5 Things We Love About Elder Gong

Today I am delighted to share a family video: 5 Things We Love About Elder Gong.

This has been an ongoing family project for over a month.
I read everything I could find about Elder Gong, from his conference talks to his writer profile on Goodreads,* each biographical sketch the Ensign ever published, an old interview in The Friend as well as the fun biographical sketches shared in the New Era and Friend this year.
I noticed my children most connected with the "fun" stories we found about him.

1. We love Elder Gong's family. His grandparents immigrated from China. His parents were married three times: a Chinese ceremony for family, an American ceremony for friends, and later, when Gerrit Gong was a young child, they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple.
2. We love that he has traveled all over the world. How many people do you know who have visited all seven continents? Elder Gong has. He has traveled the world for diplomacy, spreading the gospel, and family trips. Antarctica? I guess that was just for fun.
3. We love his sense of fun. Once, he asked cheerleaders to perform silent cheers for the chess team. Another time, when he was filling out an application to become a Rhodes Scholar, he listed tree climbing as an athletic ability. 
4. Elder Gong is smart. Not only did he attend Oxford University, but as a Boy Scout, he learned morse code. When he was a missionary in Taiwan, he felt inspired to write a note to an investigator in morse code. It turned out the investigator was a radio operator, and was delighted to receive the personalized message.
5. We love that he sang in conference. Some people barely have the courage to speak in public. In the April 2018 conference, Elder Gong didn't just speak with confidence and courage, he sang.

REFERENCES

• Elder Gong shared his family's story in his October 2010 conference talk, "Temple Mirrors of Eternity: A Testimony of Family."
• As a seventy, Elder Gong shared his memory of being sealed to his parents in an article in The Friend magazine.
• A photograph of Elder Gong with penguins in Antarctica (and another of him serving ice cream to missionaries) is in the August 2018 New Era.
• On the final page of that issue, there was a biographical infographic of Elder Gong.
• The morse code story is found in a biographical sketch the Ensign published when he was called to the Presidency of the Seventy. 
• He sang on Easter Sunday in the April 2018 LDS General Conference

*His published works appear to be of a professional and philosophical nature on the topic of diplomacy.

Get Prepared with Me: Tropical Storm 2018

September and October are the peak of hurricane season for the Atlantic Ocean (Northern hemisphere). The last few years we have had a stormy General Conference weekend. That was on my mind last week when I bought a few extra containers of water at the store.

Apparently, it was just in time. 

By Monday, we were facing a 10% chance of hurricane force winds in our area by the end of the week. My husband helped me move the lawn furniture into the garage and ordered an adaptor for our camp stove.  On Tuesday I topped off the gas tank, withdrew cash from an ATM (the latter two in case of a prolonged power outage), and the adaptor for the camp stove was delivered. It will allow us to use the big propane tank to power our little two burner camp stove. I hadn't realized how much I was counting on it, but I didn't truly feel prepared until it came.

In this video I talk through some preparedness considerations and meals I can cook without power.

This stack of totes shows some of our layers of food preparation.

The first bin has granola bars, pretzels, crackers, and other snacks that need no preparation. This is our evacuation bin. If we chose to evacuate, I would want to put a couple hundred miles behind us before pulling over for anything.

The contents of this bin will be rotated within the next few weeks as we use some of the food for our next temple trip.

The next bin has some lunch or dinner foods that I can prepare quickly with boiled water:
Ramen
Angel Hair Pasta-roni
Stove Top Stuffing
Not in the bin, but also in the house is canned soup, as well as a lot of peanut butter.

 The last bin includes breakfast foods I can make on our camp stove. I love that you don't even need to dirty a pot to make instant oatmeal and hot chocolate. You just need to boil water.
We have a griddle that attaches to our camp stove. It doesn't do the best job at pancakes, but if a power outage lasted more than a couple of days, it would be nice to have something to eat besides oatmeal.

 Lastly, I have Dutch oven supplies (don't worry, I know to go outside and not use charcoal inside where it would use up the oxygen). The only Dutch oven dish our family has perfected and looks forward to is a dump cake of sorts. If the neighborhood gathered to clean out their freezers on the barbecue, I could contribute dessert.

Update: The storm moved to the south, so we have had a blessedly boring week. Most of these supplies are going to be saved in the cupboard for the next storm that threatens to blow through.

Blog Posts Coming Soon:

5 Things We Love about Elder Gong (video)

A Peek into Our Weekly Family Council

5 Things We Love about Elder Soares (video)

Conversation Topics for a Week of Family Dinners

This summer I read The Secrets of Happy Families, by Bruce Feiler. In his chapter on family dinners, he suggested that what is even more important than sharing food is sharing conversation. That means making an effort to say more than "please pass the potatoes."

That's easier said than done. By the time I get dinner on the table and herd the family to it, it takes willpower to add a "please" to my "pass." Then there are the children. Have you ever asked a child what they learned at school today? Some children will start talking and just won't stop. Mine will reply dismissively by saying, "nothing."

So what do you say at the dinner table?

Feiler suggested that you have a different topic or theme for each day of the week, much like many families will assign tacos to Tuesdays. 

I read through his ideas, and decided to make up my own. It went something like this:

Sunday

Food: We break bread. Dinner rolls, challah bread, and sometimes stromboli are the anchor of our Sunday dinners.

Talk: An adult begins with "I'm thinking of a ____ who _____." The children guess who the person could be. On Sundays we focus on family and church, so this is usually a story about a family member, scripture hero, or prominent church leader. It helps to pay attention in Sunday School.

Examples:

I'm thinking of a grandparent who attended Olympus High School.

I'm thinking of a Biblical prophet who had to run away from a wicked queen.

Monday

Food: Meatless Monday. This is a great day to rotate our food storage by using vegetarian recipes like lentil chili or Brazilian black beans and rice.

Talk: What are you reading? 

I've found that not everyone is in the middle of a good book, but those who are enjoying telling everyone all about it.

Tuesday

Food: Taco Tuesday. When appropriate, leftovers from Monday will appear along with other toppings.

Talk: What is the best thing that happened today?

In his book, Feiler refers to studies that have shown that children who told experiences in detail remembered those experiences much better in the future. My hope is that by encouraging my children to talk about good experiences that they will hold fast to more happy memories.

Wednesday

Food: Sandwiches. For example: sloppy joes, gardenburgers, French dip, chicken salad, bbq pulled pork sandwiches, and pigs in a blanket (yes, that last one is a stretch).

Talk: What's the difference between _____ and _____.

This one was rather unmemorable. I'd like to try a comedy night instead, with each person sharing a clean joke or amusing story.

Thursday

Food: Pasta. Our most frequent pasta dish is spaghetti and meatballs, but I try to rotate in more sophisticated recipes to avoid palate fatigue. I plan to try minestrone when the weather cools.

Talk: It's thankful Thursday. What are you thankful for?

Friday

Food: Pizza. I make a homemade crust with the help of the bread machine every week.

Talk: Share a poem or a proverb. 

That's right! Friday is pizza and poetry night. This has quickly become my favorite conversation topic, and no, my kids don't spend a week preparing. I'll usually remind them to choose a poem while the pizza is in the oven. We have a volume of Shel Silverstein on a shelf in the dining room that often gets used. Jack Prelutsky is also a popular poet with kids. 

The 3 year old will proudly recite a nursery rhyme. One week my 10 year old surprised us by reciting a poem he had learned in school. I've been known to do a quick online search for a poem that goes with whatever topic suits my fancy. At least a couple of kids choose to share a wise or witty proverb instead of a poem, which is equally as entertaining.

Saturday

Food: Simplicity. Repurposing leftovers is typical, although frozen meals or homemade sub sandwiches are also possibilities.

Talk: Discuss a current event. What would you do if you were in charge?

The plan was for me to skim through the international headlines of The Guardian, or the week in review of a national newspaper, then choose a family dinner friendly topic to discuss (nothing too stressful or depressing). So far this theme has just made me realize how little attention I have been giving the news lately.

So, How Did it Go?

Well, poetry night is a new favorite, and "thankful Thursday" is easy to remember. Any of the nights that required preparation (aside from poetry night) were quick to slide as the weeks have gone on. Nights with rushed dinners were still difficult to make time for conversation.

What did we get out of this experiment? A couple new traditions, as well as a resource to pull from when the silence hangs heavier than cold gravy or the superficial chatter of cartoons and video games dulls the appetite.