I would like to share this fun Relief Society Birthday Party idea that I put together for the Offenbach Ward. Maybe you can use it sometime in your ward. I called it
Recipes For Wisdom. It was a cooking demo class through the ages. On the long table, I laid out all of the cooking supplies for five recipes through the ages. The "cooks," dressed in period clothing, took turns telling their touching stories as they demonstrated how to make the recipes.
Included are the stories and recipes that I put together as "bouquet" handouts in the basket. We decorated with primroses. Afterwards, we enjoyed eating the foods from the recipes that had been demoed. Other sisters had prepared the food at home and brought it to share. There was a great spirit in the presentations, and we had an enjoyable and uplifting evening.
Recipes For Wisdom
2012 Relief Society Birthday Party
Story One: Elizabeth Revel (Emma Smith's Nurse ), Early Church History Era, USA (Sister Moore)
I knew Emma Smith very well. She lived almost thirty-five years after the martyrdom of her husband, Joseph Smith. I am Elizabeth Revel. I was her nurse in the last hours of her life. Surely only an elect lady could have written the words that she wrote in a letter to her husband Joseph, who was a prisoner in Liberty Jail:
"Was it not for … the direct interposition of divine mercy, I am very sure I never should have been able to have endured the scenes of suffering that I have passed through … but I still live and am yet willing to suffer more if it is the will of kind Heaven, that I should for your sake. … No one but God, knows the reflections of my mind and the feelings of my heart when I left our house and home, and almost all of everything that we possessed excepting our little children, and took my journey out of the State of Missouri, leaving you shut up in that lonesome prison.”
Our dear Emma. She was no stranger to loss and grief. She especially mourned the deaths of her three babies, yet her testimony endured to the end. A few months before she died, she bore her testimony, saying: “My belief is that the Book of Mormon is of divine authenticity. I have not the slightest doubt of it.” "I know Mormonism to be the truth; and believe the Church to have been established by divine direction.”
I was with Emma when she died. She seemed to sink away, but then she rose up and stretched out her hand, calling, “Joseph! Joseph! ,” just before she passed. A few days earlier Emma had told me that Joseph had come to her in a vision and said, “Emma . . .it is time for you to come with me.” “As Emma related it, she said, ‘I went with him into a mansion. One room was the nursery. In that nursery was a babe in the cradle. She said, ‘I knew my babe, my Don Carlos, that was taken from me.’ She sprang forward, caught the child up in her arms, and wept with joy over the child. Then she asked, ‘Joseph, where are the rest of my children.’ He said to her, ‘Emma, be patient and you shall have all of your children.’ Then she saw standing by his side a personage of light, even the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Recipe: Homemade Butter in a Jar
Shake your way to fresh butter and buttermilk.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
Heavy cream
A jar with a lid
Preparation:
1. Fill a jar halfway with heavy cream (baby food jars work great for small batches), and screw the lid on tight. Bring to room temperature.
2. Shake the jar up and down until the cream thickens and begins to stick together.
3. Then, open the jar, and pour any remaining liquid into another container; this is the buttermilk. Everything else is butter.
4. Knead the butter under cold running water for several minutes to work out any remaining buttermilk (otherwise the butter will spoil quickly).
5. Knead in salt, if desired.
6. Refrigerate.
Story Two: Elizabeth Simpson Bradshaw (English Sister on Martin Handcart Company)
Zion Exodus Era, England to USA (Sister McKee)
My name is Elizabeth Simpson Bradshaw, and I grew up in a beautiful home in England. I married well—twice in fact, but sadly, my husbands both died. I joined the Church in England, and because of persecution from my relatives and friends, I boarded the Horizon with my five children to set sail for America in May of 1856. I had a strong testimony of the gathering in Zion.
When we got on board the ship, I was terrified to see a row boat approaching with my two brothers. They came aboard and said to me, "Elizabeth, please don't take these little children at this time of the year and go to those God-forsaken Mormons and to such a despised place as Utah." They told me that if I would get off the boat, I would never want for anything, and they would gladly care for me and my children for the rest of our lives.
But a servant of the Lord had pronounced a blessing upon my head and promised that should I take all of my children to Zion, my posterity would never want for bread.
After six long weeks at sea, my little family arrived in Boston, Massachusetts. We went by train to Iowa. Then we packed our few belongings in a wooden handcart and joined with the Martin Handcart Company. We were prepared to walk the thirteen hundred miles across the United States to Utah. With unwavering faith, we started off, late in the season, but as severe storms bore down upon us, and as we watched our friends suffer and die, our hearts became heavy. Along the way, we buried fifteen brothers and sisters in one grave.
When we reached the banks of the Platte River, many of our company were too old and weak, or just too small to cross the river. I watched my oldest daughter, Sarah, just 19 years old, go back and forth across that icy river to carry sixteen people across. I took my youngest son, Richard, upon my shoulders and started to cross the river, but I was swept downstream. I could hear voices calling, "Let the boy go from your shoulders, or you will both be drowned.” I refused and struggled on. Finally I reached the steep bank on the opposite side. Others helped us out of the water, and I bore witness right then that God had protected and saved both of us.
But conditions only grew worse, and our food had to be rationed. My share of flour was one level pint per day for all six of us. Our clothing and shoes were in rags. We struggled on through the snow, wind, and storms, covering only a few miles a day. At last, to our great joy, we saw a team of men who had come to meet us—and they had brought food! They helped us get to Salt Lake City. We lived in a small log home, with a dirt floor, and sheepskin coverings on the beds to help keep us warm. But we had arrived—with all of my children safe! And never in my life had I been more grateful than to have a roof over our heads. I taught my children that even if they had but one piece of bread, to ask the blessing of the Lord and to thank him for it. For this was the Lord’s promise to me, that should I take all of my children to Zion, my posterity would never want for bread.
Recipe: No Knead Bread (2 Loaves)
Add 1 Tablespoon yeast and 1 Tablespoon sugar to 2 cups warm water. Let bubble.
In another bowl, mix 6 cups flour with 2 teaspoons salt
Add yeast mixture to flour mixture.(This will be a wet dough.)
Let rise in bowl until doubled.
Put on greased baking sheets (or glass pans) and let rise again until doubled.
Bake at 425 Degrees F. for 10 minutes.
Lower temperature to 375 Degrees F. for another 15 minutes.
Brush with butter.
Remove from pans with spatula while warm.
Story Three: Etheleen Shell, Depression Era, USA (Sister Dearing)
My name is Etheleen Shell. I grew up in a farming community in Mayfield, Utah, and we always had plenty. But the Great Depression changed that. I remember the day--October 29, 1929, when the U.S. stock market crashed. Utah was hit hard. Unemployment went to 36 percent, the fourth highest in the nation. One third of our banks went under. People were constantly in debt and lined up waiting for a bowl of broth or a piece of bread from a soup kitchen. A coke cost a nickel, but very few of us could afford that kind of luxury. To complicate things, we had a terrible drought with unusual high temperatures. Never before had so little rain fallen during a growing season. Soup was a common meal, as we could stretch it out to last several days. Shall we make some stone soup today--with a few vegetables?
I want to tell you how the Great Depression affected my life. Gifts that were once excitedly ripped open, were now carefully opened so the wrap could be used over again. A ball of string was made up of hundreds of shorter pieces tied together. We made skirts out of printed chicken feed sacks and flour sacks became our underwear. We put cardboard inside our shoes as we wore holes in them. One Christmas, the only gift for all eight of us was a white-frosted Christmas cake and an orange in our stockings.
I met my husband, Ken, on a blind date in 1936, and we got engaged at Christmas. There was no money for a stylish wedding. We found a tiny place to call home. Ken's mother helped us out. She would drop off a half pound of hamburger and a few potatoes on her way home from the market. That would be our dinner. The Depression was literally a depressing time, and it was easy for many to give up hope. But I lived through it and learned from it, which is true of any trial that comes into our lives. Want to know what I learned?
I learned not to be afraid of hard work. I had to get out and find my own way and not depend on others.
I learned how to raise my own food.
I learned to be grateful for the good things that came my way, like these vegetables grown in my garden.
My motto was: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without".
I saved everything.
I learned to appreciate the little things in life, and not to expect a whole lot.
I learned to trade things such as my sewing skills to get other things that we needed.
I learned to make household repairs.
I learn enough knowledge of medical care to take care of myself and my family.
I learned to watch over my neighbors and ask if there was anything that they needed or anything that I could do to help.
I learned how important it is to stay close to my family. I learned how important love is.
I came to know that life can be wonderful—that it is up to me to make it what it is.
But what really got me through, was staying close to the Lord. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn’t had the Gospel in my life. I learned how to pray with a contrite heart. I learned what it is to have real faith and trust in the Lord, no matter what my circumstances. I learned that God loves each of us and watches over us.
Times can be tough, but like you, I can be even tougher, as I rise to the challenge. Joseph Smith said, “Never be discouraged. If I were sunk in the lowest pits of Nova Scotia, with the Rocky Mountains piled on me, I would hang on, exercise faith, and keep up good courage, and I would come out on top.”
Recipe: Vegetable Soup
250 grams vegetables, your choice, chopped
300 grams potatoes, chopped
1 onion chopped
750 ml. chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Stir fry the vegetables in small amount of oil for five minutes.
Add chicken stock
Simmer until ready to eat.
Story Four: Elisabeth Roegner, Post World War II Era, Germany (Sister Blacoe)
I am my mother Elisabeth Roegner. I was born in Stettin Germany which is now Poland. In the closing months of World War II, Stettin became one of the last cities of defense on the Russian front. Women and children had to leave. I could not go with my family as they left. I was in the weather service and had to leave with them. All we tried is to go West away from the advancing Russian tanks and the American and British fighter planes, bombing us from the sky.
We reached the British occupied area of Germany which was North Germany, and we were happy when soon after that the war ended. But then of course, Germany got divided, and the rest of my family was in the Russian zone in East Germany. Because I was so homesick for my family, I went all by myself the long way to Weimar to find them. I hitchhiked or walked until I finally got there. When my mother saw me, her mouth stayed open wide, as if she had seen a ghost. For a long time she had believed me dead, because she was told I was killed. She was so shocked and almost took a heart attack. Then of course we were so happy to be together and thanked God again and again that nothing terrible had happened to either of us girls making our way to our mother. The wall was not up yet, but there was a so called green border through the woods, and the Russians with their big dogs tried to arrest or kill anybody they could find there.
We always tried to find work at a farm or in a hospital kitchen in order to be able to be paid in food which we could take home to our mom. That is how we survived those terrible hard times. Also, we tried to live in places where the church was. That is where I met and married my husband. We then moved to Magdeburg, where his parents lived. In the year 1959, we tried to escape to West Germany. My husband was a school teacher under the East German government. When he was seen playing the organ at church, they threatened him that he would lose his job. That was the sign for us to try to escape in order also to bring up our three children in the gospel in freedom. We came up with a plan that my husband would take the eight-year-old son, and I would take the three-year-old twins. We pretended to go to different places by train and later meet up in West Berlin. One time I was caught, and ended up in jail with my twins. The next morning I had to swear an oath that I never wanted to leave the East zone and could go home again. Two weeks later, we tried it again, and this time we succeeded. We then had to go to a refugee camp and had to survive many trials there. But finally we ended up in Hannover and started a normal life in the West.
I know with all my heart that Heavenly Father protected us and put opportunities in our way so that we could become a free family and enjoy the blessings of His Church in full measure. I am very, very thankful!
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Recipe: Sister Blacoe’s Cherry Cake
120 gram soft Butter or Margarine
125 gram sugar
3 eggs
Pinch of salt
4 drops of lemon oil
200 grams flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 Tablespoons Milk
The dough will be baked in a round spring pan (26 cm diameter). Oil the bottom, but not the sides and fill the pan with the dough. Then add the contents of a jar of cherries on top without any liquid.
Bake at 175 C for 40-50 minutes
Story Five: Modern Day Era, USA (Sister Colton)
In my marriage, I gladly gave myself to living the Lord’s plan thinking that my first husband was hanging on to the iron rod as I was. But I was to discover that my husband had been hiding a dark secret and living a private, separate life of drug and pornography addiction. If I had known what was coming, I would have turned around and run the other way. But no such second sight--there was no reversing the course. This was something I had to walk through.
My devastating divorce turned my whole world from color to black and white. I was so sad. Sometimes it was hard to imagine a world of vivid color: the brilliant gold and deep greens and sky blue. It was hard to believe I would ever feel that much happiness, or ever see such color again. But I held onto that memory…took it out and dusted it off occasionally, just to remind me what it had been like…before—and to hold it out as something that could happen again.
I had been a stay-at-home mom of 6 kids, and was feeling totally unqualified in my late forties to reenter the work force. All of these realities would sink in and I would suddenly find my heart rate increasing, my breathing speeding up, and my mind freezing. I went back to work as a teacher. I don't know what I would have done without a special sister in the gospel, who had also experienced a divorce. She buoyed me up when I felt like I was going under.
Because of the divorce, I lost my beautiful home. I closed the door to my home and my once happy life. But I continued to hold fast to the iron rod, and as you know, the Lord blessed me and my children. Something wonderful did happen. Dave came into our lives, and what a joy and blessing he is. All I can say is "and they lived happily ever after."
Victor Hugo said: "Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake."
Recipe: Egg and Cheese Casserole
4 c. day old bread (cut into bite-sized pieces)
2 cups shredded cheese
2 1/2 cups milk
10 Eggs
1 t. dry mustard or ½ t. wet mustard
¼ t. onion powder or 1/8 c. grated onion
Salt and pepper to taste
Grease 9 x 13 pan. Place bread in bottom and sprinkle with cheese. Beat eggs with milk, onions, and spices. Pour over cheese. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 325 Degrees F.
Bake for one hour.
