If It's Thursday, This Must Be Eatontown

This teacher enjoys teaching AWESOME YSA!

West African Missionaries Sing "Called to Serve"

 

The man who recorded this was in Ghana doing research on how drums and rhythm are used in traditional practices and shamanism, according to an article at Millenial Star. As the poster in that article says, with respect to the Book of Mormon musical, this is a taste of real LDS missionaries in Africa.

Pathway Program

In addition to teaching Institute, these two wonderful
CES specialists oversee 20 Pathway students in NJ.

June 2011
In partnership with Institutes of Religion of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brigham Young University–Idaho has introduced Pathway, a program that will give young adults opportunities in higher education regardless of where they live or where they may ultimately obtain their degree.

“Historically, we’ve brought students from around the world to BYU–Idaho,” said Rob Eaton, associate academic vice president for academic development at the university. “Pathway, on the other hand, brings BYU–Idaho to the students. For those who can’t come here or aren’t ready to come, it can be a blessing.”

Combining BYU–Idaho’s innovative online courses with the resources of local institutes, Pathway is currently operating at 24 sites—one in Ghana, one in Mexico, and 22 in the United States. Tentative plans to introduce additional sites worldwide are in place, said Andy Cargal, BYU–Idaho news services manager. The current goal, pending approval from the board of trustees, is to introduce 10 new sites each year as the program grows.

BYU–Idaho has created over 100 online courses for the program and plans to create an additional 500 in the next few years.

Because Pathway targets students not already enrolled in college, the first year of the program—called Academic Start—helps provide students with the skills and confidence they need to succeed in college. Of the students who have participated in Pathway, 95 percent feel more optimistic about their ability to provide for their families or future families, according to a Pathway student survey.

During Academic Start, students gather each week at an institute building under the direction of a volunteer Church service missionary couple. While the couple does not provide formal instruction, they do help facilitate weekly discussions regarding student coursework.

To be eligible to participate in Pathway, students need to have completed high school or obtained a GED or other high school equivalency certificate. Students take only two courses per semester during Academic Start, allowing them to work full time while participating in the program.

Students who successfully complete Academic Start with at least a B average may matriculate as BYU–Idaho students online and may take as many or as few courses as they like. They can earn a certificate (consisting of roughly five specialized classes), an associate’s degree, or even a bachelor’s degree—all online.

Students may also choose to transfer to BYU–Idaho’s main campus in Rexburg, Idaho, USA, or to another college at any time after completing Academic Start.

Acronyms and Initials

Not the best photograph, but, trust me,
THE BEST chocolate cake we've had in a long time!
Thanks, Betsy! You never disappoint!

(This mission, we are called as "CES" specialists. "CES" is shorthand for Church Education System. However, "CES" may have alternate definition...Cooking EVERY Session! Who knew we needed to pack our cookbooks, Kitchen Aid mixer, baking tools and supplies as well as our scriptures to serve in New Jersey?!?!?!)

Cherry Chocolate Cake
Cake:
1 chocolate cake mix, any brand
2 eggs
1 can cherry pie filling
(MB adds: 1 Tbs cinnamon and 1 tsp nutmeg)
Stir together dry cake mix, eggs, cherry pie filling (and cinnamon and nutmeg, if desired) until all is moistened and eggs are completely mixed in. Pour into greased 10" spring form pan. Bake at 325 degrees F between 40-60 minutes, depending on electric or gas oven, or until cake springs back from touch and is beginning to pull away from sides of pan.
Frosting:
2 1/2 Tablespoons butter 
3 Tablespoons milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips (the good ones!)
Bring first three ingredients to boil. Boil and stir one minute. Remove from heat. Add chocolate chips. Stir until chocolate is melted. Pour on cake while both cake and frosting are still hot. (MB poked holes in top of cake so frosting could flow deeper! ;)

The Bible in 50 Words

God made

Adam bit
Noah arked
Abraham split
Joseph ruled
Jacob fooled
Bush talked
Moses balked
Pharaoh plagued
People walked
Sea divided
Tables guided
Promise landed
Saul freaked
David peeked
Prophets warned
Jesus born
God walked
Love talked
Anger crucified
Hope died
Love rose
Spirit flamed
Word spread
God remained

Toms River Chapel

Today we attended Church at the Toms River Chapel. We met several new young single adults who we encouraged to attend Institute on Thursday evenings at Eatontown about 20 miles or 30-45 minutes commute.

(FYI: Toms River is about 90 minutes from our apt. We passed Six Flags, Fort Dix and McGuire AFB on the drive toward the Jersey Shore.)

Historical plaque found in lobby of Toms River building.

For years I've served in the Primary held at same time as Relief Society.

Today when the Toms River sisters stood and read this statement

of sisterhood and womanhood together, I got a little teary-eyed

thinking of all our potential in the eyes of God.

This brand new book was handed out by the Toms River
Bishop and Relief Society President today after our meetings.

It tells of the history and work of the Relief Society--the oldest
and largest women's organization in the world.

Bayonne Outing



Today we met other senior missionaries and our Mission Pres and his wife
at tiny Bayonne Branch. (Branch bldg inside ends about where last window is center right.
Majority of bldg belongs to QuickChek convenience store.)

Bayonne senior missionary couple arranged a potato bar with all the trimmings.

We ate in multi-purpose room which also serves as chapel.

Tear Drop Memorial from Russian people located at
Bayonne's Harbor View Park celebrates victims of 9/11/01.
 It is 100-foot tall bronze tower with jagged split down middle
 and 40-foot-long stainless steel teardrop suspended in gap.
 It stands on 11-sided slab of black marble carved with names
 of every person who died in Sept 11th attack, as well as victims
 of 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Brightly lit memorial
 is visible at night from Statue of Liberty, Battery Park,
 and Staten Island Ferry as well as other locations around Hudson River.

Do Things Cost More in the East?

One gallon of generic skim milk cost $4.39 in NJ.

One gallon of generic skim milk costs $2.33 in Utah.

Fall Semester Begins at YSA Institutes



Learning a lot immersing ourselves in the scriptures!
Read your scriptures EVERY day!

Lesson One for new semester: Plan of Happiness

Faithful and faith-filled Eatontown YSA: Violeta, Enzo, Luis & Laura
(Interesting fact to us about this photo:
young woman on right was touring Peru when our daughter was there--
they didn't meet but interesting coincidence, don't you think--
and young man on left is from Peru.)

Princeton YSA: Shirene, Bro Bean, Elder S, Holly

Elder S teaching lesson one: Plan of Happiness

Miguel, Jessi, Bryan, Adam & Elder S

28 days in NJ and enjoying every minute!

Alternative Rootbeer in the East

Birch beer is a carbonated soft drink made from herbal extracts, usually from birch bark. It has a taste similar to rootbeer. Various types of birch beer are available, distinguished by color. The color depends on the species of birch tree from which the sap is extracted (though enhancements via artificial coloring are not uncommon). Popular colors include brown, red, purple and clear (often called white birch beer), though others are possible. After the sap is collected, it is distilled to make birch oil. The oil is added to the carbonated drink to give it the distinctive flavor. Black birch is the most common source of extract. In the dairy country of southeastern and central Pennsylvania, an ice cream soda made with vanilla ice cream and birch beer is called a Birch Beer float, while chocolate ice cream and birch beer makes a Black Cow. Alcoholic birch beer, in which the birch sap is fermented rather than reduced to an oil, has been known in the region from at least the mid-nineteenth century. This drink is most commonly found in the Northeastern US and Newfoundland in Canada.

Side Benefit of Being Missionaries

Our new friends in East Brunswick Stake surprised us
with garden produce last night--check out the bag of basil leaves
and green cherry tomatoes! Thanks, Jeanean

Thanks, Rick! Figs and white eggplant and yummy tomatoes
and green peppers and zucchini....

Speaking of zucchini--check out this one! Like a green swan!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
We LOVE fresh veggies!!

Jughandles

In Jersey, you don't turn left from a center lane. You turn left using a "jughandle" which is like an right exit ramp BEFORE the intersection where you want to turn left. It's confusing to a touristo causing locals to honk. (How rude! Check out my license plate!) Apparently, New Jersey isn't the only state using "jughandles"--Connecticut, Delaware, DC, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, NY, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Vermont--but Jersey is particularly associated with them.

THE T-Shirts Are Ready!

We are counting our blessings this morning as we took our daily walk around the neighborhood! Many, many downed trees. (Trees have shallow roots here because this part of USA gets lots more moisture than other parts.) Also, neighborhood run off basins that collect excess rain were not draining properly due to excess dirt mixed with water. Sadly, wet carpeting was piled at curbside in front of many homes--obviously many basements flooded. Household drainage pipes were spewing water into street gutters.

We were only without power 11 hours. The news is saying Irene caused worst floods in 100 years!







Thank you, Betsy, for t-shirt title!

Social Media Experiment

This lovely young sister missionary is involved in something very exciting! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a pilot program where a few missionaries have a Facebook page and a blog about their missions. Only 4 missions in the whole Church have been asked to participate and this young sister's mission is one of them. Check out "Hermana Anderson"  and her blog. (FYI: Family members are not allowed to "friend" missionaries on Facebook and are not allowed to make comments on missionary blogs.) Social media tools can spread the gospel message.

(This is the daughter of a dear friend we knew in Denver 25 years ago.)

Daily Scripture Reading

Our CES Director asked us to pass this around with our Institute class attendance rolls to see how are students are doing on their DAILY SCRIPTURE READING.

This reminded me of an encounter I had on our first mission. We were street proselyting in Malta. I asked a man passing by if he read his Bible. His reply: "Oh, yes. I have a Bible in my living room and one by my bedside." I asked again: "Do you read it?" He said: "My wife dusts it every so often." I asked a third time: "But do you READ your Bible?" He confessed: "My priest said he would tell me what I need to know." In my mind, I visualized this son of Heavenly Father standing before His Savior at the end of his earthly life and beginning of his eternal life saying this same thing.

B Basic

I Instructions

B Before

L Leaving

E Earth

Words to Live By

Hurricane Irene

As you can see from the Weather Channel's projected path map, HURRICANE IRENE will be a dangerous Category 3 hurricane as it tracks toward the East Coast this weekend. Weather Channel warns: "Anyone in corridor from eastern North Carolina to Northeast US should be preparing for a hurricane!" Yikes!!! This is the 1st tropical storm/hurricane watch of the season! Please let this one be mild and the "season" be short! FYI: Our elevation is 131 feet above sea level.

Happy Birth Day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Youth is the gift of nature

but age is a work of art.

-Garson Kanin, US playwright and director

Cherish all your happy moments;
they make a fine cushion for old age.
-Booth Tarkington, US novelist and dramatist

3 Principles Governing Discussion of Religious Beliefs

The following from the Church News quoting Brother Daniel Peterson, an Islamic Studies professor at BYU:

Brother Peterson closed with the story about the prominent New Testament scholar Krister Stendahl, who was Lutheran bishop in Stockholm, Sweden, in the early 1980s when construction of an LDS temple was announced in that city. "As commonly happens when Mormons build a temple, there was complaining, puzzlement and some opposition among the local people. The now-deceased Bishop Stendahl, who had Latter-day Saint friends and had visited Brigham Young University, reacted dramatically and quite unexpectedly."
The Lutheran bishop called a press conference and held it in an LDS stake center. There, he outlined for the Swedish press three principles that should govern discussions of the religious beliefs of other people:
1. If you want to know what others believe, ask them. Don't ask their critics or enemies.
2. Compare your best with their best, not their worst with your best.
3. Always leave room for "holy envy."
"Regarding Mormons and their temples, Bishop Stendahl suggested baptism for the dead as an object of 'holy envy,'" Brother Peterson recounted. The Swedish bishop lamented, "We Lutherans do nothing for our dead."
"At a minimum, observing Krister Stendahl's three principles would eliminate much of the religious strife in a world that is growing ever smaller and more interdependent and that can no longer afford such conflict," Brother Peterson remarked.

It Costs to Use Public Beaches in New Jersey

The idea behind a 1955 state law to charge "reasonable fees" to use New Jersey beaches was that towns could "provide facilities and safeguards for public bathing and recreation," including lifeguards. Some beach-goers say what's "reasonable" to some is not reasonable to others. (To a westener, it seems bizarre to have to PAY to use a beach!!)

Garbage Disposals Illegal in Townships

Garbage disposals are illegal in some New Jersey townships. In fact, use of illegal disposal units face lifetime ban on getting city water. Older pipes that serve many villages tend to have so much sludge and scaling in their waste lines that additional ground-up waste produced by garbage disposal can result in clots, back-ups, overflows and property damage. (FYI: We do NOT have a garbage disposal in our apartment.)


Illegal to Pump Own Gas in New Jersey

The Garden State is one of two states where it's illegal to fill 'er up yourself. Only gas station owners or employees can pump gas in New Jersey and Oregon. New Jersey passed the law making it illegal to pump your own gas in 1949. At the time, legislators felt it was too dangerous to have untrained people dispensing such a flammable liquid. Opponents of the law argue that removing it would lower cost of gas and make refueling much quicker and convenient. Proponents of the ban argue that it creates jobs and customers like full service.

Earthquake

Around 1:51 p.m. EST, there was a 5.9 magnitude earthquake in Louisa, Virginia; it rattled windows to the north in New York City as well as to the south in North Carolina.

My companion felt a slight wobbling of table at which he was sitting. I was oblivious as I was making treats for Institute tonight in the kitchen.

Apparently, earthquakes don't happen much here. I hope that remains a true fact!

How Did We Manage Before GPS?

How did we manage our way out and about when we lived in the East in the late 1980's?

I am daily grateful for our navigation system or global positioning system (GPS) as we dash from one appointment to the next! Still, after 3 weeks, I am confused which direction we are going as the streets meander through densely wooded areas and unfamiliar landmarks!

Google Earth is also very helpful as we sometimes have to look into which route to take before we leave the apartment.

Gourmet Gal

Cream Puffs (makes 12 large or 20 med or 35 or more small)

1 cup water

½ cup butter or margarine (1 stick)

¼ tsp salt

1 cup sifted flour

4 large eggs

Whipped cream (1 pint liquid)

Powdered sugar or chocolate sauce for topping

Directions:

1) In sauce pan, heat water, butter and salt to full rolling boil. Reduce heat

and quickly stir in flour and salt, mixing vigorously with wooden spoon until

mixture leaves sides of pan in a “ball”. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

2) Place mixture in mixing bowl, add eggs one at a time on medium speed

until batter is smooth (after each). Mix on slightly higher speed after all are

added, about 30 seconds.

3) Drop by spoonfuls on greased cookie sheets or squeeze through pastry

tube in any shape about 3” apart. Bake at 400^o for 10 min then 350^o for 20-30

min according to size. Puffs are don when golden brown and firm.

4) Remove; slice each puff and return to turned off oven for about 10 min.

When cool fill with whipped cream or other filling. Top with powdered sugar

or chocolate sauce.

5) Refrigerate if not serving immediately.

(Our hostess coated top chocolate ganache and nuts which made this

dessert even more decadent!!!)

We braved a "gully-washer" last night to attend a young single adult family home evening and our reward was an AMAZING meal!

The hostess was not only beautiful AND smart but she could have her own cooking show on the Food Network!?!?!

After a thoughtful message from Jeff, we concluded the evening by playing "What If". So fun!

Thank you, CF!

Bruschetta

Topping: 2 cups Roma tomatoes, seeded, diced. (Romas don’t get mushy.)

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp fresh basil

1 ½ Tbsp Bermuda red onion, diced

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced through garlic press

Salt & pepper to taste

Bread:

¼ cup olive oil

2 garlic cloves, pressed (bruised) with back of knife

8 oz cream cheese or goat cheese

1) Warm (sauté) olive oil and garlic 1 min. Brush oil on top of sliced baguette

bread and place in 400^o oven for 10-15 min until toasted.

2) Spread each slice with cream cheese or goat cheese before spooning

tomato mixture on top. Sprinkle with fresh grated Parmesan.

Grilled Lemon Chicken Ina Garten (serves 8-10)

¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (4 lemons)

¾ cup good olive oil

2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbsp minced fresh thyme leaves (1/2 tsp dried)

2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, halved and skin removed

Directions:

1) Whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme.

Pour over chicken breasts in nonreactive bowl. Cover and marinate

in refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight.

2) Heat charcoal grill and cook chicken breasts for 10 min on each side,

until just cooked through. Cool slightly and cut diagonally in ½” thick slices.

Skewer with wooden sticks.

Satay Dip (makes 1 ½ cups)

1 Tbsp good olive oil

1 Tbsp dark sesame oil

2/3 cup small-diced red onion (1 small onion)

1 ½ tsp minced garlic (2 cloves)

1 ½ tsp minced fresh ginger root

¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 Tbsp good red wine vinegar

¼ cup light brown sugar, packed

2 Tbsp soy sauce

½ cup smooth peanut butter

¼ cup ketchup

2 Tbsp dry sherry

1 ½ tsp freshly squeezed lime juice

Directions:

1) Cook olive oil, sesame oil, red onion, garlic, ginger root, and red pepper

flakes in small, heavy-bottomed pot on medium heat until onion is transparent,

10-15 min. Whisk in vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, peanut butter, ketchup, sherry,

and lime juice; cook for 1 more min. Cool and use as dip for

Grilled Lemon Chicken skewers.

(Note: dip will last 1 month in refrigerator.)

Watermelon and Cantaloupe Salad with Mint Vinaigrette Giada De Laurentiis

1 bunch fresh mint, chopped

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 cup simple syrup, recipe follows

1/8 tsp almond extract

2 cups watermelon balls, from half a watermelon

2 cups cantaloupe balls, from about 1 cantaloupe

1) In blender, combine mint, lime juice, simple syrup, and

almond extract. Blend until smooth.

2) In large bowl, combine watermelon and cantaloupe. Add

vinaigrette and toss. Transfer to serving bowl and serve.

Simple Syrup (yields 1 cup): ½ cup water and 1 cup sugar

1) In saucepan, combine water and sugar over medium heat.

Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 min, until sugar

has dissolved. Take pan off heat and cool syrup. Any extra cooled

syrup can be saved in airtight container in ‘frig’.

1st YSA Engagement

Forgot to mention:
After teaching our Wednesday night YSA Institute class,
Christian asked Brittany to marry him.
Do we get credit for this? : )

1st YSA Wedding

Yesterday we attended the first young single adult (YSA) wedding of our mission. The bride is a Jersey girl. At our Tuesday night Institute class, she enthusiastically invited us to her wedding although she had just met us. We smiled at her happiness--actually glee! The groom came to NJ for a construction job. He is a recently baptized member of our Church. He hails from Colorado City, Utah. We met at least 10 of his family members. It was a VERY interesting collection of guests and relatives!

Mormons: Not Necessarily Who You Think They Are

A substantial accumulation of polling data over the years has given us a pretty clear picture of current public perceptions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Among the most consistent, top-of-mind impressions is that of a Utah church with a heavily Caucasian membership.

Naturally, Utah will always be associated with the church, as its global headquarters and the place which provided refuge way back in the mid-1800s when a less friendly America forced the fledgling faith to uproot from Illinois and Missouri and move West. Today, Utah and the surrounding states of the intermountain West still claim the heaviest concentrations of Latter-day Saints, and provide substantial support to the church’s missionary efforts and other church programs.

But the popular picture of a predominantly Utah faith with mostly Caucasian members no longer holds up. The church’s demographics are changing rapidly, especially throughout the western hemisphere. What was once, by and large, an American church is now a genuinely international faith. Today there are more Mormons outside the U.S. than in it. Today, Mormons are Bolivians, Ghanaians, Koreans and Russians, all an integral part of the church family.

Membership is measured on the basis of a member baptized into the faith, for whom we have a formal membership record. So if we took the church’s 14 million people and statistically represented that whole body as a single congregation of 100, what would it look like?

A snapshot of the church’s membership in the 1980 shows a heavy concentration of members in the United States, a largely homogenous group showing 73 of our 100 statistical members in the U.S. and Canada. Sixteen were Latin Americans, three were Asians, three were from Oceania, five were from Europe, and Africans comprised less than one.

Graphic via Lds.org

By 2010 we see a quite different picture as the church grew from a membership of just over four and a half million to more than fourteen million over that period. In our hypothetical worldwide congregation of 100, only 48 now live throughout the U.S. and Canada; three are Africans and seven are from Asia. Three still are Oceanians. But a remarkable thirty-six of the hundred now hail from Latin America.

 

Graphic via Lds.org

With global expansion have come associated challenges of diverse languages. Missionary training centers around the world now prepare missionaries to teach Christ-centered principles of the church in a bewildering array of tongues. The Book of Mormon, which members use as a companion to the Bible, has been fully translated into 82 languages and partially into 25 more, and more translations are underway. Sri Lankans can read it in their native Sinhala, and it’s also available in Twi, so Ghanaians can too. Again, a glance at a graphic illustration is the easiest way to grasp its significance.

Graphic via Lds.org

It’s fun to play with graphics, but behind the numbers are real people of incredible cultural and ethnic diversity. Many of their stories are told in person on mormon.org. It all seems a long way from 1830 when the church was organized from a tiny and obscure group of believers in a New York hamlet.

By Michael Otterson is head of public affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Kind Words Never Die

A kind word is never lost.
It keeps going on, from one person to another,
until it comes back to you again.

Oh, Deer!



While speaking with our daughter on the phone this morning,
I happened to glance out our window....

....and what did I spy?                                                                  

A BUCK (deer)!!
We've seen many, many deer gathered on lawns in neighborhoods
throughout NJ! Apparently, this is a common sight in NJ
as there are few natural predators.

This lucky homeowner can boast COWS on her front lawn!