With Hearts Full of Thankfulness

Bienvenue, nous sommes tres reconnaissant pour vous tous qui nous souvient,
(Welcome, we are very thankful for all of you who remember us)

We hope you had a memorable Thanksgiving holiday, that your leftovers lasted for more than just the second go-round, and that you are now settling in for a sparkling, wintry Christmas season, focusing on those things most important and dismissing all of the "must do's" the secular Christmas season emphasizes. Please don't misinterpret...I'm not getting preachy; it is just that here, it becomes clear and simple, and although I always knew what really mattered, there was much time spent on what really didn't.  I hope it is still that clear when I return home, but I know that will be difficult.

There are times when we feel like our hearts cannot contain the feelings of love and gratitude we experience.  This has been one of those weeks.  Last year a friend sent me a little package containing Thanksgiving napkins, some small table decorations, and two large plastic Thanksgiving tablecloths...it didn't arrive until Christmas... but, undeterred, I gratefully tucked them all away for this year.  On Monday, when our missionary force gathered at 4:00 in the St Denis Primary room for Thanksgiving dinner, hungry and beaming in missionary attire, their eyes popped as they saw the tables looking so festive and appealing.  The sisters from upstairs were in charge of set up and they truly worked magic.

Everyone placed their assignments on the long serving tables and the results of eight hours of cooking in our postage-stamp kitchen, with one tiny oven and two feet of countertop space, began to disappear.  Turkey cutlets - no whole turkeys here - stuffing, cranberries, (I simmered craisins in orange juice and added orange zest, not bad really) potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, ham with peach sauce; the missionaries provided all the rest.  I could have cooked twice as many mashed potatoes (and I cooked ALOT) but otherwise, there was ample food.  It made us think of a favorite quote by Albert Enstein, "There are only two ways to live your life.  One is though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as though everything is a miracle."  Dinner for 20 hungry missionaries, cooked with love at home and transported to the church, was indeed a miracle and we realized, once again, that Heavenly help always comes when we just jump in and get to work.  Heartfelt prayers of gratitude, hymns of thanksgiving, expressions of newly recognized blessings, realization of what we all mean to each other (we are each other's family here), the blessings of sharing Thanksgiving together, and the opportunities of being missionaries on La Reunion...all of the right sentiments were present because the spirit was present.  Throats were cleared and eyes blinked as they talked of their families at home and their love and new appreciation for what they left behind. Brent and I love Thanksgiving with our family; we missed them and wistfully thought of their day, as we always do, but this Thanksgiving, cooking for and spending the day with these marvelous young people will be a memorable Thanksgiving forever.  Games, with much laughter, concluded our evening, and we sent them off...all of our cups and stomachs filled.

The work is very difficult here.  The missionaries work incredibly hard for seemingly minimal results.  Finding people to teach is challenging; baptisms are infrequent.  Our valiant missionaries put in long, hot, or rainy, days going door-to-door, or street contacting, occasionally being chased by feral dogs, as they search for receptive hearts.  We have felt their despair as investigators fell away; it would be easy to give up and quit trying, but they don't.  Their  strength is a testimony to us of missionary work and missionary blessings.  We emphasize, "Your mission success doesn't depend upon how many baptisms you have, it depends upon your total obedience to mission rules, the quality of your daily effort, your willingness to help your companions, your love for the people here, and your consistency in serving the Lord with all your heart.  You have a short time here; don't leave any effort wanting, fill your days with selfless service, and you will never have to wonder if your mission was a success."  They may not really believe that until they look back a couple of decades, but we can easily see how true it is. They are forging the path of their future, and we are grateful to be here and to be a part off their faith and their efforts.

THANKSGIVING PHOTO GALLERY:

The gathering.

The feast begins.

The Reunion "family table."

The Heap grandparents.  I know...I look tired...I was.  It is not so much the work, as it is the worry of "Will this all really work out?"

The Soeurs of St Paul

The Elders of Le Port

The other Elders of Le Port

The Elders of St Denis

The Soeurs of St Denis, a little blurry, sorry.

The Elders of St Pierre

The Elders of St Marie

The "Game" and the predictable comment, "Elder --------, I think you are making up the rules as you go along!"

Some can't resist a flair for the dramatic.  He couldn't just "throw" the sticks!

The closing song with Elder Heap.

"The unthankful heart discovers no mercies, but the thankful heart sweeps through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some Heavenly blessing"
Henry Ward Beecher

With hearts full of thankfulness and testimony for the gospel of Jesus Christ, for the missionaries on La Reunion, and for cherished family and friends at home, we send our love and best wishes for the magical December days ahead.

A Bientot,

The Castaways