Thanksgiving Day

We have so much to be thankful for and on Thanksgiving Day Sunday we celebrated. Today, Thanksgiving Monday, is not a holiday, hence the Sunday celebration. We had invited the known Alberta contingent here in Lesotho over for dinner. (At this point it is also the known Canadian contingent. Canadians are not a well-represented group here; especially compared to the large Dutch, Australian, American, and Chinese expatriate communities.) In total we came to nine home grown Canadians, plus two Basotho children, one adopted and one being fostered.

Wendy did a great job, our guests contributed, and the result was a great meal. No turkey. They only appear on the grocery shelves in December, but two tender roasting chickens filled in admirably. No cranberries either, but Wendy modified a local beetroot dish. (What we call beets at home is beetroot here.) Yes it didn’t taste like cranberries but it was red and it had a tangy taste of its own. Then there were the more traditional dishes - mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, broccoli, corn, cooked pumpkin (not so traditional), and a lettuce salad. To top if off was an array of desserts including pumpkin pie with whipped cream (whipped from rich thick cream as I remember it from my childhood days on the farm). It was a Thanksgiving Day dinner to rival any at home and together we exulted and rejoiced in the good company, the good food, and the goodness of God in our lives. I am already looking forward to doing something similar again next year.

The Canadians includes a Mission Aviation Fellowship pilot, his wife and four children (including a boy adopted from Beautiful Gate four years ago), and the two young women from LaCrete and the little Basotho girl they are fostering. The pilot and his family are also from LaCrete. The young women have recruited another one or two LaCrete volunteers who will be arrivng in the new year, so the Canadian contingent, as we are aware of it, is primarily a La Crete contingent, plus Wendy and I.

It truly was a wonderful day, and we so rejoice in God’s goodness to us in bringing us here to experience what we are, and to provide us with so many new friends and acquaintances.

If it sounds like we are settling in, we are. I came across that Save-on-Foods bag again the other day. No second thoughts about keeping a plastic grocery bag this time. I looked for the first opportunity to use it and it is now history. Lesotho has become home, and that in itself is just one more thing for which we are thankful.

~ Benno ~