Burning the Midnight Oil

This morning dawned with a velvety blanket of fog covering the surface of the lake and all around it.  As we drove to our Danish course at noon, it was beginning to thin out, but still gave trees and old buildings  a ghostly appearance.  Isn't that fun?  It was also just a touch warmer...very little wind. The temperatures this week will be above freezing, so we may have rain but not snow.

From all we have heard, this winter has been milder than usual, but on the other hand, I believe that it doesn't snow a great deal anyway.  I think when people around here lament the winter weather, they are speaking about the absence of the sun and the chilly wind.

Our Danish course was fun today since we talked almost exclusively about food.  (I just can't seem to get away from food around here!).  It would have been nice to have these terms long ago, because I have learned most of them the hard way....in the grocery store staring at labels and looking as closely at the product as possible.  Flour is always an adventure.  You would think that white flour would be easy, but there are so many products that say white flour in Danish, and all are not necessarily good for cakes, cookies or desserts....which is what I mainly use it for.

One of the young women came early this evening for FHE to show me how to make an old-fashioned apple cake.  It is not at all what you think of as cake.  We began by peeling about 40 apples and chopping them up.  She added about an inch of water to a pan with the apples, a little bit of sugar and 6 vanilla beans (after cutting them open and scraping down the insides).  She brought it to a boil and simmered it for 10 minutes or so until the apples got tender.  Then she took the vanilla beans out and mashed up the apples.

She layered the apples with toasted sweet crumbs in a big glass bowl and chilled it.  That's it!  An apple cake.  People scooped out a spoonful and topped it with whipped cream and it was truly excellent.  I am going to make it on my own this weekend.  I wish I could have snapped a picture but just like our Thursday evening dinners there is no time to photograph it once it is ready to serve....it is the amazing disappearing act.

One of the best experiences of today was the missionary committee meeting a half hour before Family Home Evening.  The chairman is a young man who served his mission in South Chicago.  It was not a good place to be 43 years ago when SK and I lived there, and I don't think it has changed much since then.  He has some pretty funny stories to tell....and some scary ones as well.  I don't think his mother has heard a lot of those stories.

He conducts the meetings like he has been a leader for many years.  The committee consists of SK and me, the two sister missionaries who are assigned to the center, and two committee members...one who is in charge of reactivation and one who takes care of missionary work. Louisa, one of the two co-chairmen of the YSA program was also there tonight, as well as two elders, who will be here often too....anytime we have an investigator.  So it was a good sized committee, and they are serious about the work to be done here, but they also have a good time with it.  It is inspiring to see the way all of these young people conduct themselves and this important meeting.

They are setting some really great goals and scheduling splits with the missionaries on a weekly basis.  The YSAs sign up for a night they want to go with the full-time missionaries and they seem to be genuinely excited about it.

Tonight, one of our YSAs who has not been active for the last year or so came to FHE and seemed to enjoy being here....I think he will probably come more often.  There is such a great spirit here.

We had a pretty good group....had a spiritual message, a speed-dating activity, a great treat (old-fashioned apple cake) and then a lot of CRUD and visiting.  It is now about 10:45 and everyone has gone home except 5 young women.  One of them has her mission call to England, and will be gone within the month, so I think they are taking every advantage to be with her before she leaves.

It is a little after 12:30 a.m. and time to go to bed.  We are a little bit later because we spent some wonderful time visiting with Lia and Eliza on Facetime.  We watched Eliza bounce around the family room and heard her babbling.  The hardest thing about seeing our grandchildren on Facetime is seeing them and not being able to put my arms around them.  It is such an incredible blessing to be able to talk face to face about all that is going on in our kids' lives.  I think it actually helps us to focus better on our mission. 

Well...morning daylight (notice I didn't say sunlight) is coming earlier each day....better retire.

It is a good thing we can sleep in!!!