The Best Job

I have the best church job. I work with the women from the married student stake at BYU Hawaii. These are women from all over the world - Mongolia, Japan, China, Tonga, Samoa and a few from exotic places like Idaho. Many are students and most of their husbands are students. There are lots of babies and pregnancies. Last month I invited them to my house for a Back to Basics night - a little cooking, a little sewing. That's Sister Monson in the middle helping with with the sewing project. For a fabulous report on her mission check out the Monson's devotional on BYUH.edu.

We made scripture totes from placemats. My lanai became the sewing center. That's why it looks dark - we are outside. Many had never used a sewing machine. One woman was delighted that the machines were powered with electricity. Check out the cuteness in the blue bib. Alas, the other toddler is the victim of my fingerprint on the camera lens.We moved next to the kitchen where we learned the art of homemade noodles. Discovery: chicken noodle soup is a universal dish - Asians, Polynesians and we hauolis (say how-lees) love it. We learned alot but mostly it was just fun to just hang out and gab with the girls.

This week was the next event - leadership training. We attempted an elegant meal served on my lanai again - china, stemware, cloth napkins. We wanted the women to know we thought they were worthy of the royal treatment. These are the beginnings of dessert. Simple directions: In melted chocolate, rock small balloons until there are enough "petals" to form a bowl. After they set up, pop balloons and vwa-la: chocolate bowls. The most difficult part of this recipe is blowing up the balloons.