Road to Rwanda---Bread Machines and Friends

 Hahaha. This is a write up by a friend in Papua, Indonesia, Melinda McDonald Whited. I am the friend mentioned who used her bread machine. The funny part is I had used about one machine a few times before I used this one, and have not used one since! It was just a time the Lord used both of us to mutually bless each other. It thrills me that I could help someone like this....I am NOT a cook. (This is a mother of 7 kids. I taught 2 of them during my time at HIS in Sentani, Indonesia.)

Some things I finally got around to making today…

3 kilos (6.6 pounds) of trail mix

Homemade wheat bread

Neither are difficult. The hardest part is having the ingredients on hand. Most of the ingredients are purchased from specialty retailers. I bought them this week.

Trail mix: cashews, peanuts, walnuts, dried cranberries, and raisins. I roasted all the nuts in the oven (3 separate batches because some roast faster than others).

The homemade bread feels like cheating because I use a bread machine I purchased from someone who left Papua. I just dump the ingredients in and 3 hours later, I have bread! And it doesn’t even heat up my kitchen! It is like magic!

Funny story. I bought the bread machine YEARS ago. It didn’t come with instructions. I looked a manual up online. The instructions didn’t make much sense to me. Maybe I was overwhelmed with 7 kids at the time? I don’t know. So the bread machine sat in our storage room for years. Then a newcomer (with much life experience) asked if anyone had a bread machine for sale or if anyone knew where to buy one! I jumped at the chance to get rid of this albatross of shame out of my storage room! I offered it for free. She gladly accepted. She invited us over for a meal sometime later and served us some delicious bread from “my” machine! She told me how simple it was.

Fast forward a year or two or so, and that newcomer was now leaving Papua… she insisted I take the bread machine back. I felt like it was a bad penny. I told her I’d only take it if she taught me how to use it. She emailed me a simple recipe.

I’ve been making and enjoying homemade bread ever since! My family loves the bread, too! Thankful for my friend who insisted I take the bread machine back! Sometimes we need friends who will push us a bit!