Mark your calendars!

For a fun night!! On December 8th, there will be an Enrichment meeting at Sister Arlene Isenhour's home. It's going to be great! There will be several make-and-take crafts, some dancing, and lots of fellowshipping! If you can bring a finger food that is EASY to prepare (or store-bought) - but NOT stressed over or time-consuming, that would be wonderful. If not, come anyway and enjoy a little Christmas Spirit. Hope to see you there!

Here is the recipe for the yummy soup mix that some of the sisters put together as gifts on Wednesday night. It's called Texas Two-Step and it is DELICIOUS!!

(the ingredient amounts listed below make 1 batch - fills one pint-size canning jar - or quart if you keep the tortilla chips pretty big)

1 (1.61 ounce) package brown gravy mix (regular or no-fat)
2 tablespoons mild red chili powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
10 to 12 regular-size tortilla chips, coarsely crushed
1 to 2 cups uncooked small to medium-size pasta (such as
wheels, shells, macaroni)

Pour gravy mix into wide-mouth pint jar. In small bowl, stir together chili powder, oregano, cumin, onion and garlic salt. Pour into jar to make second layer. Add layers of tortilla chips and pasta to fill jar. Seal with lid. Attach gift tag (below) and decorate jar as desired.

Attach a gift tag with the following instructions:

Texas Two-Step Soup:

Brown 1/2 pound ground beef in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Add contents of jar and 7 cups water; heat to boiling. Stir in 1 (15 ounce) can corn with red and green bell peppers and 1 (16 ounce) can chopped tomatoes. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally.

Serve with crushed tortilla chips and shredded Monterey jack cheese, if desired.

Makes 8 servings.

October Newsletter

“May I invite you to rise to the great potential within you. Don’t set goals beyond your capacity. Don’t set goals beyond your capacity to achieve. Don’t feel guilty or dwell on thoughts of failure. Don’t compare yourself to others. Do the best you can, and the Lord will provide the rest. Have faith and confidence in Him, and you will see miracles happen in your life and the lives of your loved ones. The virtue of your own life will be a light to those who sit in darkness, because you are a living witness of the fullness of the gospel (see D&C 45:28). Wherever you have been planted on this beautiful but often troubled earth of ours, you can be the one to “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees” (D&C 81:5).
{Ensign, Sept. 2009]
-Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf

To read the whole newsletter copy and paste the address below into your web address line.

C:\Documents and Settings\joe\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.MSO\WordWebPagePreview\rs newsletter 10-09.htm

October Enrichment Meeting

On October 20th, we will be having a make-up/hair style enrichment meeting. It will start at 7pm. Please bring a finger food or snack.

On October 27th, we will be making the bows to go on top of the blocks. We need to know how many are interested so we can buy the supplies. The total cost will be approximately $10.00. We are limiting this activity to one block per sister. Please let Karen Holcomb, Linda Lockman, or Katie Guin know by Wednesday October 21st if you want to make one.

Primary Program

I should have posted this earlier in the week but sometimes life gets in the way. I want to personally thank the Primary Presidency and Teachers for the great job they are doing with all of our children. The program was EXCELLENT!!! It's always my favorite Sunday of the year and this year was no different. Statesville Ward has the best children in the world!!!!!!

General Relief Society Meeting

I hope you were all able to watch and enjoy the broadcast tonight. It is truly amazing how spiritually filled I feel after watching a broadcast from the church. Sis. Beck, Sis. Allred, and Sis. Thompson are truly called of God!! If you were not able to watch it, I hope you will be able to borrow a recording of it from another sister and/or read it in November's Ensign. A couple of interesting things said tonight are that Home, Family and Personal Enrichment Meetings will now be call simply "Relief Society Meetings" and they all emphasized the great importance of Visiting Teaching. It is a calling from God and we should all be fulfilling all of our callings but especially Visiting Teaching because it is the most personal of all callings. The less-active or inactive sisters really need us to help bring them back into the fold. What better way to do this than to valiantly do our Visiting Teaching. I will admit that I am not the best Visiting Teacher but after hearing the talks tonight, I am going to do better!!! (It's in writing now so I have to do it!!!)

Visiting Teaching Message September 2009

Understand and Live the Gospel of Christ

2 Nephi 31:12: "Follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do."

Sister Barbara Thompson, second counsler in the RS general presidency: "Sisters, now more than ever, we need women to step up and be strong. We need women who declare the truth with strength, faith, and boldness. We need women to set an example of righteousness. We need women to be 'anxiuosly engaged in a good cause.' We need to live so that our lives bear witness that we love our Heavenly Father and the Savior Jesus Christ and that we will do what They have asked us to do" ("Now Let Us Rejoice," Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2008, 116).

Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: "The plan of happiness is available to all of his children. If the world would embrace and live it, peace, joy, and plenty would abound on the earth. Much of the suffering we know today would be eliminated if people throughout the world would understand and live the gospel" ("Answers to Life's Questions," Ensign, May 1995, 23).

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