Monday, January 4th

Sunday we "shadowed" the Sunday cook, Alana, who is a JUC student. It was very helpful to us. That gal is a machine! But she thanked us for the help, because it saved her time. For lunch, potato soup, homemade rolls, salad & fruit. 43 new arrivals from the airport, so the soup didn't make it to the finish line. The last few people got the salad, rolls and sliced smoked turkey & cheese . . . no complaints . . . except from me, because I wanted some of that soup!!!

For dinner, 35 folks were served a ground beef/pasta/cheese casserole which Alana calls Pizza Casserole. It was served with buttered (frozen) cut green beans, salad with dressings and hummus, fruit, and homemade chocolate chip cookies . . . very good! We have yet to get a full understanding of the variance in numbers of this short term group. Some of it has to do with who is staying on campus or not. We got a really good idea of how the kitchen works. Nat got the industrial grater/slicer up and running. This is gonna save tons of time with cheese & vegetables!

We got up at 5:30am, put on our work clothes, and headed to the kitchen . . . down the Via DolaBathroom. We set out cereals, granola, yogurts, toast, fruit, . . . and Nat set up a small burner stove where he prepared eggs to order for 35 (while I cracked eggs for the chef). We will not be making this available for the large group, but we will for these guys. The eggs were delicious, the students were made to feel special, and the order line gave us time to get to know names and a little bit about each one. This is gonna be a great short term group. For lunch we served baked chicken & rice with salad & hummus, which they love. I am now not only a great packer, I can prepare rice for a crowd! God is so very good . . .

Our dishwasher is named "Yehye", which pronounced sounds a lot like "Yuk Yuk". He doesn't speak a lick of English, and walks around talking to himself . . . or praying to Allah . . . or cussing us under his breath. Just kidding. He seems to be a really nice fella who smiles a lot and gets his work done. He also really enjoys doing things that please us . . . setting up a brand new hot water pot for our tea, de-greasing the dicer/slicer that Nat got up & working, showing off a load of beautiful vegetables to me . . . so pleased to please us.

We finished by 2p when the dinner cook, Roni, showed up and took over the kitchen, and we headed back home to re-group, go to the grocery story (Super Deal) for some personal coffee filters, and rest a bit before dinner (well, I did . . . Nat got in some pushups). And another surprise. A gal from housecleaning came and told us that they will clean up the dining room after lunch. We will still wipe off the tables after breakfast, but this is so great. It gets us out of there even that much faster. And we thought we needed to wash the aprons & kitchen towels that pile up each day . . . nope . . . William assigned it to the dishwasher. MAN, what a sweet deal!

More & more students arrived throughout the afternoon. I'm not sure where they are housing 102-133 people, but we joined them for dinner which Roni and his helper, Tamar, prepared. What a spread! Turkey, mashed potatoes w/gravy, carrots, salad bar and, of course, hummus!

We will have 102 for breakfast tomorrow (scrambled eggs each day) and 133 for lunch which will be vegetable soup, pita sandwiches and always salad. William said we will have a couple of full time students helping us prepare. We'll need it! Well, it's 8:30p and the kitchen is freed up. We are going to return and do a little prep for tomorrow, then get to bed . . . We're getting up at 5am tomorrow!

We can do this thing!!!! But only with your prayers and God's help. He knows a little something about feeding masses, doesn't he?