Halloween party

Wednesday morning we left early for District Council. The four young sisters were late because their bus didn't show up for 50 minutes. They probably could have walked faster had they known! So our meeting was shorter than usual, but we really enjoyed it. Anziano Mayer taught about spiritual gifts, having us each read our patriarchal blessing and contemplate what gifts we might want to seek and develop. Dee and I each gave a spiritual thought, based on two talks from October 1975 General Conference, when we were in Provo at the LTM (before there was an MTC) about to leave for Italy. I gave the new USB-C cables along with 64GB flash drives to the two new Sorelle, who were very pleased, and I showed them how to backup their photos. Sorella Palmer was similarly delighted when I gave her a copy of all her downloaded Google Photos (about 8000 photos and nearly 20GB) on a flash drive. She is going home soon and had no backup copy.

On the way to the Institute we stopped at Lidl and filled up the cart with food for our Halloween party and for Friday dinner. The car already had some stuff in it, including cases of Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew from Ugo, so it was quite full and required three trips to get it all up the elevator. I did some lesson prep in the afternoon, while Dee finished her batches of witchy fingers and prepared games. 

We were not sure how big a turnout we would have for our Halloween party, because one of our kids had his 18th birthday party (a very big deal here) put on by his family that ended up taking a number of our kids away. We knew about the conflict, and everything ended up ok. Over 20 kids showed  up, with lots of great costumes and food. Joyce won the contest for best dessert with cinnamon rolls covered with red frosting to look like intestines: yucch, but very clever! Franz won best costume for his very ugly makeup job, aptly applied by his sister Grace.

Dee came up with some really fun games that the kids thoroughly enjoyed: finding eyeballs in a bowl of cooked spaghetti while blindfolded, working a cookie down from the forehead into the mouth without hands, transferring cotton balls from one bowl to another as a team using only a plastic knife, and knocking apples off a can using weighted pantyhose attached to one's head. She said that she was channeling her inner Cub Scout. The pantyhose game was the most popular.

Intestines?

Franz. There are even teeth in his cheek wound.

Finding eyeballs while blindfolded

 

Getting cookies into the mouth from the foreead

Moving cotton balls with a knife

Panty hose apple bowling

 

Here is a photo of most of the kids wearing costumes:

After the games the kids started singing karaoke, which got loud and enthusiastic. 

It was Margie's final time at the Institute. She has made a big difference at the Institute. We each gave her a hug before leaving. Later on, Chris showed up with an awesome costume, using his Mariachi band outfit and makeup applied by his girlfriend Laura. He even shaved off his facial hair. He gave us a small concert in the kitchen. It was after 10:30pm when we left for home, quite happy with the evening, but the kids were just starting. Several others showed up in costume after we left.

 

 

It was after midnight before we got to bed, but fortunately November 1st is a holiday here, so we will get to recover at home.

I had a lot of fun prepping for the Halloween party. Making googly eyes, witchy finger cookies (pictures in Tuesday's blog), and coming up with games are great missionary skills, right? We're not allowed to wear costumes, but we can have fun anyway.

I thought I could retrieve my patriarchal blessing from my lds account, but it turned out I had to request it. It showed up by the same evening! When our house burned down, I had to order a copy by mail, so this was much nicer. Mission calls are beginning to be sent electronically, too. Soon there will be no more big packets to open ceremoniously in front of friends and family.

Thomas an intense young man visiting from Spain, told us he felt a spiritual kick in the pants and submitted his mission papers just days before he turned 26, which is usually the age deadline. He managed the whole thing in three weeks. Many take six months or more. He asked me to pray for him in this period of time while he works out the complications in his life and arranges for his family needs. 

Papa called Wendy to wish her a happy birthday, only it wasn't her birthday--it was Donna's. He often called Chiara and Wendy Dee and Donna when they were little. Anyway, he also called Donna, so it worked out. 

Lynn is taking good care of Mom, who developed some floaters which ended up being a tear in her eye. It should heal by itself, but may be caused by spikes of blood pressure.  Lynn ran her to two doctors.  Nana gained 1.5 pounds!