Letter #56

This past week was MLC. We were told the week before that the District Leaders would also be invited to the meeting so our group of 40 increased to 60. I’m sure you have all wondered what goes on the week that we do a meal, those of you who haven’t wondered you can quit reading now.

1. I fret and stew over what to fix. I usually decide and then change my mind as the meal gets closer and it all starts to feel over-whelming but then I go back to my original idea.

2. Shopping. We usually do all of the shopping the day before and start the cooking and prep work that same day. This time we had two days of shopping and prep work. Sister Beutler told us from the beginning that we were never to go shopping at Winco on the 1 st or 3 rd of the month. That is food stamp day and the lines are terrible. We found ourselves at Winco on the 3 rd . Sister Beutler was right. We were making Breakfast Casserole this time so we went to Sam’s Club and Winco to get everything for the casserole on Wednesday.

3. Thursday morning we had a Mobile Harvest and then made all of the casseroles (8-9x13 pans and one dairy-free 8x8 pan) and took them to the Mission Office fridge. Sister Douglas is so great to clean out the fridge for us to use. We can’t fit 9 casseroles in our fridge! They are supposed to sit over-night anyway so they work well for these meals. We then went to Costco for the fruits and vegetables. We take all of that to the fridge in the church with a note and a prayer that no one takes anything before the next day.

4. Friday we are at the church at 8:30 am to set up the serving tables, put out plates, utensils, napkins, tablecloths before the meeting starts.

5. Friday morning is usually for cutting up things. Most of the preparations for the main course are done already, it just has to cook, whether in a crockpot, roaster or oven. We have two ovens and I had four casseroles in each. Four casseroles do not cook as quickly as one! The last hour the ovens went from 350 to 425 degrees to get everything to cook. I had fingers crossed and was praying! It worked out. The missionaries seem to love this menu. We never have left-overs.

Here’s what it takes to feed this group:

5 dozen eggs
Costco-sized grated cheese
10 lbs. sausage
Costco-sized baby carrots
2 lbs. diced ham
2 Costco-size cherry tomatoes
1 gallon milk
2 Costco-size sugar snap peas
12 lbs. hash browns
Ranch dip
Large watermelon
Costco red grapes
Costco green grapes
Costco kiwi
2 pineapples
2 Costco strawberries
8 bananas
5 dozen bagels
Variety of cream cheeses
Ketchup
Salsa
Hot Sauce
40 mini cinnamon rolls
2 pkgs, small Danishs
60 water bottles

Jesus made feeding the 5,000 seem so easy.

The Vaia’vakas help cutting up everthing, putting everything out on the tables and cleaning up. We couldn’t do it without them. Elder Vaia’vaka always has everything washed before we serve and he does all the dish washing after. They are wonderful. We clean everything up, mop, lock up and start planning for the next meal.

We managed to visit several people this past week, help with the luncheon for a funeral, go to a lesson, and knock some doors. One lady was just baptized in February so we wanted to see if we could find her quickly. She was home but wasn’t happy we stopped by. Then the Elders called to tell us she wanted a ride to church today. She actually followed through and we enjoyed taking her with us. She is a nice lady and apologized for not being kind at the door. You never know. Elder Hardman told me I had to erase what I had written about her on her sheet. : )

That was our week. We love hearing about your week too. We accept all major forms of communication!

The Gospel’s true and we love you!

Love,
Elder and Sister Hardman