We decided to give the students a taste of Cafe Rio for our Friday Forum. It is hard to believe that a cultural institution in good ol' Utah is unheard of by most of the country and world. I think it was a hit! We did black beans, sweet pork, lime cilantro rice, tomatillo dressing and cornbread with honey butter. We topped off the meal with mock fried ice cream and the ever delectable caramel almond sauce. Most of the students have never heard of Karo (pronounced Ka-long a -ro-long o). It is used in both the ice cream coating and the almond sauce. I like it that I can keep them guessing.
We have instituted a new offering of Wednesday bread. That means every Wednesday I come up with some kind of bread to serve all day long as students come in to the institute. Last Wednesday I did banana bread. I think this week I will do Nutella cinnamon rolls, but. . that is not the bread of life referred to in the title.
One of the sweetest experiences I have had so far happened on Wednesday when our lesson was on Lehi's dream and the tree of life. In the morning as I was preparing to leave I was thinking about the tree of life and then my mind turned to the temple and I had some of those ah-ha moments when I experienced another level of understanding.
I am so impressed and touched by these students. Over half of the young people we work with are fairly recent converts and most of them are the only member in their families--kind of like our dear Luci. We had a very insightful discussion and I wish I had sat down to write this post immediately after teaching when it was all fresh in my mind, but I loved the comment from one student about Nephi's own quest for understanding. From Lehi we have a synopsis of the dream, from Nephi we get a look into the whole plan of salvation. In 1 Nephi 11:25, Nephi is told the meaning of the fountain of living waters and then he sees John the Baptist baptizing Jesus. I love that he saw the future of not only the Savior, but also of his own posterity. We talked about how the Book of Mormon is a constant witness of Jesus Christ. Did you know that in the Book of Mormon Index, there are 11 pages of references to Jesus Christ in all of His different roles? I love that Jesus is the tree of life and the bread of life, that the fruit of that tree is white beyond all whiteness, sweet beyond anything we have ever tasted, desirable above all else. That is why we are here in Texas, not just to serve the bread of baking but to hopefully serve the bread of Life to these students we are learning to love.
We have instituted a new offering of Wednesday bread. That means every Wednesday I come up with some kind of bread to serve all day long as students come in to the institute. Last Wednesday I did banana bread. I think this week I will do Nutella cinnamon rolls, but. . that is not the bread of life referred to in the title.
One of the sweetest experiences I have had so far happened on Wednesday when our lesson was on Lehi's dream and the tree of life. In the morning as I was preparing to leave I was thinking about the tree of life and then my mind turned to the temple and I had some of those ah-ha moments when I experienced another level of understanding.
I am so impressed and touched by these students. Over half of the young people we work with are fairly recent converts and most of them are the only member in their families--kind of like our dear Luci. We had a very insightful discussion and I wish I had sat down to write this post immediately after teaching when it was all fresh in my mind, but I loved the comment from one student about Nephi's own quest for understanding. From Lehi we have a synopsis of the dream, from Nephi we get a look into the whole plan of salvation. In 1 Nephi 11:25, Nephi is told the meaning of the fountain of living waters and then he sees John the Baptist baptizing Jesus. I love that he saw the future of not only the Savior, but also of his own posterity. We talked about how the Book of Mormon is a constant witness of Jesus Christ. Did you know that in the Book of Mormon Index, there are 11 pages of references to Jesus Christ in all of His different roles? I love that Jesus is the tree of life and the bread of life, that the fruit of that tree is white beyond all whiteness, sweet beyond anything we have ever tasted, desirable above all else. That is why we are here in Texas, not just to serve the bread of baking but to hopefully serve the bread of Life to these students we are learning to love.
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| Cafe Rio |
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| This is an outside view of our Institute building. It is on the edge of campus |
We look forward to your weekly updates. Is Neil writing a separate blog?
ReplyDeleteThose students are the luckiest to have you two there! And not just for Cafe Rio deliciousness and your amazing cinnamon rolls :) Love you!!
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