December 12, 2015 - P Day, Baking Bread

December 12 

Elder Peterson and I went for a walk this morning at 5:30 with Elder Mikesell. The weather is pleasant. We walked around the big "block". We live in a very nice neighborhood. All the homes are walled in like our compound is. It was good to be on foot and be able to see the lay of the land around us. There is an outdoor market where we can buy fruits and vegetables that is nearby. Also we could see where we can drive to the grocery store that is smaller than the "Super Wal-Mart", but that has a good variety of food and is close by. Technically we could walk to it. However, if we bought a lot of groceries it might be hard to carry it all home. Maybe I could take lessons from these Congolese women who can carry as much as 50 pounds or more on their heads.

I took ingredients to Sister Draper's home and we made bread using her recipe. I must say I must the Bosh mixer to make the bread, but I did a decent job in kneading. The bread is raising for the second time before I put it in the pans. So....time will tell if it is good.

Our oven is missing the rack. Apparently this new stove was brought in when the Davis' were here. It didn't hook up well right away. So the man installing the stove "cut" the new rack to fit in the old stove. Now that the new stove works there is no rack. I will borrow a rack from Sister Cook and Sister Vance once in a while to bake our bread.

I baked two loaves of bread and this is how it turned out.

Not cooked on the bottom; almost burned on the top

Obviously I need some direction of how to use this oven. After the fact I was told to put aluminum foil on the top while it bakes. It was suggested that we freeze it and when we get back from Mbuji-Mayi we could slice it and use it for French Toast. Great Idea! We will try it.

Elder Peterson worked in the office all day. This afternoon Elder and Sister Mikesell drove us to the smaller hyper pisaro to purchase food. Then we went to the marche to buy apples and oranges to take with us. We are also taking cookies, crackers, and granola bars for snacks during the week.

We have been looking for exercise mats and didn't find anything until tonight at the hyper psaro. Now we can start our exercise regiment. 

This is thicker than a regular exercise mat.

We are supposed to leave in the morning for Mbuji-Mayi. The plane will not return to bring us back until a week from Monday, December 21. So, family we will not be here to Facetime during the family party on the 19th. We won't have Internet service up north. We will make contact on our return. 

We will be traveling with President and Sister Thomas, the two assistants, and taking 4 missionaries to their assigned area. The District Conference that was to be held today and tomorrow has been postponed. The President will be holding three zone conferences and interviewing missionaries.

At 9 p.m. Elder Draper called and said we aren't leaving for Mbuji-Mayi. He said "keep your bags packed and we will let you know when you are to go." He invited us to go to church to the Luano Ward with them tomorrow.