Fri. Sep. 19 Worship Day🥵

 After coffee cake and sausage patty breakfast, we walked up the road to our 9:00 Sun. School. Today was another Cooker!! We’d had some days that weren’t quite as hot but today it was back in full force🥵 Attendance was good! Right up next to 50 boys n girls

Caught rickshaw van to Chakrakhali dropping me off at the house. I’d forgotten to put the roast in last night🤦🏼‍♀️ but had some chicken thawed in fridge. So stirred up some tortillas, seasoned and fried the chicken, made cucumber salsa, cut up avocado, made lemonade with slices of mishti(sweet) green lemon for extra flavor and garnish. When the crew got home, Lonnie fried up the tortillas for me.

Nap time

Mixed up a batch of Oatmeal, Choc. Chip Cookies (Love Wears An Apron, Lavonne’s)

4:00 service

Everybody was on time today!! Felt like it had been awhile since that was the case🙃 

We sweated thru the service. Annslie was being a “pill” like she hadn’t been in awhile, possibly just plain hot and miserable..?..

The service was good, the general feel of the afternoon seemed to be a bit more peaceful✨ 

We were invited to an evening meal, one of Shanto’s neighbors(an older woman)that Lonnie had visited and helped with Shanto a month or so ago, Had passed away and Hindu culture is to serve a feast 13 days later so the deceased one’s spirit can be at peace.

We were told 500-600 were possible to be served at this feast!😳 Lonnie told Shanto, he didn’t think they’d miss us, but Espondant said we’d regret it!.. he thought they served The Best dhal! We opted to go, but didn’t need to leave right after church. We told Shanto, Shotti, and Espondant (Rhidoy’s and Antoor hadn’t come to church) to come in and cool off till it was time to go. It was an enjoyable relaxed time with some carrom being played, showing Shotti the baby bed that’s waiting, Christina and the girls playing Uno, and then 13 yr old Espondant getting wound up about the validity of the Big Bang theory saying how that you can believe God and evolution. He goes to public school and has been submersed in the thought. He is also quite an intellectual lad and very much enjoys a discourse. Has read MUCH and retained it and can expound at length and has much to back his thoughts up with! Looks like a “slippery slope” he’s on with trying to mesh God and evolution😣.

Anyways, before long it was time to head to the feast.

We parked just down from Shanto’s, walked down the road a piece, then turned down a path with other people. 1st we came upon 3 fires with Large pots a double table with a Pile of rice and then a large tent set up with rows of tables and chairs. Lonnie thought the tent held about 150- 200 people. When a table became available we sat down and there were 6 layers of clear plastic table cover stapled on the table so it could be removed for each setting. The servers were busy! Plates were brought, then water. The natives would pour a little water in their styrofoam plate and wash their right hand. A bucket was brought to dump the water from your plate in.

 Next a heaping, oval platter of sticky rice, we served ourselves. 

Then a very thin soup with potato wedges. 

Next the dhal that Espondant had bragged up. It was good, a little on the spicy side for me to enjoy more than a small amount with the rice. And there were fish parts in it for flavor, that needed to be discarded.. my helping had a fish tail and also what Shanto said was a fish lung😝

Another very thin substance was brought by.. Espondant said it was sour but they had added lots of sugar so it was sweet.

And the final food item was doy, their dessert yogurt. But alas, we did not even all have time to finish it as our table was needing to be used for more guests that were arriving..