Thanksgiving Times Three

Thanksgiving was special for us in Taiwan. We attended three celebrations.

Thanksgiving #1

There is an English speaking ward in Taipei and one of the families in the ward has made it a tradition to have the youth prepare a traditional American Thanksgiving meal for the missionaries. They met on a Saturday and made sweet potato casserole, pies, potatoes, etc. On Sunday evening the youth and the missionaries got together to eat and to share experiences. That was only our second day in Taiwan and we felt very appreciated and welcomed. The youth were great. We don't think they realize how different their lives are. They have lived and traveled in many countries and our associating with a lot of diverse people. Learning languages, and having a lot of amazing experiences.

Thanksgiving #2

The next few days we helped the mission president's wife and the other office missionaries prepare a traditional thanksgiving meal for the entire mission. We needed to feed 100 people! I felt like we needed a lot of mashed potatoes. We filled a roaster oven and a rice cooker and the amount ended up just about right. I (Elder Croft) mashed all the potatoes by hand. At home I use a mixer, but I think the hand mashed was actually better. The meal was a big success and the missionaries were very appreciative!

Thanksgiving #3

On Saturday we moved to Taitung/Taidong (we'll talk more about that later). Sunday night, the three wards sharing the building celebrated thanksgiving together. All the members brought potluck and there was a huge variety of mostly local food. It was all very good. Afterwards they had a program where they had the children and others perform songs and the youth did a skit about thanksgiving.

We are grateful!

We are so thankful for the opportunity to be here. We have enjoyed serving the missionaries and felt blessed by the service given to us. There are truly wonderful people everywhere! Of course we missed our traditional family gatherings and traditions (our pie selection is the best and our grand kids are the greatest!) but we'll be together again for Thanksgiving in 2024.