Johnsen had made some cookies and even though Elder Johnsen had just finished a long YM planning meeting in our living room he was willing to make some of his famous popcorn (because no one wanted any more Mango surprise).
What a delicious week!
One of the highlights of my week is reading about your weeks on the island of Palau. I am exhausted just reading of all you accomplish.
ReplyDeleteKathy Patty