Many of you know it is not my favorite thing to feed the missionaries. I will probably be struck down by lightening, but I don't think it teaches these 19 year old men any responsibility if these women are taking over mama's job and cooking them dinner every night. Yeah, I know, I know: their responsibility is teaching the gospel and converting people and it helps offset the cost - I've heard all the arguements. But still, I think these young men need to cook for themselves, clean their apartments, and do their own laundry - not instill in them that some woman is going to do this for them the rest of their lives.
But I digress. Last night an opportunity presented itself that I just couldn't resist. One of our favorite places to eat in town is Longhorn Steakhouse. Their food is awesome and if anyone has been there before, it isn't cheap. The average price of a meal is about $17. We decided a good steak sounded good for dinner last night so we went. Lo and behold waiting for a table were two elders. I believe they are serving in the Olathe Stake because I did not recognize them. They said a friend of theirs worked there and said they should try it out. Elder Bradshaw kind of chuckled, as a steakhouse isn't a typical eating establishment for a missionary budget.
After they were seated I tracked down the manager and asked how we could pay for their meal. I told her what they were and said it was something we'd like to do. We were seated in a different section than they were so we had a different waiter. Towards the end of dinner, the elders' waiter came over and wanted to know if it was ok to have dessert added on to the bill. He said the elders changed their mind when they found out dessert was about $5 a piece. I said go ahead and let them order.
To make this long story short, we paid for the dinner and the restaurant picked up the tab for the dessert. I told the manager that we wanted to remain anonymous. Her story to us was she had gone over to the missionaries asked how their dinner was and if the dessert was to their liking. They said everything was great. She told them that this is how it was going to be: the restaurant was paying for their dessert and someone dining was paying for their dinner and wanted to remain anonymous. She said they were so pleased and grateful almost to the point of tears of joy. So what could have easily been a $60 meal for them was free.
If that doesn't bring blessings in heaven, I don't know what will.
