Culture Club

We have a great set of Elders here in our ward- we are very blessed to have these two young men serving here- and have had the chance to get to know them and love them very much. Elder Hatch and Elder Diaz have become my children's favorite Elders. Elder Diaz is from Chile, where Dana served his mission, and Elder Hatch is from California, very close to Dana's parents, so we already had a lot in common. One thing that we really wanted to do with them was have a culture night, where we got together and ate authentic Chilean food. So, we did! Elder Diaz worked for hours in our kitchen preparing empanadas. We took them over to Bonnie and Ivan's house, where they had made Argentine empanadas. It was a feast!! Super fun. Making the empanads was hard work, but worth it in the end. I learned so much, and everyone loved them. It was also Elder Hatch's birthday, so we celebrated that too.
Bonnie wrapped great gifts for Hatch for his birthday- watch how much fun they have:
Cans of soup and honey buns-
Shampoo and deodorant-
He's all of 20 now- man, we are getting old!
Elder Diaz thought it was all hilarious!!
Alex pretty much ate chips and salsa- he didn't even try the empanadas!
Suzanne served in Chile too, same time as Dana, small world, huh?! Her Olivia loved the food!
We made over 40 empanadas, and these Elders ate more than half!! Where do they put it?! They bike it off- they have a huge area to cover- the rest of us, no, we can't use that excuse!

Thanks to Bonnie and Ivan for hosting our "Culture Club"- we had a blast! Elder Hatch was transferred yesterday, so we said good bye for now- we wish him success in all his future areas! Just for the record: it took 5 pounds of flour, 5 pounds of ground beef, and other spices to make these empanadas- if it weren't for Diaz' work on the dough, I would never have attempted them! Thank you, Elder Diaz!!