Panama Thanksgiving 2013 with 30 people!

 Welcome to our first Thanksgiving in Panama. In almost 40 years of marriage, this was our first to be away from family, and we knew we would miss them so much. So, we decided to do Thanksgiving here, even though it is not an official holiday. What fun! We hope all of you also enjoyed the company of friends and family, as well as expressed thanks for all your blessings.

To avoid some heavy homesickness, we decided to invite our entire zone of missionaries to have Thanksgiving dinner. Gratefully, there is a Pricemart, like Costco, down in the city, so we bought lots of Butterball Turkey roasts, dressing, vegetables, and potatoes, as well as the fixings for dessert to feed the masses. While this may seem a huge task, it is only about 10 more than some of our Thanksgivings at home.

Hermana Presley busy preparing food while singing away.

Elder Presley adding the spices to the turkeys and the stuffing. Yum

Oh my, the desserts! Ice cream pie, cherry dump cake, apple crisp, pumpkin pie. Double Yum!

Our missionaries enjoying the meal. Many expressed such joy in the fact that they actually got to taste flavors again, instead of the normal meals they eat of rice with chicken almost daily.

More fun. We had four large tables set across the room and packed them in.

After the meal, we had entertainment, including Elder Alfaro doing some great juggling tricks.

Music and guitar playing by both the Elders and Hermanas

I think they are full. Anyone need a nap?

What a wonderful group to spend our first Thanksgiving. Thanks to our member friends, the Nez family and Romel, for helping out in preparing and serving food.

And then, it was over, cleaned up, and quiet.