Do you have an oven? I think you told
us you did. Don’t worry about your spelling, grammar or
punctuation. I always edit a bit before I post stuff on your blog.
It is hard to convert back and forth in your mind. Stop stressing over
it. We understand.
I know thanks for the help and I will probably be
using them this week. Camila wants us to cook for a Family Home Evening this
Wednesday that we are going to have with them. We are working hard and I know
that they will both get baptized while I am here, but I want it to be sooner
than later. Thanks for all of your help and both Jonathan and Camila attended
this Sunday. Carlos received the Aaronic Priesthood.
That is awesome! I was hoping he would
be able to receive the priesthood soon. Now he can experience helping
with the sacrament. Maybe he can even help baptize some of these people
you are teaching. I know that means you don’t get to use your white tie,
but it may help keep him stronger if he were able to perform an ordinance like
baptism. Curtis mentioned how they did that a lot in his mission because
it helped members to progress.
We are looking to go to the Temple with him in March. I have several people that I need to work to
keep in touch with and Carlos was talking with me about going to the Temple in
Salt Lake to be sealed. I told him if he wants me to be there he has to wait
longer for me to finish my mission and I don´t know he might be serious about
it. I have no idea, but I am really happy when we visit with them and help them
progress more. We are working a lot with reading with Carlos because he doesn´t
like to read a lot. We are going to do more Family History in a little more time.
It would be awesome if Carlos came to SLC to
be sealed. Then we could meet the family.
Ya but also I don´t know how easy it would be for
Elder Correa also. I don´t have a clue....
It will all work out, so don’t stress over
it. I am sure that Soley’s parents will want to be there also, so it
might be best if they did it in Chile. It would be cool to be there, but
whatever works out will be what the Lord intends for them. They can always come
to Utah afterwards to attend the temple. It is important to have family
and friends with them at the temple, so encourage them to make it work for
their family. I can’t imagine Soley would want to be sealed without her
parents there to be with her.
Do you have any pudding mix?
I know and her dad is leaving this Wednesday. Have you
sent me pudding mix? I can´t remember.... I also found a new person for you to
work with LVH2-JCF This is
the code of the new person that I just created that was from a record.
I thought I sent you some pudding mix at
Thanksgiving time, some pumpkin spice flavored pudding. Did you eat
it? I might have also sent you some banana cream pudding mix. I
can’t remember.
I think that I still have them....
Then you could make that for your
treat. It just needs milk. It is probably different than the type
of puddings they eat there. You could slice up some bananas in the banana
pudding if you had some.
I will look into it. Thanks.
I will work with what I have but I think that they
want me to cook. There is the problem....
I know, but you can’t cook if you don’t have
ingredients to cook. Do what you can this week and maybe next time you
can plan and have more to cook for them.
Can you get hamburger, a can of pork and
beans and some ketchup? You could make meat and beans on toast. It
is not a desert, but it is easy.
Meat and Beans on Toast
Fry:
1 pound of hamburger
Add:
2 small cans of Pork and Beans
½ cup Ketchup
A few dashes of Worcestershire sauce if you
have it
½ cup of brown sugar or regular sugar if you
don’t have brown sugar
Heat till blended.
Serve over toast.
Bread and Gravy
Fry:
1 pound of hamburger
Stir in ¼ cup flour till it soaks up the oil
and makes a paste
Add:
3 to 4 cups of milk
Stir over medium heat till gravy thickens
If you don’t have flour, you can cook the
meat, add the milk and then make a thickening from 3 Tablespoons cornstarch and
a little water. Heat the milk till it is really hot, but not
boiling. Pour in the cornstarch thickening while stirring. It will
thicken quickly. Cook for a couple of minutes so the cornstarch taste goes
away. Serve over toast.
This is a different topic. I asked him last week to send me his SD card
of photos.
First I need to find
a Post Office here.... I haven´t yet and I just don´t get around to it very
often. Sorry.... I am trying, but I don´t have a ton of spare time. Time is
honestly the thing that I have the least of. I am busy every moment of
everyday.... I try, but that is where emails are a lot better because I can say
a lot that gets to you right after I write it.
I know, but you are only able to send a
couple photos each week and I know you are taking more than that by the numbers
on the photos. Ask someone where the post office is. Someone has to
know. You probably walk right past it and don’t even know it. Make
that your goal this week to send me the photos and you can proselyte at the
post office. People who go there probably live in the area. It
might be a great place to find people.
I know you are super busy and that is
great. That is the way missions are supposed to be. I am very
grateful for email. I would not have been a very good missionary mom 100
or even 50 years ago when there was no technology. I can’t even imagine
how I survived Dad’s two year mission with only USPS mail. I remember
there being some very long weeks waiting for a letter to come. You should
be grateful for technology, also. It has allowed you to stay in touch
with family and friends.
I am and I am doing my best to enjoy each moment that
I have to write because I would be really bored writing by hand and having to
do it the slow way and letters seem so slow compared to email, so I generally
just email.
I know, but you really should take time to
send a note to Grandpa and Grandma Goode. They don’t use email.
Grandma is reading your blog, but Grandpa doesn’t get any information unless we
tell him. Send him a quick note through pouch telling him how much you
love him.
I will try to when I get a moment or two.
Thanks for all of the information on how things are
going. I know what you mean and we still have 2 baptismal dates and the other
one we haven´t visited for a little bit. She had surgery last Friday, so she
didn´t go to church and we are going to try to visit her in the next couple
days. We are working really hard with Jonathan for his baptism this Sunday and
Camila won´t be able to attend for a family matter so we are looking to change
the baptismal date one week later.
It will be pretty hectic this week. I have divisions
tomorrow with Elder Bennett in Parque O´Higgens. Elder Fernandez from my first
pention is training again. This time his companion is Elder Hunter.
I hope that everything gets better and it always seems
like everything happens to cost you financially lately.... Sorry about that and
keep working hard and enjoying the little moments. They are few and far
between. I am trying to read the New Testament in a month I started 2 days ago
and have read 26 chapters of Matthew so I am starting off really well and
reading a couple chapters of the Book of Mormon as well.
That is neat that you are reading so much.
We are still trying to finish up the Book of Mormon from last year. We
are not doing so well, but a few more weeks and we will be done and ready to
start over. They are studying the New Testament in Sunday School this
year so I will try to read it this year. Teaching the Family History
lesson in Sunday School, I don’t get to the class, so I will have to do it on
my own. I have been studying the talks from Conference, so I haven’t been
reading a lot of other scriptures on my own. I am about 1/3 of the way
through the talks.
It has been good that Dad is selling some
pigeons because it is helping to pay for all the other things that have gone
wrong. That is a missionary blessing. We have issues, but it seems
there is always enough to pay for what we need. We never go hungry and I
am always able to pay the bills. The last two months I have not been able
to balance the checkbook. It shows we have more money than what we really
do. Either I am really poor with my math or these are blessings from the
Lord. It was that way the whole time Curtis and Clain served. There
always seemed to be extra money in our Checking Account that I could not
account for. I am grateful for that.
I hope you are able to keep teaching these
families. I hope that Carlos’s testimony has been a help to these other
part-member families to convince them that they should try the gospel.
There are always lots of fun moments and I
am enjoying this year so much more than last year, especially at work. It
has been a much easier year that way. I have done very little imaging and
that is a blessing. I feel like I am keeping pretty much caught up and
last year I didn’t feel that way. I was always swamped. I do miss
all the fun activities with you and school, but I am so grateful to be done
with the public education of our children.
I am too. I got out before things got worse.... But
with how things are going for public education in the future it will be really
frustrating for me. Oh well, thanks for all that you do and the help always. I
am trying to keep up with you and get to other stuff.
Yea, I think you are keeping ahead of me
today. I still have three emails in my inbox to read. You will be
fine with your college education, but I wouldn’t encourage you to go into
public education and become a teacher. I think that is going to be a hard
field to be in for the future. You will be better to use your abilities
somewhere else.
I´m too impatient anyway... Elder Correa frustrates me
sometimes because he is so laid back and here time passes faster than anywhere
else in the City.
New topic. We had several going on at the same time.
I know things are going pretty well. I wasn´t able to
give Elder Correa anything for his birthday this past Saturday so I acted like
I didn´t have anything planned for him, but this Wednesday I will get the
package.
Cool! I am sure he will be just as
excited for a late birthday party as one that would have been on time. I
wish it would have gotten there earlier, but none of us can control the mail
system. If it had taken the usual 11 days, it would have made it, but
this one took 18 days to make the trip. Take photos. I want to see
the surprise in his face. Thanks for making him happy. It will be a
wonderful memory for all of us.
Thanks I am working on it. Thanks for all that you do
and for doing little things like this for me.
You are welcome. I love to do things
for you. I won’t send you as many packages as some moms do, but I love to
put together fun surprises for you and hope you enjoy and appreciate
them.
I know the hardest part is figuring out what to do
with everything so that it all works out without over-running my suitcases.
I am trying to send you stuff you will use
up and not have to keep. You will end up throwing out clothes and stuff
over time and that will give you more room as you go. Are you changing
your toothbrushes regularly?
I am doing my best to and am on my third I believe.
Thank you. Swapping toothbrushes will
keep you healthy. A lot of germs build up on your toothbrush and in
your mouth. Keep your teeth and mouth healthy and the rest of you will
stay healthy, too. It was one of the things your dentist suggested.
Simple, cheap and very effective.
I am doing my best but I am
not perfect about it all the time, but I am trying a lot harder to do it and be
focused on it.
Is Columbian food
bland?
No, not a lot but some things are. I don´t mind
peppers. I just don´t like when they are crunchy. When they are cooked well
into everything, they are fine. Like Salsa or something along those lines.
Columbians eat a lot of rice but it tastes a lot better than anything that they
make for rice in the States.
You will have to figure out what spices and
stuff they are adding to the rice to make it taste better and send me the recipe
so I can try it here or at least send me the names of the rice dishes.
There are tons of recipes online. I found a different recipe for the
Marquettas Pan that I am going to try today. We tried the salad with
lemon juice the other night. I liked it a lot. I am sure it is
healthier for you than putting Ranch or Thousand Island on it.
Sometimes they put oils on it
but I like lemon better. I will try to figure it out with Elder Correa what
they do differently. I think it is just the type of rice more than anything
because in the States it is really bland.
Yea. I never
realized how many different kinds of rice there are out there till recently.
It also makes a difference if the rice is fresh or has been kept for a while to
transport.
How far do you have to go to the grocery
store? It looks like there is a small market just a few doors away from
your apartment building. Do you ever shop there? Do you have a hand
mixer?
This recipe is best if you use real salted
butter and not margarine.
Brownies
Mix together:
1 cup butter softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
½ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
1 cup butter softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
½ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
Bake at 350 degrees Farenheit for 20 minutes
or a little longer or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Frosting
Mix together:
½ cup butter softened
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup butter softened
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir in enough powdered sugar to make a
thick frosting. Spread on cooled brownies.
You may be able to find a package of already
prepared frosting down there. I don’t know. There is a cake mix and
frosting mix in the package you are getting this week. You could make
that.
I don´t have any of the things that I would need or
let alone know where to find them here. I am trying, but I don´t have a hand
mixer.
Cake Mix Cookies
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cake mix
½ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cake mix
½ cup vegetable oil
Directions
1. Mix together cake mix, eggs and oil in a
large bowl.
2. Make little balls with the dough and set on
ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 4
- 10 minutes.
Try mixing up the cookies then and the cake
and frosting from the package this week. I can send you some more easy
mixes. Your last apartment must have had some things because Elder
Vasquez made all that food. Do you have any flour or sugar or staples
like that in this apartment?
I honestly can´t remember if we have them or not and
he borrowed a lot of things from the members. I will look into things, but
something basic that I can do quickly that still comes out well would be amazing
because I never remember recipes or what I am doing in regards to cooking
unless it is basic....
Have you done your shopping already today or
do you still have to go? Where do you shop? Where do you go to do
your email?
We have gone shopping today. We
go to Lider in Santa Rosa a little bit North of our pention and we go to a
cyber in the street Marin close to Tocornal. Carlos lives in the Building at
the corner of Argomedo with Tocornal.
Did you find out
what part of Portoviejo Carlos is from?
I will look up
those addresses later today.
Jello Salad
1 small box of Jello, any flavor
1 container of cottage cheese about 16 ounces
1 container of cool whip or whipped topping, 8 to 12 ounces
1 can of fruit cocktail, drained well
1 container of cottage cheese about 16 ounces
1 container of cool whip or whipped topping, 8 to 12 ounces
1 can of fruit cocktail, drained well
Stir everything together in a bowl. Let it
sit in the fridge for a few hours.
Green jello and pears works well
Orange jello and fruit cocktail works well
Red jello and berries of any kind work well. They can be fresh berries.
Or you can leave out the fruit and it is fine without.
Orange jello and fruit cocktail works well
Red jello and berries of any kind work well. They can be fresh berries.
Or you can leave out the fruit and it is fine without.
Don’t use fresh pineapple. It messes
with the jello and it won’t setup right. You can use canned
pineapple, just not fresh pineapple.
When do you need to make this desert?
Can you stop somewhere and get eggs and oil so you could bake the cookies or
the cake? Do you have a cake pan to bake the cake in?
I have not seen Cottage cheese or whipped topping let
alone fruit cocktail here.....
I am not
surprised. You could use cream and whip it, but that would require a
mixer, which you don’t seem to have. I would send you some, but they
wouldn’t make it without spoiling. I was trying to think of something
simple.
You could always do
green jello with grated carrots in it. That is a famous Utah dish.
It is pretty hard for you to make something
without any ingredients to work with. Look around the store a little more
and maybe you can find some ingredients you can work with. How far do you
have to walk from the Lider to your pention?
2 minutes I think. But going
up and down with elevators and time with everything ends up like 5 or so.
Oh, then you are
really close to the store. I was hoping that you didn’t have to carry stuff
a mile or two from the store to your pention. You said in your last area
you didn’t like to buy a lot at the store because you had to carry it so
far. This is better than that.
Does Elder Correa have oil and eggs you
could borrow? If you do the cookies or the cake mix you will have to have
oil and eggs. Sorry, I can’t send you a mix that contains those.
What ingredients do you have to work with?
I don´t think so..... I could try to buy what we don´t
have but it would be on an only if I need to basis. I think that it is
Wednesday.....
I think that Elder Correa has vegetable oil, but we
don´t have eggs. I think I could find a few at a corner shop on the way to the
pention one of these days.
Then I would do the cookies or the cake
since you have the mixes. You will just have to find a pan to bake them
in. I think you can stir them well enough by hand to mix it up.
Spend a little time looking at the grocery store next week to see what
ingredients you can find. You may have to buy a pan to bake with. I
will send you a few more mixes so you can make a few things easier.
Which recipe is it that I
have to use to make the cookies if I were to make Chocolate Chip cookies?
Just use the cookie
mix I sent you. It will have instructions on the package. Was it a
chocolate chip cookie mix? I think so, but can’t remember for sure.
Can you find chocolate chips in the store? I can send you more, but I
don’t know if they will melt on the way. I guess I can try sending them
and we can see how they travel. I think the cake mix is like a white with
sprinkles in it and blue frosting with sprinkles. And candles to go on
top.
How many lessons did you have this week?
How many people came to church?
Have you spoke in church in this ward?
How many people came to church?
Have you spoke in church in this ward?
18 Lessons with 137 people which was lower and no I
haven´t spoken here, but I bore my testimony the first week here as a new
missionary. We had 162 the week before attending.
Wow, that is a big change from week to
week. I thought that your attendance would go back up after the holidays
were over. Why the difference? I am glad you bore your
testimony. It helps the members to get to know you and become more
comfortable with meeting with you. 18 lessons is a lot better than you
were having before. Congratulations!
It could be a lot better. We are working to improve on
everything.
Yes, but look at the progress you have made
from when you arrived in December. You were only getting about 7 lessons
back then. Keep trying. You are having success. You started
with not a lot in your first area and built it up and you are doing the same
thing here. Keep it up. I am proud of you.
Thanks I am out of time
sorry. Thanks for everything. In the few minutes that I had I added a few new
people to the tree but you will need to go back through everything and find
those that I added I didn´t send everything. I just finished all of the stuff
from Benjamin Morton´s first wife and started on the second one so go looking
through those and preparing. If you have names ready anytime soon let me know I
might have opportunities to go to the temple soon with converts to help
strengthen them and maybe do some names as well. Thanks.
Okay, thanks for
working on the Family History. I will try to get some names ready for
you. Will you need any female names? I still have some of those
that we haven’t done baptisms for. I will try to get some more ready for
you to do. I appreciate all you do and I love you so much.
Have an amazing and awesome week!
Love always and
forever,
Mom
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