20th
Tonight our Ladies Fellowship at our church had our meeting. Since I became president of the group, I have given each monthly meeting a theme. The theme of our meeting tonight was “Lei Your Burdens Down” with a Luau theme.
I decorated the room in tropical colors, silk leis, hibiscus hair clips and pineapples. Everyone wore the leis and flowers and we looked surprisingly Hawaiian for a bunch of cold Hoosiers (this weather is crazy).
For our refreshments one of the ladies outdid herself with angel food cake smothered in strawberries, a pineapple-mango punch and bread and spinach dip. Scrumptious.
Our devotion was about laying our burdens down at the feet of Jesus. I reminded them how good it feels when we can finally lay something heavy down. And our scriptures were from Matthew 11:28-29: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and lean of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
We also talked about “breaing one another’s burdens” (Galations 6:2). And we sang the song, “He Knows My Name.” I love that song.
I had provided everyone with a packet of information that included some wordsearches about Hawaii, puzzles, Polynesian recipes, Hawaiian language and history as well as some Hawaiian Quilt patterns. I also included the lyrics to “Hawaiian Wedding Song.” The older ladies’ eyes sparkled recognizing that song. (My Mom used to play the Elvis Presley version.)
I surprised the ladies by ending the meeting with hula lessons. I expected a lot of moans and groans but the ladies actually enjoyed it! I just hooked my computer up to the projector and used these lovely online video instructors (see link above). My ladies loved it. And we all learned a lot.
After the hula dancing, we played “hot coconut” to end the evening. (I was so shocked that our little country grocery had coconut in the produce section.) I showed one of the little boys’ whose mother was there the monkey’s face on the coconut. (My Dad always told me that was what it was.) He thought that was pretty cool.
My ladies always surprise me. They really got into the hot coconut game (played like hot potato) and I played Hawaiian music from my online Pandora Radio station I created of Hawaiian music pausing and restarting it. Whoever had the coconut when the music stopped had to sit down. The winner got the door prize which is also another tradition we started when I became President.
All in all, it was a successful meeting and I am very pleased with how simple and easy it was to pull off. We had the biggest turn out yet! God is faithful. If only I could remember to keep laying my burdens down!
