Wonderful Family Home Evening

Last night, Monday night (getsuyohbi) we had an amazing family home evening. It was the first night for the center to be opened. Dad and I headed to church with lots of supplies, because of course no one would be coming. Mostly we had Japanese to study. For about 45 minutes we studied away, but then people started to come and by the time the evening finished, there were over 40 of us--3 investigators. There are so many young single adults that come, in fact, that I think they have been just waiting for something to be organized. They come from four wards, by bus and by car, bringing enthusiasm and love and excitement (and shyness and uncertainty) and are so much like their counterparts in the states, that I could have been sitting with them at the UI institute, except that everyone spoke Japanese, except me. They all look so familiar to me, in fact, that I'm pretty sure that I know all of them, I've just forgotten. In fact, I'm more than 'pretty sure'. 

Shimizu ward was in charge. They provided the lesson and the activity and I helped make the dessert--thick pancakes that you split open and then put sweet bean paste inside. Also, you can mix whipped cream with the bean paste and then it is really excellent. Since I have always liked bean paste, then I found the pancakes delicious. Some of our new American elders were unsure, but admitted that they were quite good. 

I cooked the pancakes. Instead of a griddle, I used an electric pancake cooker--a large flat oblong electric pan--much larger than any of our normal pancake griddles--with a shallow lid even. I cooked away and then realized that the insides were still raw. Since the pancakes have to be split open, the gooey, slimey middle could not just be hidden under syrup:)  I had to put the faulty pancakes back on the griddle and bake them some more. The remaining pancakes I was more careful with, but they took a long time to cook and that made us late starting. Not a Japanese trait, but all were forgiving and still had a lot of fun.

Got to go, I'm needed to help with an investigator.

Love, MOM, Kandie, Grandma, etc