Our week began as usual with Sunday. We were able to go to church and nenew our Baptismal Covenants and partake of the sacrament, to refresh and strengthen our Spiritual batteries in readiness for the week ahead. This week was our Ward Conference. (Our local congregations are called wards (or branches for smaller congregations). They are organized geographically and members attend a ward or branch near their home.) Our Stake leaders were there to teach and sustain us as a Ward, with special Sacrament Talks, and lessons in Sunday School and Relief Society/Priesthood lessons. ( A group of wards forms a stake, and the leader of a stake is a stake president. “Stake” is not a term found in the New Testament, but is taken from Old Testament tent imagery in which the “tent,” or church, is held up by supporting stakes (see Isaiah 54:2).
Our Stake President began his talk by speaking about the special live Broadcast that we in the UK had had from Edinborough a year ago in which Jeffrey R. Holland had been the main speaker and he asked us what did we remember from that special event. I remembered that we had all been very well fed spiritually and that he had spent the whole time talking about the Book of Mormon, and in fact going overtime, which is not usual for speakers at that level. I was right. He
had done this. He then asked us why a leader at that level would take up so much time to speak to us, a people who were already converted to the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon . . . about the Book of Mormon. There was a lot of food for thought there, and I came away committed to study the Book of Mormon ever deeper than before.
Of course in the afternoon I called my mom. It is so lovely to hear her voice on a Sunday. I would love to call her every day, but I think that she would find that overly annoying. She was telling me that a family of deer have been frequently passing through their garden and partaking of the rosehips on the rose bushes on their way down towards the river. She was also saying that vegetables were quite expensive at the moment, and I did recall someone saying on facebook the price of a head of cauliflower, but I couldn't remember how much it was, but it did sound a lot. In Canada the tax on things is added at the til, so the price you see on an object is not always the price you pay. Todd finds that quite confusing when he is there, and to be honest I think it is too. I prefer the way things are here, where the price you are shown is the price you pay, with no hidden surprises at the til!
Monday we had our prep day, so I did laundry and cleaned the house and cooked a
Chicken Tikka Masala as we had been charge with bringing a meal to a family that evening. I made enough so that we had it for supper also. It was good and I found myself wondering why I did not cook us a curry more often.
I also had time to work on my cookbook album, which I really enjoyed. I am always happiest when I am creating. I had so much paper left that I have started a second one, only this one is black. I am quite happy with how that is turning out as well.
Tuesday we did a lot of work on referrals. A lot of the way Missionaries find people to teach to is by referrals. Because the church had done a very good job prior to Christmas with their Christmas videos, etc, there had been a LOT of referrals online. One of the things we do as a Senior Missionary Couple is to take these referrals and investigate them to see if they are actually real and not bogus so that the Young Missionaries don't waste a lot of really valuable time chasing them up. You would be surprised at the number of bogus referrals we get. People will call the church, or go online and give fake names, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, street addresses, etc. Or some people will think it is funny to give someone else's details, perhaps a person who really isn't into God or who is an athiest, etc. It's really important that our young Missionaries are safe. We have had missionaries held captive by bad people in the past. One of our young sister Missionaries and her companion here in the UK had been held for hours and hours in an apartment by an investigator before they were able to get away, which left them both quite traumatized as you can imagine. This one sister ended up going home early from her mission as it had left her so distressed. So when we get these referrals it's really important that we make sure they are on the up and up before we send in the youngsters. As Seniors we have to make three attempts to contact the referral before passing it on to the Young Missionaries, and only then when we have determined that it is a valid referral.
I do not understand the mentality of people who give these bogus referrals and waste so much of our time, or perhaps that is the whole point of it all . . . wasting our time. You would be surprised at the number of people who truly dislike Mormons, who feel we are evil and who would want to make our jobs as Missionaries even more difficult. As Todd so rightfully said to one once upon a time, "Surely their time would be better spend in trying to bring people to Christ who
don't already have a testimony of the Saviour than in trying to
destroy the testimonies of people who
do."
It makes no sense. It costs nothing to be kind.
On Wednesday I spent most of the day putting together my presentation for the Young Women that I would be teaching about Canadian Cooking at church that evening. I wanted to make sure that they would get a lot out of my lesson and really understand the demographics of Canadian Cookery, and the melting pot that is our cuisine. I baked a few examples of different things to show them, etc. and then, of course . . . I went to church that night and did just that. There were some things that they didn't think were very tasty, such as Peanutbutter and Jam. (I don't know why the British have such a problem with that concept. I think it's quite nice.) I think they found it quite interesting however and they did enjoy the Molasses Cake, Oatmeal Muffins and Dessert Pemmican. I think they were quite relieved that I had not brought real Pemmican! We also were taught how to make Sushi by a Japanese member of our Ward. I wasn't that fond of the Nori paper we use to wrap it up in. It smelt very fishy and I don't like things that smell really fishy. It was a fun activity however and I did enjoy the taste of the vegetarian ones.
Thursday saw me doing my Visit Teaching in the morning and Todd and I also did some Home Teaching together. As Adult Sisters in the church we are each given the responsability to visit and care for several Sisters in our Ward. It is a priviledge and a duty of care. We are encouraged to pray for the Sisters in our care daily, and to get to know and to love them. We are there to help them if they need it and to support and strengthen each other in whatever way that we can. I have found through the years that any sister I visit taught or was visit taught by has become a good and cherished friend. Likewise my Visit Teaching Partners. We have also become good friends. It is something which I have also really always enjoyed doing very much. My partner could not make it this week and so as the end of the month was here, Todd went with me as I wanted to get it done. We are also Home Teaching partners so we did that as well. You can learn a bit more about
these two programs here if you are interested in knowing more.
In the afternoon I had my Cooking for Diabetes Class. This week we spoke about the types of fats and salt. We made a Vegetable Curry which was really very delicious. And there was no salt in it whatsoever, except that which occurred naturally in the ingredients used. I only have one more of these classes to attend. I have really enjoyed them and am so glad that I signed up for them. I've learned a lot, even though I thought I already knew it all, haha.
Yesterday morning we had to take Mitzie to the Dog Groomers. She is not a dog who enjoys a lot of fussin' She actually gets really stressed when she is groomed. That's why we keep driving all the way to Neston to have her groomed . . . because she knows those groomers and they know her, and we reckon that its better for her to be with someone she knows and is comfortable around. Our groomer is the woman who bred her and has known her since the day she was born. Neston is quite a distance from us and we could go to groomers right here in the City, but we stick with Paws for Perfection because we like them and Mitzie does too. She always smells so nice when she is done.
And her fur is so shiny. She is pretty exhausted though for the rest of the day. I reckon its the stress of it all. I don't mind it myself . . . I get to go to Gordales and have a wee boo around while Todd sits in the cafe and reads while enjoying a hot chocolate. The cafe is filled with men enjoying coffees etc. while their better halves have a wee boo around the shop. I love garden centres with nice big gift shops. They have such nice things and the greeting cards at Gordales are just lovely.
In the afternoon I did some of my Spark Joy exercises that I told you about earlier in the week. I managed to get the dining room buffet cleared. I had a lot of things in there that we just never use, or that are old and chipped and will never use because they are old and are chipped, or because there are only two of them. I applied the "Is it useful" and "Do you LOVE it" principles to each item. Anything that wasn't useful, was old and chipped, or I didn't love got taken away, including a little glass blue bird with a broken beak that my ex husband had given me once upon a time. I don't know why I had been hanging onto it for so long. It is no more.
Which brings me to today . . .
Menu planning and Grocery Shopping for the week ahead. I love grocery shopping.
And that my friends . . . is how you spend a week.
A thought to carry with you through the day . . .
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"Even though multitudes
followed after Him,
Christ’s ministry always consisted
of blessing people one by one."
~Carlos H. Amado
✿¸.•*¨`*•..¸✿ ✿¸.•*¨`*•..¸✿
Spiritual Enlightenment
In The English Kitchen today . . .
Lemon Cake Pie. Delicious! Wish I could still eat things like this! Perhaps just a nibble . . .
Hope your Saturday is as special as you are! Wherever you go and whatever you get up to, don't forget!
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And I do too!
