Lunch with friends
Here are a few pictures of the friends I had over to lunch two weeks ago. I am grateful to everyone for coming and helping to make it a happy afternoon. My parents enjoyed visiting with my friends as well.
After eating the savoury part of our meal, we went outside for a walk around my parents' property. Everyone was curious about the orange fruit on some of our trees, especially since was mid-winter. Some thought that the fruit resembled small pumpkins hanging from a tree! They are actually persimmons. I asked Dad to explain what they are. Then most people tried one. I'm sorry to say that no one expressed a great liking for them! All the more for Dad to eat, I guess!
Sam Downes made great friends with Puss, which amazed us! We began to think she should be adopted to a more loving home. The Downes family love animals. We like Puss, but that is not the same as love. We scarcely ever hold her. Sam held her all afternoon. What is more, she liked it! When I try to hold her she always jumps away. Perhaps she knows the touch of true love when she feels it, and Sam has that touch!
Here I am with all my guests except one, who was so exhausted from a Christian camp that she had to lie down for a sleep in the guest bed!
L to R: Josh, Sam, Dave, Sherrin, Amanda, Felicity, Shiloh.
This gathering was more work than those I wrote of here. It was more work because I wanted to make succotash. This is one of the few new dishes I've learnt since starting work in Launceston (perhaps the only one). It is a thick soup with corn, beans, pumpkin and capsicum in it. Since I wanted to have this I ended up having three courses: soup and rolls, then mains and salad, then dessert (after a long walk around the garden). At my other gatherings I only had two courses, which is obviously less work. I enjoyed preparing all the food though. It was fun to have the time to cook, because I was on holiday.
As I often say or think, most things that are worthwhile involve hard work! I found the afternoon very worthwhile, and I'd love to have people over again soon! As usual when I extend hospitality, I was blessed with a fun time. Isn't it great that the Bible's words that it is "more blessed to give than to receive" are true in practice, and that we find ourselves blessed when we serve others and obey God?
