My Ode to the 4th of July

I am homesick. It has been coming on slowly over the past few weeks and hit me hard today, the first of July. I think about home often, my home in Bountiful, the hot dry weather, the long Summer nights (the sun goes down every night at 6:30 in Vietnam), the July holidays spent with friends and family, and the delicious food grilled on the BBQ with the smells that linger throughout the neighborhood. I miss it all....badly! So tonight we had the missionaries over for dinner and in honor of the beautiful Utah July that I am missing so much, I decided to make hamburgers. Now you may think that's not so blog worthy, but they don't BBQ here in Vietnam and I had to think outside the box on this one. That's right, these hamburgers were grilled in the oven. Before you gag at the thought just know that they turned out pretty tasty. But nothing beats a hamburger with actual markings from the grill...yum! I'll be planning on it next July.

Elder Hoa Minh and Elder Minh. Same last name so the Elder standing next to Troy had to add his first name.  Missionaries are not allowed to wear their name tags in public, only in church on Sundays. They also are VERY cautious to what they say about the church. No proselyting, tracking, and can only teach if invited by the investigator. They said that they have to be careful even when in someone's home because if people overhear them they can be turned in to the police. It's a very different mission. Elder Minh (with glasses) is from Australia so it's pretty crazy to see a Vietnamese person who speaks English with an Australian accent. I'm surprised every time I hear him.

My make shift BBQ

If your wondering why it looks gross,  it's  the melted cheese

                                                  Happy 4th of July!