Thanksgiving from HIM Missionaries
by Richard & Judy Grout, Daryl Bradbury, Steve & Gwen Geise, and Melissa Manners
Richard & Judy Grout
THANKSGIVING is a CHRISTIAN holiday, celebrated by Christians in other lands as well as in America. We learned this the very first month we were in Russia, September 1993, when we were invited to the churches' Harvest Festivals. Since winter comes much earlier in Russia, so does harvest time and their Thanksgiving days.
All the faithful church members bring a generous portion of the harvest from their summer gardens, and the church platforms are covered with colorful fruits and vegetables. The artistically gifted members often prepare elaborate displays. During the Sunday service, the church has a special program and, just as in America, we sing special Thanksgiving hymns. After the service, there is usually a Thanksgiving dinner. We are thankful for the discovery of other Thanksgiving traditions.
Daryl Bradbury
SINCE THANKSGIVING is an American holiday, it is not celebrated in the country of Haiti. However, as American missionaries, we always made it a special day – not only for ourselves, but also for our friends and co-workers. Sometimes we purchased a live turkey ahead of time, which Frank Vaughn would butcher and clean the day before. On other occasions, we were able to get a nice turkey from the U.S. through Missionary Flights International (much easier!). For the pumpkin pies, we would buy pumpkin squash locally, then boil, pel, mash, and strain it in preparation for pie.
Thanksgiving mornings were busy, beginning early with the stuffing of the turkey (which my daughter, Rose and her friends helped to do), and then the continued scurrying around getting ready for dinner. When everything was ready, we prepared several plates of turkey, dressing, and gravy, etc., for friends, neighbors, and clinic workers. We then sent Rose and her friends to deliver them. What a delight it was when we finally sat down together at the table to know that our friends around us were enjoying the special treat also! Though it was not their typical food, they loved it! We always explained to them ahead of time the special meaning of Thanksgiving and how the day was started in America.
Sometimes, at the end of the day, we would invite our pastor and some other friends over for turkey sandwiches. We spent time sharing together about God's many blessings in our lives and what we were all thankful for. The true meaning of Thanksgiving came alive in the mountains of Haiti!
Steve & Gwen Geise
TO CELEBRATE Thanksgiving 2008, we joined several other American families to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving dinner which was served under an open-sided carport. Near the end of the meal, we could see a thunderstorm was coming our way. Soon the rain was pouring down. The weather turned cool, and the wind blew the rain in on us. We were trapped! We would have been drenched if we had attempted a run to the house. So, our only other option was to huddle together as far as possible from where the rain was being blowng in and wait. After some time, we were able to make a quick dash to the house where we spent the remainder of the afternoon thankful to be warm and dry.
Melissa Manners
PROBABLY MY SWEETEST memories of Thanksgiving go back to my childhood when my family visited Grandma in Pennsylvania. A nontraditional Thanksgiving memory comes from the year that my parents took my sister and two of our friends to Niagara Falls for Thanksgiving vacation — no big turkey meal that Thanksgiving day! Let me share memories from the field; perhaps they will be more interesting to read.
Chinese food is most often cooked on the stovetop, however, we can buy small ovens, about the size of a microwave. But, how can one bake a Thanksgiving turkey in one of those? It is possible! If I cram the bird into a regular-sized cake pan, I can fit him into the oven! I have baked several this way for my eight Thanksgivings in Taiwan. One of the first turkeys I had to bake was given to me, just dressed that morning. It was still warm—and worse—the head was still attached! As a young girl, my mother raised chickens and I helped to dress them, but the head was always the first thing to go when my mother killed them. I had to get rid of the turkey head before I could bake him!
Since becoming a pastor, my husband has wanted to haven special Thanksgiving service and a turkey meal for the church people around Thanksgiving time, although Thanksgiving is not a holiday in Taiwan. One year two turkeys were purchased for me to bake. I kept one in my freezer and another in a church member's freezer. He brought it to me Saturday, still frozen. I know not all people thaw turkey the same way I was taught, but most people at least thaw it before cooking it! I learned later that the church member had baked a frozen turkey a previous year, so he certainly didn't have any idea that bringing me a frozen turkey horrified me. How was I going to bake this bird in less than 24 hours? Thawing it in water in the kitchen sink worked and the turkey was fine.
Other interesting memories come to mind. For special Thanksgiving services, we often ask different church members to share what they are thankful for. Thanksgiving is, of course, a great time for making and sharing memories, and even on the mission field, without family surrounding us, we make them!
