Mission memories

In the coming week, Matt's mission papers will be submitted and we'll await his call. That will be a happy time! Meanwhile, I had a reminder this week of the joy and blessing a mission can be. One aspect is how much you come to love and appreciate the local characteristics of your mission — even if it's a "stateside" mission.

My memory this week started with a pair of lovely avocados. They were given to me by a friend, also a Brazilian alum, who works for me. These avocados come from Florida and are much larger than the ones we typically get here in our grocery stores — almost as nice as the ones we got used to in Brazil! We would visit the open-air markets regularly and bring home wonderful fruits and produce of many varieties, including some I've never seen of heard of here.

The best thing to do with a large, flavorful avocado in Brazil is to make a "vitamina" — a kind of fruit smoothie drink. Many Americans cringe at the thought, but it's actually pretty tasty. In Brazil they add bananas, mamão (papaya), oranges, etc. — whatever is at hand. We would often add frozen milk to give it more richness. Wonderful stuff!

So when I get lovely avocados like these, that's the first thing I think of. We have some wonderful powdered mamão that I use on special occasions like this. The concoction may not be the most attractive color, but the taste is wonderful and brings back sweet memories!

I hope Matt has many such memories to bless him in coming years from his mission field.