Week Ending January 4, 2014

Sunday the branch presidency spoke at church. I was pleasantly impressed when they gave talks instead of reading from the Ensign magazine. Their talks were based on magazine articles, but they talked about concepts and quoted from them rather than reading verbatim the entire talks. We talked to a lot of people about the party and collected information for our get acquainted activity.

In the afternoon Ted and I visited several families to invite them to the party and get more information for the activity. We spent quite a bit of time at one home visiting with them. As they were trying to fill out their forms, the husband kept asking how to spell very unusual words, like “home ec.” and “Hallelujah”. It turned out that he had used 1 cup of salt instead of 1 cup of sugar in a recipe in his home ec. class in high school and he was in the movie “Hallelujah Trail”. As we discussed the movie, I asked if we would recognize him in it and he said it was many years ago. I asked if he could remember what color shirt he was wearing and his wife said, “The Indians didn’t wear shirts.” It really struck me sort of funny. She was making a necklace using “fire colors” that was beautiful. Her sister cousin had bought several from her.

Monday I finished typing the list of personal facts for the party. It has 90 items. I’m asking people to get 25 or more signatures to participate in the prize drawings. I think it should be fun. There are some really interesting facts on the sheet including, “I was abducted by aliens.”

Since I was sort of caught up, I sewed on my quilt top. I was able to sew all the rows together and put the outside edge on. The top is essentially finished. I need to decide how I am going to put it together—whether I should tie it or quilt it. Yikes, hand quilting will take forever and I don’t feel confident enough to do it on the machine, but either of those would be better than tying it. I really like the way the top looks now that it is all together.

In the evening we went to home evening. Sarah Mortenson’s parents were in town so they joined us—and furnished the refreshments. We played a fun game, but it got really noisy. It would be nice if everyone who has come would come regularly so we could build the group.

Tuesday in the morning we made copies of the “Getting to Know You” game for the party. We also marked off the target areas for the bean bag toss. We did three of them, sort of centering on the free-throw line on the floor. We had a full agenda planned, so we figured it would be fun even if some of the stuff doesn’t work. We also got all the balls and put them in a cupboard so the kids wouldn’t be throwing balls around all night.

In the afternoon we picked up the sandwiches at Walmart. I’m not sure how most people get the sandwiches out of the store, but we had a tricky challenge to get all of them on/in the grocery cart. There were six three foot sections on cardboard holders. Fortunately, they held together fairly well when they were on a slant or bent. Anyway, we put them in the Relief Society Room at church because that is a bit cooler than the rest of the building. The elders arrived early to help set up the tables. People started arriving before it was all done, so they all helped.

Getting to Know You!!!

I had collected miscellaneous facts about members of the branch and people were supposed to find the persons described and collect signatures. The forms were then to be deposited in a box for prize drawings. I knew it would be fun, but I was amazed at how well it went. The people loved it. They were all talking with each other trying to figure out who was each thing. In fact, it was going so well we delayed dinner for a while so they could continue.

One more cup to shoot off the end of the table and we'll WIN!

After we ate we did some small group competitions at the tables then awarded prizes to the best three groups. We did a rag and sticks game, with two sides trying to get the rag in their goal. We played a game where everyone put a balloon around their ankles and then tried to pop others’ balloons while protecting their own. We played a sort of tag the elders had prepared. We did the cake walk and musical chairs that another family had prepared. We played a couple of circle games where people had to change chairs. We did the human knot where they had to untangle themselves. We did a beanbag toss. That was funny. One man was just sitting watching and I encouraged him to come do it. Then we couldn’t get him to quit. A girl about 9 years old was the winner. There were two perfect scores so we had to do a tie breaker—she beat an older boy.

Fruit Basket--and we all change places!!

 I think everyone had a good time and we kept everyone that wanted to participate engaged until about 11 PM. I was a little disappointed that some of the teenagers sat in the hall and played on their ipods or tablets instead of playing games. Lame! Some of the adults sat and visited and that was good. But the participants ranged from adults to young children and all did well with it. About 11 we decided we should have the pancake breakfast and then celebrate early and go home. As it turned out, the food took longer to cook than anticipated and it was about 11:50 PM before we were finished eating.

Trying to untangle the HUMAN KNOT!

The group did some clean up while waiting, so there was little to do at the end. We passed out blowers and squawkers just before midnight, so it was pretty noisy. We all wished each other Happy New Year, finished the last of the clean up, and went home. We were home by 12:29 AM. Nice. I felt really good about the event. One sister thanked me for putting it all together and that felt good. I know everyone had a good time. As we left the church I told the branch president the key was to do it again next year without us and I would give him my notes.

Wednesday we went to the home of a senior couple in Blue Water for lunch with the other seniors. The hosts are a local couple on a service mission in one of the branches. They live in a lovely double-wide trailer. I was amazed at it. It had 4 bedrooms and three bathrooms, a good-sized living room/dining room combination with an adequate kitchen. There was also a fair sized den on the side. It was beautiful inside and I was very impressed. Everyone had really outdone themselves with the food. We played games and visited—or watched the Rose Bowl.

Thursday I typed up my notes from the New Year’s Eve party for the branch president. I went through everything I had and added the games we hadn’t played as well so they were all there. In the afternoon we took dinner to the home of a lady and her grandma to eat with them. We had a good visit. The mother had died during the year and the daughter and grandma are trying to deal with the change. The lady asked how someone can know a church is true. We talked a lot about reading the scriptures and praying. At church one of the talks was about tithing. Her grandma told her that her mom used to pay tithing and suggested that she should. She really has a desire to do the right thing and I think she wants to get a testimony. She had one as a child, but when she went into the military, it kind of got buried. She had some good discussions with her mom after she came home and I think she misses that. She’s also struggling financially to meet their needs. She felt badly that she hadn’t been able to get her grandma anything for Christmas. But she makes sure she had Glen’s donuts and she provides her with a warm house. She says she hates to ask God for anything because when she starts to express gratitude for all she has, she feels so blessed. She has a good heart. Her grandma speaks very limited English, but as we were leaving she said, “Thank you for bringing the food.” She’s a sweet lady.

Friday I did some seminary. I cut some framing pieces for the small throw I am making with the extra squares from my quilt. I was able to get it all sewn, so I pressed both quilt tops. They are both nice and I really like them.

We had the elders over for dinner in the evening. After dinner they stayed and talked until nearly 8:30. We told them about all the people we knew in the area and where they lived and what we thought the potential is for activity. It was a good discussion. I hope they can do some good here in reaching out to some of the people.

Saturday I worked on seminary, preparing my lesson for next week. I got my assignments ready to give my students for next week. I also typed the announcements for church and got everything printed off. In the evening we watched 17 Miracles and were once again touched at the sacrifices the people made to get to Utah. I am so grateful they were able to endure what they did.