January 27, 2014

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood…

Actually, that’s not true. It’s freezing. Quite literally. Just because the sun is shining does not make it warm! The wind makes it worse, but luckily it’s not blowing today.

                This week has been a busy one! It was transfer week which means that the whole mission is in a mad scramble to get everyone moved around. I lost both of my companions (Sister Hardy and Sister Nashio) Sister Hardy is in my old area in Billings and I’m SO jealous! Sister Nashio was sent to Lovell, WY.

                Sorry, I can’t remember how much I wrote last time, only that I didn’t have my journal with me, so bear with me!

                We went to teach Cavan this last week and to our surprise his two roommates sat in on the lesson and they had a lot of great questions! We hope to go back over this week. I think there is great possibility there. They are all really great and about our age which means that sadly, we’ll have to hand them over to the elders that are covering the university ward. Oh well.

                The apartment looked so empty after everyone packed. I will admit that I was quite excited at the prospect of having more space. Well, my new companion, Sister McCain brought enough stuff with her for two people, so there really isn’t much of a difference. I definitely think I will need my own room up at college for at least one semester so that I don’t go crazy!

                Sister McCain is from Texas (even though she was born in AZ) and she’s 20 years old. She went to hairdressing school and she wants to own a bakery, home school her kids, and work a large garden. She also knits and crochets. I’m seriously outweighed in womanly skills here! But I did feel accomplished that I could make a proper frosting flower when Robyn, a less active woman in our ward, taught us.

                I’ve been blessed by the Lord with deep sleep lately because Sister McCain snores. Very loudly. At first I tried to shake the bunk bed and wake her up, but she is a very deep sleeper. So the next step was to throw something at her or to bring up a flashlight and just shine it at her. But I felt bad, so I just prayed that she wouldn’t snore or that I could sleep through it, and luckily my prayer was answered!

                This week all of the missionaries in our zone made snow cones out of the newly fallen snow and poured the syrup on top of it and it was surprisingly delicious! Mmmmm got to love that pollution! ;)

                This week I also hit my 100 day mark! It was quite the celebration! Well, okay, it was only me who celebrated, but it was still cool! Then I went through my calendar and marked all the other important dates so that I could celebrate accordingly. It also made me think of some of my lovely friends who are leaving on missions soon!! Kay Shaeffer, Whitney Dean, and Brooklyn Young! Good luck you guys! You’ll rock the mission field! ;)

                We finally had a lesson with the man we tracted into who we dubbed Robin Hood. We found out his name is actually Mark, but we still call him Robin Hood at home (bad sister missionaries, I know! Ha, ha). He is really awesome and had a lot of good questions. One of my favorite things to be able to do as a missionary is to clear up people’s misconceptions about the church. A lot of people think they know things about the church but a lot of their information is either partially true, or completely untrue. So we got to expound on the things he already knew a lot. It was good and he invited us back. I’m not going to lie, I’m really looking forward to it! He’s a stellar guy AND because he doesn’t go to the university, we don’t have to hand him over to the elders! :D

                In other news, I almost was eaten by a pit bull this week. We spent 15 minutes inching forward trying to decide if we could make it to the door or if he would attack us. We had our escape routes all planned (all I had to do was run faster than Sis McCain ha, ha). Eventually I decided to go for it and I just didn't look at the dog and we made it! When we left Sis McCain was like "Are you all sweaty?" I was like "Yeah, you?" and we were both so sweaty from thinking we were going to lose a hand ha, ha.

We also went to go look inside this house that was being built and as we were coming out this car pulled up and I was like "watch that be the people that own the house" and it totally was! It was so embarrassing! But we started up a conversation and it turned out okay. Now we know them already when they finally move in ;)

                We went to the Francis’ house for dinner and their little daughter kept running and jumping into my arms! It was the cutest thing! Little kids are so cute! They make me miss my siblings.

                This week we also wrote a huge “mormon.org” on a frozen pond in one of the areas we were working in. It was so fun! There were little kids ice skating on the other half of the pond (it was a big pond); that’s certainly something you never see in Arizona! I was personally happy that we didn’t fall in since it was a rather warm day.

                We also met a lovely woman who was referred to us by a member of the ward. Her name is Margaret and she’s from Uganda, Africa. A lot of her siblings live in London, so she gets to go there every year! I’m so jealous, can you tell? Her dog was also really excited to see us, so he jumped up on us and I still have scratches all over the backs of by hands because his claws were so sharp. Margaret is another person we were able to clear up some misconceptions with. She thought that we worshipped Joseph Smith and that he had simply written the Book of Mormon and she didn’t really understand what the Book of Mormon was, so we were able to clear a lot of it up and once she understood she was a lot more eager to read the Book of Mormon. She’s a Baptist and she is so nice!

                We also had dinner with the Driscolls and they live in an apartment with one son and a huge mastiff! He was bigger than I was! Seriously! But he was one of the least intelligent, sweetest dogs I’ve ever met. They put him in the bathroom and leaned a little baby gate (like the one you put on stairs to keep little kids from climbing them) up against the door and that dog thought he was stuck in there! He whined and cried but he didn’t make a move to touch the gate. He could have stepped right over it he was that big! But he just sat there, crying away. Poor guy. All he needed to do was bump the gate and it would have fallen right over!

                Oh, I also played a musical number in church today which was way fun, and nerve-wracking.

                So, before I end, here is my recipe of the week! It’s Café Rio green sauce apparently. It’s so delicious and I don’t know how well-circulated it is, but here’s the sauce:

                Café Rio Sauce

                1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet-made per recipe using sour cream instead of milk

                2 tomatillos- tomato like vegetable with husks around them

                ½ bunch cilantro

                1 clove garlic

                Juice of 1 lime (it’s not too much, trust me!)

                1 jalapeno- seeded

                Use food processor to blend all ingredients well. Chill.

               

                It’s so good. We put it on our egg burritos and it made them taste fabulous. Then I put it on my pineapple and it was similarly delicious ;) Seriously, you should try it!!

                Also, in case you’re interested, she also gave me the recipe for the Café Rio pork: (it makes a lot!)

                Café Rio Pork

                3-4 lbs pork roast (butt or shoulder)

                Cook in crock pot with:

                1 can Dr Pepper

                1 T minced garlic

                4-8 hours High or

                7-8 hours low

                Shred and return to crock pot

                Mix and pour over pork. Cook additional 1 hour:

 1 ½ c ketchup

1 ½ c Brown sugar

3 t lime juice

2 t minced garlic

½ t salt

Pepper

1 t cumin

               

Annnnd (I know you love me ;) )

                Café Rio Rice

                3 c water

4 t chicken bouillon

                4 t minced garlic

                ½ bunch cilantro

                1 can chopped, green chilies

                ¾ t salt

1 T butter

                ½ white onion

                3 c Uncle Ben’s converted rice (converted because of the missionaries! ;) haha)

                Blend cilantro, green chilies & onion in food processor. Bring water to a boil- add all ingredients.

                Simmer on low for 30 minutes-covered.

                We all love Café Rio. I also have the Black Bean recipe and the chicken recipe if anyone wants them. J I hope you all enjoy, because I certainly did! If nothing else, try the sauce!

                I love you all and I hope you’re having a great week! Keep the snail-mail letters coming! They make my week!

                Lots and lots of love,

                Sister Draney