Thanksgiving Day on Saturday?
It seemed very appropriate to celebrate Thanksgiving Day here in southern Mexico with our Oaxacan friends. So last Sat. we invited three families over to our house to share in a Thanksgiving dinner. We had barbecued turkey, rolls, scalloped potatoes, green beans, and a sweet potato pie! It was just like at home, without the traditional food ball game on the TV. We are grateful to our friends here for their patience with our Spanish,
for teaching us their culture and their recipes, for gifting us their time. We have prospered because of the generosity and help of these dear people.
We are simply grateful!
When the early pilgrims in the U.S. arrived to their new world, their food was scarce and the winter was fierce. By the end of their first year, close to half of them were dead! They survived in part due to the help of the citizens, the nationals, the locals who helped them, taught them, had patience with them.
We too are pilgrims here, new residents. We arrived with needs like the pilgrims of an earlier epoch. But there is no draught, nor starvation, like in the days of old. And we won't die in a draught of friendship; we have been gifted with many dear friends. We won't die from a starvation of loneliness, we have been well cared for and accepted; we have been befriended. We will survive!
We too wish to say, "Thanks be to God for what has occurred here."