The soup was great, Sister Willems has had tons of experience in the area of cooking. She grew up on the "plat land" flat land or farm country. She started living with and working for a wealthy Dr. and his family when she was only 13 years old. She would get one afternoon off every two weeks. She would go home and visit with her family and immediately return to work. She lived with several families as a cook and housekeeper. One Family had 11 children and she did all the work. She told us that she was old when she got married because she was 20. She had two sisters who married at age 16 and one at age 15 who actually had to get permission from the Pope to be married without parental consent to a man 17 years older than her. Pretty tough lives if you ask me. Bro. and Sister Willems are not wealthy people so serving us lunch was a stretch for them. They even bought pastries to serve for dessert.
They asked us about our apartment and I told them that it was nice but a little bare. Well, Sister Willems immediately went into her extra room and brought out a little Dutch wooden shoe for me to use as a pincushion and also a small needlepoint she had made years ago and insisted that I take them home to decorate our place. I think I will always cherish those gifts from such humble and kind people. They really did not want us to leave and told us we were always welcome.
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1 comment:
I am so happy for you. You are doing great befriending the memebers. Sounds like you really fit in. I hope the district luncheon at your house was also enjoyable.
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