French Toast

there are many blessings that come from serving a mission. obviously there is a myriad of spiritual blessings that come from serving the Lord full time, but there are also quite a few temporal blessings that come from serving a mission. these are just practical little things that make the chances of you being a loser when you get home much smaller. one of these practical little skills is the ability to cook. i could cook pretty well before my mission (who could forget all of my complicated culinary creations such as cereal, toast, and sandwiches?), but thanks to the last year or so, i know my way around the kitchen much better. i'm no wolfgang puck or anything, that's for sure, but i can do a few good things here and there. serving with elder smith has been really fun because a few times a week we have just been experimenting with something that we have never tried cooking before. my favorite experiment this week had to be french toast. we were both so excited. i hadn't had french toast since...well...the previous life that happened before my mission. we even made our own maple syrup. that topped off with the skippy peanut butter that dad sent me for christmas made the whole ensemble just great. speaking of french stuff, i have to mention this week that elder gerald causse of the seventy is coming to do a mission tour at the beginning of the month. i called president irwin to ask him a question the other day, and when he picked up the phone he just said "elder meredith, i'm glad you called me. i want you to sing!" half-jokingly i replied by saying "right now?" "no," he replied, "but when elder causse comes. you can sing whatever you want, just make sure it's something good." so, i'm singing for the conference, which brings me back to our conversation about food. at the beginning of my mission i was confused about what i should cook for myself while i'm here, so i asked elder williams (who is well known for his cooking skills) what i should cook. he gave me some interesting advice. he said: "think of something you want to eat, and then make it." when i first heard that i thought it was the lamest advice ever, but now, 8 months later, i realize that it was actually very wise. so wise, in fact, that i think i will apply the same principle when i sing at our upcoming zone conference--i'm going to think of something i want to sing and then sing it.

 

maj'te sa!

sam