Red Cross Temporary Family Shelter Visit

On October 20, we went to the Red Cross Temporary Family Shelter for our first cooking class.  We expected to be teaching or at least observing a cooking demonstration, but that was not the case.  When we entered, we were proudly escorted to the “community room” where the tables were neatly set, complete with decorations and several plates of confections which had been prepared by the children, the mothers, and the staff.  What a pleasant surprise!

The children had set the tables and had already had a "manner class."  They had been given a role play card to either demonstrate “good manners” or a “bad manners.”  We were so impressed by all the children’s manners, that we had to ask which ones were the supposed to be demonstrating the bad manners.  Of course they had chosen the girls that were always very polite.  We suspected they might be the ones that were supposed to be the "bad examples" but I don't think they could quite pull off the "bad manners."  

One boy showed up with a nicely ironed shirt and behaved like a real gentleman.   We were super impressed at how clean and well prepared all the children were. 

We were also entertained by one of the mothers who sang a few gospel songs to us in English.  She did a very good job and the children were all very quiet and respectful as she sang.  She does not speak English, but you would never know it from her singing.  She sang one song in Hungarian and had the director translate it for us.  It was very touching for her to make this effort.  We suggested to the director that she teach the children to sing several songs for our closing dinner.  She liked the idea, so we will see where that leads. 

 

Elder Moser even entertained the children with his “dumb” magic tricks. 

 

Victor, who introduced himself as Spider-Man, surprised me with a gift as we were leaving.  He gave me a fan, glow in the dark stars and planets and a notebook.  I was overwhelmed at his generosity.  I was a little afraid that he might change his mind after we left so we asked him to keep the notebook and draw some pictures for me for next time.  We’ll see if he does. 

 
 I asked if they had group dinners like this very often.  Erika, the director, said no, but thought it was so successful that they felt they should do this more often.

Even though this was not quite what we had expected, we were thrilled with the results.  It was so nice to see this group come together in a common cause and to see all the efforts that they made.  We could tell they were proud of what they had accomplished, and we hope to be able to continue to see more positive results. We are looking forward to returning.