GRANNY'S PINEAPPLE EMPANADAS

This week we had the great opportunity to visit members of the La Vega Ward for our new assignment. We met Bishop Mayen at 4:00 Tuesday afternoon. He had planned to visit 3 families with us. We left our car at the church and started walking through the neighborhoods. People were friendly and several that were members came up and greeted us. One of the families that we visited was the Mejia family. They have two children who are very active in the Church. Karen works for the Church in the office directly above us. Her brother, Eduardo, is leaving on a mission to Chile in January. Their mom is a pastry chef. (Shout out to Amber).

While we were visiting, Hermana Mejia offered us empanadas. What a wonderful experience. She gave us pineapple ones...which literally melted in your mouth. Wayne was pretty quiet during that time. When we left he told me about the experience that he had just had. When he was about 9 years old they would go to his great-grandma "Granny's" house once a month for dinner. All of the emotions and memories of that time came flooding back to him. Granny spoke no English, and her home was filled with the aromas of sopa albondigas, home-made tortillas, refried beans with bacon grease, tamales and all of the great smells of a wonderful kitchen.

While he was eating Hermana Mejia's empanada he remembered that after all of the food that Granny made them eat, she always served empanadas...pumpkin and pineapple. All of the wonderful memories of Granny came back...her Spanish heritage, the inability to speak English, and of course her great cooking. It had come full circle for him....here he is in Honduras learning so much about the Latino people and learning to speak Spanish. I wonder if Granny is watching?