The Mormon Mojo

Me: Go ahead, ask me.
Bill: What?
Me: Ask the question.
Bill: How was mutual?
Me: The youth rock!
Bill: What did you do?
Me: We read Alma Chapter 5...

Yep, the youth rock and all we did was read scriptures to work on a virtue value experience. And if you don't know Alma 5, it's long. Alma rambles and we were trying to decipher all his questions. Geez. As we wrote down several of the questions I was trying to make sure the girls wrote them in a way that they could understand and answer them.

Verse 14 "...Have ye received his image in your countenances?"

Allie: What's a countenance?
All the leaders: Umm, well... (looking to each other for guidance)
Evelyn: Sort of like the way you behave and how people see you.
Me: Kind of like your demeanor.
Evelyn: Yeah.
Allie: Your mojo?
(lots of laughter)
Me: Yeah, your mojo!
(Allie writes: Do you have His image in your mojo?)
Ashley: Don't write that!
Evelyn: Why not?! (She crosses off countenance on her own paper and writes in mojo.)

AWESOME!!!

I think my mojo has been missing for a while, but I'm getting it back. I think my Mormon mojo is going to be the first to resurface. Hopefully the rest will follow suit...

They Can Be Taught

Three weeks ago we started a sewing project in Young Women. Each girl came up with their own saying, drew it on the muslin, and stitched it on with embroidery thread. Then we did a little quilting around the edges and sewed it onto a back so it can be stuffed into a pillow. Last week, when we still weren't done they were asking to complete it this week because, as one girl said, "I don't need ANOTHER unfinished project at my house!" That was awesome, and so typical for me. So here are the 4 completely ones. Mine didn't get finished (I was busy helping) and one of the girls that missed last week is still working on hers...The best part of this whole project was the 3 nights of sewing and chatting that we were able to do. One of the youth said something like, "I feel like my grandma when she sits around with all the old ladies quilting." WooHoo! I told them it was "pea shellin' time"... the time when women used to sit around shelling peas together, talking and working at the same time. Now our peas come frozen and ready to eat so we have to come up with other ways to connect with our sisters. They got a kick out of the frozen pea issue.

The other thing that was funny tonight stemmed from our discussion last week. They talked about wanting to cook and make some donuts this week. We decided to finish these pillows, but one of the girls called me today to see if we were making donuts. We weren't but I've been thinking about donuts since she called. Of course, I picked up a dozen on my way to mutual. Here's the conversation that ensued:

Me: You can all thank Amber for the donuts.
Amanda: Why?
Me: Because she called me this afternoon to ask if we were making them today.
Amanda: I don't get it.
Me: Well, she asked about donuts and then that was all I could think about.
All the girls: Oooh! (laughing)
Me: I'm pregnant, you know, that's not nice.
Allie: I get it. So all we have to do is call you on Wednesday and say "hey is tonight the night we're making brownies or pizza or cookies" and you'll end up bringing them.
(more laughing)

Ah, yes. Those girls are such a riot. It's amazing how quickly they can learn when it involves food.

The Youth ROCK!!!

Wednesday is clearly now my favorite day of the week. I'm totally exhausted by the end of the evening, but it is all well worth it. I get to spend a couple of hours with the 12-18 year old girls (and sometimes boys) of our church doing any number of things. Last week we looked at the Personal Progress book to help the girls get on track spiritually, set goals with them, read scriptures, and increased our knowledge to help them pass off one experience in the book. This week was a whole 'nother story...

We had a combined activity with the boys, "Idaho Style". One of the leaders was from Idaho and she set us up to do a video scavenger hunt. We split into 2 teams and set off to record several silly tasks. Our group passed off 12/12 main tasks (only 10 were required) and a couple bonus tasks. It's not like I'm competitive or anything, but team me up with McKinnon and the other team doesn't have a chance! Here's a list of what we got on tape (all kids were required to do each task as a group):

• Introduce the group members and group name ("Holy Rollers")
• Sing the Oscar Meyer wiener song while holding a package of hot dogs
• Share an ice cream
• Buy exactly $.10 of gas
• Film a commercial outside of Blockbuster
• Help a stranger unload their groceries
• Make a train down a slide
• Roll down a hill
• Form a letter or symbol with your body, using all members of the group
• Get 2 strangers to sing YMCA with the group (this actually took quite a bit of convincing, we asked probably 5-6 people before we had any takers)
• Recite the Pledge of Allegiance while hanging from a tree
• Christmas Carol to someone in the ward
• Have an old couple kiss
• Hug a gas station attendant

It was HILARIOUS!!! We had a great group of kids with us, including one investigator who had never met any of us before. A little shy at times, they all got behind the fun of it and were game for it all. I wish I had been the gas station attendant, I would have felt the love.

I've got video proof if anyone want to see the footage.