Scorch

     It is dinner time and I dont know what to fix. That happens often in the life of a woman. I play computer games while I try to figure out something to eat. We are just about out of everything and will go to the feria tomorrow to stock up again.

     We have two fat little sausages and six skinny and short little ones. They arent the same. Oh, well, they will add variety to the dish because they are different sizes. We have six potatoes that are very shriveled and wrinkled, but they arent spoiled. I will peel two of them and cut them into slices. I will put them in a little later because they dont take very long to soften. Hmmm, onions always help and we have two small ends left over from other meals. Chop them into big pieces and add them to the frying pan where the sausages are already beginning to sizzle.  Better cover them so they wont burn, but I do want them to look a little browned.  Oh! There are four carrots in the fridge. I will peel two of them and cut them kind of bite-size thin and add them to the pan to steam while I cut four mushrooms into four pieces. Hey! This is beginning to look like a pretty good mix.  Where are those tomatoes? I put two of them in whole for about three minutes, then remove them, pull off the skin, cut the tomatoes into small chunks and dump them back into the pan.  I threw the skins away, but I dont think that is wasteful. Everything is steamy now because I poured in half a cup of water to keep the sausages from sticking to the pan.  Now...what kind of seasoning shall I use?  Ahhh, Deverles is just the thing, and I have a tiny piece of a bullion cube left. Well, now I need something green. Look in the cupboard: parsley is shouting at me, so I dump in a tablespoon's worth.  Now, this has to cook a few minutes, till the potatoes are soft, and because the table is already set, I will go play computer solitaire while I wait.  After two games, I check on the dinner.  All the moisture has boiled away and the bottom of the pan is black. I will just pour out the unburned stuff, and try to scrape what I can of that which is stuck.  Oh, no! There are some really good sausage pieces stuck. As I try to scraped them off while leaving the stuck part behind, the whole pieces come off. Well, it's done now so I'll just do that to the rest of the stuff.  Guess What!!!! Even though it looked pretty bad in the pan and questionable in the serving dish, it tasted really good.

      I dont know if I can be brave enough to reproduce Scorch again, but here is the recipe, anyway. 

Scratch

Buy eight Granny Smith apples from the feria on Saturday.

Buy butter, flour, cornstarch, cinnamon, sugar, almond extract, two lemons from Lider

Juice two lemons into large bowl, add one cup water

Peel, core, slice apples into ten slices each, drop into lemon water and coat each slice

Lift apple slices out and into small pot, slowly let simmer with two thirds cup sugar
     and one fourth cup lemon-water, for ten minutes, or softened but not mushy

Pour hot apples and juice through strainer into bowl. Set apples aside to cool.

Pour juice back into small pot, add one half cup sugar, one teaspoon almond extract,
     one half tsp cinnamon, two Tbs cornstarch in one half cup water. When hot, add
     Tbs butter. Stir over medium heat till cornstarch is dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Mix two cups flour and two thirds cup butter till it looks like cornmeal.

Add one fourth cup ice water to flour mix, stir with fork till water is absorbed. Add
     enough water to gather up rest of flour mix. Knead in bowl three times.

Break off tennis ball size pieces of dough, roll out in round shape, about eight inches
     across.

Place rolled dough into small one cup size baking bowls. Fill with cool apples, pour
     cool sauce over apples. Fold overlapping dough up over apples

Bake at 375 to 400 degrees F till tops are lightly browned.

Remove from oven, let cool. Eat. Yummy

This is my made-up recipe from scratch. I forgot to include any of my recipes when packing for my mission.


Mix well: two cups flour
                 two thirds cup butter

Accommodation?

     When we first arrived in Santiago we were told about earthquakes that happen all the time. We were told that people dont even react to them because they are so frequent. In fact, it isnt even an earthquake till it gets over 7 on the earthquake scale. Everything else is just a temblor.

     We were apartment hunting in the first two weeks, and when on the 7th floor looking at a place, I felt a little dizzy. It was "just a temblor".  All the little shakes we experienced while living in the hospedaje for three months were "just temblors", even though they shook pretty hard. 

     Just after a farewell party for a departing senior missionary couple we were standing and talking to someone when again, I felt dizzy. I felt dizzier than I ever had. The pictures started swaying on the walls, we all sat down and looked at each other, then out the window. A construction crane a block away was bouncing up and down. The hospedaje suffered a large crack across a ten foot wall, just over the bank of windows. It was a 7.2 temblor.

     There have been lots of temblors that have just wiggled the bed a little, like someone getting up in the middle of the night. We just lie there and ride out the experience. Nothing has ever been displaced in our apartment.

     On the end of September, while at work in the office on the 13th floor, we felt the building start to shake a little, but no one reacted. Then it shook harder, then finally the windows began shaking violently. I was a little startled, Jay was very concerned, the people in the office raised their eyebrows. It was a 6.1

     For the past week we have been experiencing little temblors which we hardly reacted to. Jay said he didnt even feel them. Then we learned that one was a 4.5, which seems to me to be pretty big.  Yesterday at home, at 6:45, the building started shaking,but I was playing games on the computer so didnt pay much attention. It actually felt kind of fun: like being gently rocked. It was a 6.1. 

     When you experience something often enough you get used to it and it doesnt even register on your mind. When you wear a watch or a ring for the first time, you feel it, but after a while it doesnt register on your mind. That is called accommodation. I think we are accommodating to earthquakes. Excuse me, I mean temblors.

He Rang the Bell!

    Whenever someone gets a job, he gets to ring the bell in the office.

      Ponciano is a young side of middle age man who has been coming into our office for as long as we have been here. He has been looking for a job all that time. He came in at least three times a week.
 
     Ponciano is a Mapucho Indian. The Mapucho are an ancient tribe that lives mostly in the south of Chile. They are fierce. They have never been conquered. They still dress in the old tradition. Ponciano is "citified" and looks just like us, dresses like us, had a family and wants a good job, just like us.

     For some reason, I dont know the history, one of the ladies in our office does not like Ponciano and was rather hostile toward him. Now, that gets my dander up, and I wont let her opinions sway mine. She said he was thief, not to be trusted. I didnt think so, and he never tried anything when I was there.

     I decided that I would go out of my way to be nice to him, maybe to compensate for the other person's behavior. When he came to the office, I would greet him with a great big smile, and say, "Ponciano" in a way that it sounded like I was so excited that he was here.  I frequently shared treats with him, little hard candies and he was very appreciative. I think he was hungry.

     It was fun to see the change come over him. In the initial weeks, Ponciano came to the office looking down at the floor, not well groomed, hardly spoke to anyone, and appeared angry. He has lately changed to an eager, friendly, well groomed man who spends a little time sharing with me about his family.

     On Monday he came in again, made some phone calls, spoke to the director and manager of the office, then left. Tuesday night I got sick and didnt go to the office for the rest of the week. Jay, however, did go and did my usual assignment at the reception desk. He came home Friday with the news that Ponciano has a JOB!!!!!!!!!

     I am so happy for him.

   

Salome

     No, that is not salami, which is a sandwich meat.

     Salome, with the accent on the "e".  is the name of a brand new convert here in the Pocuro Ward where we go to church. I want to record her conversion story for the message it has.

     Salome is a woman, about 40ish, who came to church with the two young sister missionaries one Sunday. She was wearing pants. You can always tell the investigators because they are wearing pants instead of a skirt.  I greeted her with the latina abrazo, which is a hug and a kiss in the air as we touch right cheeks. She came the next Sunday, still wearing pants.  Pants has nothing to do with her conversion story, but is just to paint a little picture of her.

     Sister Memmott, the mental health advisor missionary, seemed to be friendly with her even though she doesnt speak much Spanish. Her calling is to assist the young missionaries in the Santiago Chile East Mission, and she also attends the Pocuro Ward. One Family Home Evening she shared the following story with us about Salome, which I will now share.

     Sister M. was walking back to her apartment after getting her hair cut one afternoon. She was feeling a little "not ready to meet the public because my hair isnt fixed, just cut." She kept getting the impression she needed to go to her office in the administration building.  She argued with herself, but found herself headed for her office. As she approached the building she saw a woman there and said hello. The woman seemed to be troubled or anxious about something. Sister M greeted her and asked if she could help her. The reply was that she really wanted to talk to the pastor of this church. M said, Let's go into the building and get you some help. The woman replied that she had already been inside and the man told her that there was no one there who could help her. He is a member of the Church, employed BY the Church to greet the public. Sister M then said, "Let's go over to the temple. We can find help there." The lady said she had already been over there and nobody would open the gate to let her in. Sister M. said she knew how to open the gate, and they would go together to get her some help. They went through the gate, went into the foyer of the temple where a member of the Church sat at his assigned seat, prepared to greet members as they entered. He asked what did they need, and Sister M. started to explain that this woman was not a member but needed to talk to someone about the Church. He told them that the woman couldnt come in there, and that she would have to leave. He asked Sister M if she was a member, which she admitted to. He then told the two women that one could come in, but the other (and pointing at her) couldnt and she would have to leave. Now this is true, but it also is very harsh the way he put it.

    Back they went to the administration building where Sister M was able to help this woman make an appointment with the missionaries. And that is where we go back to the beginning of this story.

     Salome thought she was ready for baptism. She had friends somewhere who were members and admired the way they lived their lives. When she returned home from visiting them, she wanted to tell the pastor she wanted to be a part of his church. At her first missionary discussion, she told them she wanted to be baptised. They taught her the discussions, and she accepted eagerly. But......somebody forgot to tell her about coffee!  In a little over a week, she had lost the desire for it, and the Bishop called her every morning to see how she was coming along. Finally! After three weeks this woman who was clamoring to join us finally was baptised. I was honored to be the organist (on the electronic keyboard) for the service.

     P.S. She wears a skirt to church now.  Sister Memmott, in her calling, does not have opportunity to preach or teach investigators. Her clients are missionaries whom she helps. She thought one day how nice it would be to somehow have the experience, just once, of being a part of a conversion. She didnt think it would be possible. The Lord, in his tender mercies, blessed her with the righteous desire of her heart. This all happened within the last month of her mission. Today she is flying home.

Salome

No, that's not salami, which is a sandwich meat.
    
     Salome, with the accent on the "e" is a brand new convert here in the Pocuro Ward. Her journey to the Church is a little unusual and I want to record it for the message there is in her story.

     Salome is a woman, about 40

Portable Phone

     Jay and I were walking between bus stops one sunny afternoon this week when I noticed a man carrying a heavy plastic bag in on hand. He was obviously not very comfortable with the weight of it, and I felt sorry that he had such a load and had to walk with it. I looked down to see what was so heavy. I saw something bulky, about 12 inches cubic, bright red, plastic and when I saw the ear piece, I realized he was carrying a huge telephone!  I immediately started smiling, then a giggle, then a downright laugh. I had been thinking earlier about the evolution of the cell phone, and how Jay's first one is now called The Brick. Well, that was nothing compared to the portable phone this guy had to lug around!  And just think how inconvenient it is to have to carry it around in a plastic bag, not in a tidy little case in your shirt pocket, and how he must have to find a place to set down the bag, fish out the phone, have his call, then have to put it all away again.  Haha ha. I know, it wasnt a cell phone, but it did give us a little laugh. I laughed about the mental image for two more blocks.