No doubt in my mind where you belong

This week, love has been an overwhelming theme in daily life here. Wednesday was Jasmine's birthday.

Jasmine is the hairdresser on the ship. People go into the salon, aka 'her magic little room,' and come out looking, but more importantly feeling, beautiful.

Wednesday was all about making her feel loved. The hallway around her room was decorated. We did a flash mob for her at lunch (see Facebook!). We had a picnic dinner on the deck. And ended the day with girls' night- encouraging each other, watching movies, eating popcorn and coke floats.

I volunteered to make some desserts for our picnic. Adding to the normal challenge that cooking/baking is here, Jasmine is gluten-free. She loves anything pumpkin and it took some internet/Pinterest searching, but I found a pumpkin trifle to make. Essentially, it is the inside of a pumpkin pie layered in a trifle.

Pumpkin Trifle- GF

- 1/2 C sugar

- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 2 eggs
- 1 can pumpkin
- 1 can evaporated milk


1. Thoroughly mix all ingredients and pour into a greased pie plate. Or cake pan, if that is what you have.

 

2. Bake at 425* for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350* and bake for another 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

 

3. Let cool completely, then break up into small pieces with a fork. Layer into a glass bowl with cream cheese frosting. (Cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, cinnamon- all whipped together with a mixer)

 

 

I didn't know how many people would be at the picnic, or if they all liked pumpkin, so I found a second chocolate dessert to make as well. Or I just selfishly decided to make two because I like to bake.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Espresso Icing

- 3 large eggs, separated
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 mashed ripe banana
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 C cocoa powder
- 1/2 C sugar
- 1/2 C hot/boiling water
- 2 tsp instant espresso


1. Warm water over high heat on the stove. In a large bowl, mash banana and mix with egg yolks (set aside egg whites for later!) and vanilla.



























2. In a small bowl, combine chocolate and espresso. Add 1/3 C hot water (doesn't have to be boiling, just really hot). This mixture will be fairly thick.

 

3. Add chocolate/espresso mixture to banana and eggs. Stir to mix. Add more hot water slowly to loosen the consistency. It should still be a thick mixture.

4. Add sugar.

5. With an electric mixer, whip egg whites until soft peaks form. Slowly fold into batter, one scoop at a time, until just combined.

 

5. Pour into a springform pan, or any greased round pan you have available :) Fill another cake pan with water and place in oven with the cake.

















6. Bake at 350* for 40 minutes. The cake will have risen in the oven, but collapse as it cools.

At this point, the chocolate cake is quite bitter because of the cocoa. It is probably best not to serve this without any icing. I was a little worried that it would not be good to serve at all. But I did try to fix it with icing.

Icing is not my specialty. So we took some premade icing and added espresso and a little vanilla to thin out the consistency and add more flavor. We just continued this until it was thin enough to spread and tasted like espresso. And it worked! We topped the cake with these chocolate cookie things from the local pastry shop, and it was quite delicious.

 

Even though this day was about Jasmine, I was reminded so many times that day that this is what it means to live in community. We sat outside after dinner for 2 hours, being in the presence of people we serve alongside. All have unique stories, but all our stories have brought us here. 

"One of the most tangible blessings God gives us is his people. If you neglect your relationships to his people, you neglect one of the most powerful ways God wants to bless you now. You neglect one of the most powerful ways he shows you grace now." - Crossroad 2011

'Make You Feel My Love' - Adele

"Bring life to this gentle, neglected place. No, merely join the life that was here, unmistakably, in the ruin and desecration." - The Beloved Invader

They started by teaching them an English worship song- "I've got joy, I've got joy, Rivers of living water in my soul. I've got joy, I've got joy, I've got my name written in the book of life, Got my name written in the book of life, Hallelujah."

Some of the kids at the orphanage we have been visiting on Saturday mornings joined in with our hand motions. A vision team from Holland was visiting the ship for the week and had come with us that morning to sing for the kids.

We tried the song in French. With half of us singing in English and half trying to learn a new song in French, well you can imagine how that went.

They performed "To Make You Feel My Love"; the children politely listened, but they were starting to stir in their chairs.

Maybe one of the children wanted to come up and sing a song for us? With a little bit of encouragement, one of the girls stood up in front of us all. She began to sing. Another boy had run inside and returned with his djembe and begun to drum, with that innate skill and rhythm all our African friends are blessed with.

 

The guitarist from Holland, gifted with an ear to add harmony to her melody, joined in. She glanced at him quickly but continued her song. When she was finished, she was loudly applauded, maybe for the first time in her life.

They were eager to perform after that, each hesitating only a moment before jumping up to take center stage.

"Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh- the lion sleeps tonight"

A girl named Smith began her song and I leaned back to listen to another off-key French song. It took me a moment, but instead I heard in broken English-

"Alleluia. Alleluia. Holy, holy, are you Lord God Almighty. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. You are holy















We listened for a moment, then we joined in her singing. For that is what we are doing here. Joining in their singing, joining in their games, their dancing, their play, their worship. Joining with the Father to show them love He longs for all of His children to know.

 

Fruit Pizza

This weekend was wonderful. I have quite a few pictures to go through, so there will be a series of posts about the events of the weekend. It included, but was not limited to, breakfast from street vendors, orphanage visits, bonfires on the beach, ward church, baking, sunsets, soccer games, goodbyes, and friends.

Here's a little glimpse of the beautiful sunsets we are enjoying now that 'rainy' season is approaching. I couldn't pick just one picture....

 

This is my friend Kacie. Yes, that is a spare
trach in her hand. Because we take 2 day
post-op trach patients to church :)

Ward church is one of my favorite parts of the week. Our patients are always excited to leave the ward to sing, dance, and worship. They start getting up and ready long before it starts. We move all the patients that are able, which basically includes anyone who is not in the ICU or on isolation precautions, to one of the bigger wards and the chaplaincy team leads worship and gives a message.
















Day workers, nurses, patients, caregivers, and kids stand and clap to the beat of the African drums and Congolese worship songs. I think this may be what heaven will sound like. There is nothing like it.

Sunday we made lunch instead of brunch. It was super delicious. We had soup and sandwiches. A spicy Asian beef and noodle soup and Spicy Coconut & Pumpkin soup. Surprisingly delicious.

I made dessert. Surprise. Saturday morning when we were out in town, we stopped at some of the roadside markets and bought some fruit to top it with. We also hoarded some from lunch and dinner...

Fruit Pizza

- 1 1/2 C sugar
- 2 1/2 C flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs

Frosting

- butter
- powdered sugar
- milk/cream
- vanilla

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add the vanilla and eggs.

 


2. Mix the baking powder, salt, flour and add to mixing bowl. Mix until just combined. Chill the dough.

 

3. Preheat the oven to 350*. Roll chilled dough into one big cookie and place on a round baking sheet. Bake 17-20 minutes (will be a little underdone!). Let cool; chill in refrigerator.

4. Cream the butter and add powdered sugar. Add vanilla, then milk/cream until frosting reaches desired consistency.

5. When cookie is chilled, spread frosting over top, then top with fruit!

 

**Ideally I would have made a cream cheese frosting for a little less sweet/buttery taste, but this was still good!**