Pastor Sergio's visit - Day 8, Saturday, April 16

Day 8.  

A day of fun and learning, 

of rain and sleet, 

of sap and syrup.  

Today began at 8:00 am. We were going to have breakfast at the church with whomever wished to show up.  Here is Sergio coming into the church smiling from ear to ear.  I'm going to miss that smile each morning.  

Sam came this morning to spend the day with Sergio.  He brought scones fresh from the store....

Since Sergio had received (or will receive, I can't remember now) real syrup, we thought it would be nice for him to figure out what syrup is used for.  We also thought it would be nice to teach him how to make pancakes so he could cook them for his congregation when he returned to Peru. 

Now, as many of you know, I'm an "add water" sort of pancake mix person  (that's probably why John's family didn't show up this morning....hmmmmm).   We, well actually Erin, soon got to work mixing the batter.  I just mix to texture, but Erin was pretty insistent that she needed a measuring cup.  I reminded Erin that maybe Sergio wouldn't be using measuring cups, so why not teach him the easy way right away......I think I won, but am still not sure.  : ) 

Here you see Erin teaching Sergio how to mix the batter.  

Nick made the coffee.  

Erin soon got into the mix with Sergio.....

sorry about the pun Erin...

I couldn't resist.  :  )  

Next came the frying pan.  

Add some margarine to ensure the pancakes 

don't stick to the pan.

Oh, I see that Mina has arrived.  The first thing she asked me was, "So, where's the coffee?"  I wasn't surprised....   : )  Nice to see you again Mina.  

I sent Jeannine on an errand to get Orange Juice because I had forgotten too.  She set to making that OJ when she returned.  Thanks Jeannine.  I think I see her mom just watching her.  Nice.  : ) 

Oh yes, back to Sergio and pancakes.  It was now time to place the batter in the frying pan.  Erin's a good teacher, but I could tell Sergio was a bit nervous.  He did just fine though.  

He continued to pour the batter.  

Erin explained to him the bubbling effect of pancakes and when they were ready to flip.  She demonstrated how to flip them and then had Sergio do it.  

He nervously tried the first time.  

It took him a couple of tries,

but soon he was a natural.  

As you can see here.  

The end result.  Way to go Sergio.  

The three amigo's hanging out.  Chris, Shawn, Sam.  

Eventually everyone arrived that was going to arrive and they all got into the spirit of making pancakes.  Hi there Megan...you look lost.....  : )  

Katrina had a friend over  overnight and she came for breakfast too.  Katrina wanted to introduce Sergio to her.  He took a break from making pancakes to give her a hug.  

I see that Erin is a masterful pancake artist. 

Mickey Mouse for someone......

But Erin's heart is only for Pepe, so she made him this pancake.  I just don't know if it will keep until she gets it to Peru.....eeewwwww.  : ) 

Mina couldn't believe that Katrina had grown so much....I attributed it to a combination of Katrina growing and Mina shrinking.....what....after 40 don't we all?  

Leah getting in to the pancake making spirit.  

Soon the pancakes were done and it was time to eat.  I do need to tell you that we made allot of pancakes. Good thing because we warmed a bunch in the oven, but I think someone put the temp up too high and those in the oven ended up becoming hockey pucks.  Sam was determined to eat one, and I think he did.  The rest...well let's just way we all picked the "other" pancakes.  

Sergio opened with Prayer.  

And then it was time to eat.  

Here is Sergio putting on the real syrup....yummy.  

Nick and Sergio enjoying the meal together.  

I haven't seen much of my family this week, so Katrina is spending some quality time with her dad.....hmmmm  : ) 

As you know from last night, "the gift"  was a non-gift due to some key misplacement by a certain someone who shall remain nameless.......but you know who she is.....  (tee, hee).  Well, it was nice to see "the gift" show itself this morning.  

Here's a better picture of it.  They are soooo cute.  

Joycegina and Mina  (hey, that rhymes)  moved to Sergio's table to talk more with him. 

The youth group got hold of the camera again, so more "interesting" pictures were taken.  At first I thought this was just a picture of Megan pulling another of her many weird faces, but if you click on the picture to enlarge it, and look to your left, you'll see that Chris is being hugged by a pair of REALLY big hands.....that could only mean that Sam was giving him a hello hug.....

There's no question here though, that this IS a picture of Megan pulling another of her weird faces.....

just plain weird.

After a time of cleaning up. This group went with Sergio to Providence Point in Lanark County. Thanks Graham for driving too and allowing the YP to come along.  

As we travelled to Providence Point Sam and Shawn talked with Sergio about missions and other spiritual things.  It was neat to see them interacting together.  Sergio got pretty excited again about God working in the lives of people both here and back in his church.  

We stopped at Tim's in Perth.  Sergio is trying to decide what donut to order.  So much choice.  

And then there's the kind of coffee to order.  

 Tim's coffee. 

 Sergio had a coffee, probably a triple sugar,  and a Boston Cream donut.  He loved it.  I loved it when the cream came oozing out of the donut as he bit into it.  I don't know if he was expecting that or not.  

 I know I've bugged Erin allot this week (but you need to know that she equaled that against me too), so once again I just wanted to point out that she is such a refined eater.  Eating a blueberry fritter using the Tim's bag to keep her hands from getting sticky.  Pepe, she's a keeper.   : )  

I can just see Erin rolling her eyes as she's reading this.....or maybe you are just "skimming this" portion like you did yesterday when I complimented you at the end of the blog entry...so as I promised, I'm changing the font colour to ensure that you take notice.  Try backing up to the beginning of this paragraph Erin so you will get this compliment from me...as you know, you only get them once in a while  (tee, hee).  

 But I digress......  : )  Here's the Tim's sign for Sergio to remember us by.  

This trip proved to be a very educational one for Sergio, but for me too. I didn't know there was a cheese store near Providence Point.  A nice place inside that also sold Amish furniture.  

 Here is Erin wanting to by this cheese, but not wanting to pay the $60+ for it.  

 Sergio walked off by himself, as he often does, when he wishes to drink in the sights and sounds around him.  

 There were many unique kinds of cooking items in the store.  I'm not sure what this was, but I'm pretty sure Erin is thinking that this would make a great whacking stick to hit ME with.....I'm outta here.   

 Nick often comes to this store  (well, at least he's been here before) and he says he loves to buy the cheese curds here.  So, once again he did, and he let Sergio try some.  

 When we arrived at Providence Point, it was raining pretty good.  Nick brought Sergio this rain poncho.  I'm not trying to be mean, but Sergio reminded me of a cute smurf in this. Doesn't he look cute?  I think so.  

 This picture was at the entrance to the place, so some of the group, and Sergio at the bottom right, posed for a picture.  

 We were taken on a tour of the sugar bush by the owner of Providence Point.  The sap had stopped running last week, but we could still get a good idea of what had happened.  Sergio was intrigued to say the least.  

 Here is a tap hole in a tree.  

 Here is where they cook the sap.  It's a 40:1 ration of sap to syrup.  That's allot of evaporation.  

 This is what the sap looks like before it's cooked.  

 This is the final stage of the cooking process.  Where the bottles are filled.  

 Here is the reverse Osmosis machine that takes 1/3 of the water out of the sap to reduce the cooking time.  The bi-product of the process is...well....water....pure water with no minerals in it.  

This is the way that sap used to be collected around here.  Now it's pretty much done via hoses.  

Sergio is trying the RO water.  We all tried it.  Tasteless, but tasty....that doesn't make any sense does it.....

 At another forest about 1 KM away are more tapped trees.  Here they use suction, not gravity, to get the sap to out of the tree and into a storage tank.  

 It sure was raining, and we sure were getting wet, but not Sergio.  Erin looks cold.  

 In the dinning hall of P.P. you will see the final product on sale.  

 We stayed for a delicious lunch.  

 The soups were great, as was the fresh baked bread and meats.  

 Sergio received a free bottle of syrup from P.P.  He's going to have to get another suitcase from us to allow for all the weight he'll be carrying in gifts, etc.  That's a nice problem for him to have.

We received a quiz to see how well we had listened to the demonstration.  We did pretty good.  I learned allot about making sap into syrup. It's been a while since I've been to a sugar bush, so it was a nice reminder for me.  One thing I didn't know was that maple syrup has lots of anti-oxidants in it so you can pretty much live off it for a time if you blend it into a tea.  

When I heard that, I just looked at Erin and she, well, she just looked away.  I laughed.....anti-oxidants in tea, now syrup....amazing isn't it Erin....(tee, hee).   

After lunch it was time to leave. As we drove home I learned more interesting things.  I didn't know Perth had a downtown.  It has a very nice downtown actually.  I didn't know there was a lilac forest of sorts that you can walk through.  I'll have to take Joycegina for a trip here in May so we can experience these new things. 

I also didn't know that there is a Christian school around here too.  In the middle of nowhere pretty much.  Nick is a great tour guide.  

 We eventually made it back to the church, and after a brief time of waiting for a YP to be picked up by a parent.....it was back to Nick's.  We were met by his son and grandchildren who were waiting for us to come home so they could meet Sergio.  We just made it before they left.  Nick and Margaret cleaned up all the toys that were left behind and we sat and rested for a bit before we were off to the next destination, John and Annette's place.  

Saturday is pizza and family movie night here, but I decided it was time to get home early and get this blog done in time so I could be rested for tomorrow's service, etc.  Besides, I've seen the movies that Hannah likes, and if it's anything like "It happened one night......"  well, I'm not missing much (Gotcha again Hannah).  

 When people come to visit from another country, they can pick up stereotypes that aren't really true for the entire country.  We have that when we go to Peru, and we know Sergio is getting that while here.  For example,  we don't serve such great and elaborate meals all the time.  We don't have desserts every day (at least I don't).  Not everyone wants to be a missionary like Sam...well you get the idea....and not every family has 6 kids like John and Annette. 

So, as we were driving there, I asked Erin to tell Sergio about this.  That actually led to a nice discussion on the number of children people do have here in Canada and why.  

We arrived at our destination and the family, and family pets, met us at the door.  I'm not sure what John was pointing at in this picture....maybe he'll tell me someday....maybe he won't.  

 Ben gave Sergio a big hug  (Hannah did too, for the record).  

Thankfully Erin had remember "the gift" this time, and since I wasn't sticking around, I asked her if she'd be willing to hand it out before my leaving so I could get a picture of it.  So, here it is.....

 I was sad to know that I wouldn't be partaking of this pizza delight, but other things needed doing.  

 Before I left, Hannah treated us to a piano piece.  Sergio listened intensely.  He loved it.    

 Ben was next.  Apparently all the kids take piano.  They need this one and a keyboard just to fit in all the practice time.  

As another of the children played, Annette decided to have a seat on one of her daughters, and Ben decided to torture tickle her.  What a family.  I think Erin felt right at home.  

I soon left and returned home for supper and to blog.  Apparently the Internet was quite slow tonight, so this uploading of pictures has taken much longer than expected, but it's worth it, isn't it.....I think so, but I'm kind of biased.  

This brings us to the end of a great day.  I think Sergio learned a great deal today, and was amazed at the trees.  He wants to research the jungle trees in Peru and figure out what is taken from them.  Allot of stuff to take in, but today at least, for the most part, it was of a less serious nature.  

Tomorrow it's time for Sergio to assist us in leading our Service at Calvin, and for the youth praise team to play, and for a wonderful time of food and fellowship with Sergio afterwards.  If you are a Calvinite, we hope you stick around after the service to hear from Sergio's heart...you won't be disappointed.  Until tomorrow night's entry.....TTFN