Dinner Party!

This weekend, the ELI President and his wife and the Asia VP are visiting Laos, so last night Christa and I hosted them and our team at our home for dinner. It was a lot of fun and we had some delicious food. Sone was the head chef for the Lao food...we made fried spring rolls (Yum!!!) with peanut dipping sauce and Lao salad. Christa ended up being in charge of the curry and it was so delicious! The prez asked, "Who made the curry" and I said, "Christa did" which was overheard by Kenton who incredulously said, "Christa made the curry?!" Yes, and I think that is another thing that she makes more delicious than me! We finished off the meal with some sticky rice and mango dessert. Oh I love that stuff!!!! If only we had amazing mangoes like this in the states!

Dinner prep...Heather, Angie and I rolling spring rolls

 

 The neighbor kids were hanging out in hopes of getting a taste!

 Mee-noy (our landlady) had tables and chairs for us to use, so we set up a little eating area in our living room

 The neighbor kids ended up joining us for dinner

 Heather and Sone making fried spring rolls

 Christa, Sone, me and Linda hanging out on our comfy new couches

 Sone and the ELI First Lady

 Lovely team photo (with special guests)...I love team Vientiane!

 Our pres with Doe, Kenton's friend who shared his story with our group

We had a really nice evening with everyone.  After dinner, Doe shared his story of how he joined the Family with our group. I was glad that Sone was there to hear about his journey, his doubts and the Father's faithfulness in wooing Doe's heart. My desire is that the Father would do that same kind of work in Sone's heart.  I also feel so blessed to have such a wonderful, caring president. It makes me feel really well-cared for here in Laos and just at peace knowing a man of integrity is leading our organization.  He was particularly touched by the presence of Beh and Thia (our two neighbor boys) at dinner and asked the Father to create a story for those two boys similar to Doe's story...that one day they might be sitting in a room full of people and be able to testify of the Father's hand in their lives. I hope that He has brought us to this neighborhood for such a purpose.

Actually, in the middle of writing this, I got interrupted by Beh and Thia asking for rice and eggs, so I made them some and we went to eat outside at our picnic table. Valisa (our other frequent visitor) came over with some friends while we were eating and asked if we could play cards. So I just finished a few rounds of Uno with the kids. It's so fun teaching them new games and learning new words in Lao as I bumble through the directions in my rudimentary Lao! But, it was just fun to meet more neighbor kids! So far I'd only met Beh, Thia and Valisa.

I think I mentioned this before, but we're hoping for Easter to do a neighborhood Easter egg hunt and hopefully that will give us a chance to meet even more of the kids.