The Prize of a Thanksgiving Dinner

 
     As a way to motivate people to invite their friends to our English Club, we told everyone that there would be a prize for whoever brought the most people in September and October.  Zhenya (far back, black shirt) won the prize- which was a dinner with us for him and all of the people he brought to the club.  We let him choose between a hamburger-type dinner or a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and he and all of his friends unanimously agreed on the Thanksgiving dinner.  This prize was a plus for everyone, as it gave us a chance to get to know one another in a more personal way.


     We looked at our schedules and realized that the only day that really worked for everyone was 2 days later, on a Tuesday evening.  Monday is our rest/family day, so we literally did everything (from cleaning to meal planning to decorating to food preparation) all on that Tuesday.  Even more of a surprise was that we had a group of guests come for several hours in the day while we were preparing.  We scrounged up some lunch- pelmeni and macaroni and cheese (thank you, Sharon, for those packets of cheese powder!!) since our counter was covered with all of the fixings for rolls, green been casserole, stuffing, etc, etc.  =)  Our kids loved having other kids here to play with, and that kept them entertained.


     I have to say that Leif is AWESOME.  He did so much to prepare for the dinner.  It was interesting for our friends to hear about the foods we were making and our traditions.  I had them help me with a Mayflower craft for the kids and cutting leaves for our Thanksgiving tree.


     Nettie, who is also an American, joined us for the evening.  It was a later dinner, and I could tell that Ella and Ike were tired after a busy day with other guests, so we fed them earlier and put them to bed.  Anneka thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the evening.  About an hour into it, her eyes were quite droopy, though!



     I ddn't get any pictures of us doing the Thanksgiving tree that evening, but this is from another day.  Each day leading up to Thanksgiving, we hang a leaf with something that we thank God for written on it.  We made thankful leaves with the English Club friends, and it was neat to hear what they were thankful for and fun to share our tradition with them.

We're thankful for the new people that we're meeting through the English Club and pray for the believers there to have courage to share Jesus with their friends!