Blessings of a Multicultural Ward

Yesterday was our ward Christmas party.  We had a great turnout with lots and lots of food.  Surprisingly, more food than desserts.  Which was okay.  We had the usual Christmas fare - turkey, ham, potatoes, mixed veggies, stuffing etc., but we also had a nice surprise.  Due to the number of Korean, Japanese and Phillipino people in our ward, we also got to have homemade noodle dishes (what we would call Chinese food, even though not one of them is Chinese).  The kids were thrilled because rice noodles and shanghai noodles are one of their favorite things, and these people know how to cook them.  No one even took potatoes.  We can have those any old time!  Someone also brought lasagna, which was a change from the usual starches.   (We also have Italian members, not to mention a Scottish family and a woman from Britain).  What a fun dinner!  We sat with a Philippino woman who gave Madi the leftover noodles she brought because she knew how much she loved them.  While we were excited by noodles, she was excited to have potatoes!  Along with the food, we also got to hear 'Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer' in Korean and French.  It was a lot of fun.

On the same note, there is a woman in our ward who grew up in Ottawa.  I was mentioning that Steve is going to Toronot West and she was so excited for him because it is apparently the most multicultural, diverse mission in Canada.  We are second or something.  So, looks like Steve will get to enjoy some of these fun dinners and amazing people too.  We have really enjoyed getting to know all the oriental people in our ward.  They are very soft-spoken and gentle, but honest to a fault, and-maybe because they have to work harder at the language-they always remember the kids names and make sure to say hello and give a compliment.  Someone else told me that Steve will get to pick up lots of phrases from all sorts of languages out that way.  Maybe he's going more foreign than he realizes...

We do really love our ward here though.  It's kind of nice being in a ward with only twenty primary kids.  Everyone gets to know your family pretty quick, and they are all willing to lend a hand when needed.  Dan was sick at home last week and I wouldn't have even made it to the car after church if it wasn't for two priesthood who chased the boys (Clayton) down and strapped them in.  All in good fun, of course.  I really appreciate it because we don't have all of you out here, and they need people who act like aunts and uncles and grandparents.  My visiting teaching partner is about Mom's age and her kids are all grown up and she loves to help the kids whenever she sees them.  Spencer has a nursery leader, Sister Cho, who barely speaks a word of english, but always gives him big hugs and tells him she loves him.  And I must hear at least once a Sunday how 'beautiful' our children are and how glad they are to have them in the ward.  You need to hear that once in a while when you have 1/5 primary kids sitting on your bench in Sacrament meeting not being the example of reverence.

We also have another family in our ward who joined the church about 3 or 4 years ago and is in a similar family situation as we are.  They have three children  - 3, 2, and 1- and I love to watch them because I can sympathize with them.  They like to watch us and know they are not alone.  Their oldest, the boy, loves to run around with ours.  But their middle daughter, for some reason, has made me her second choice when mom is busy with the baby.  She sat with us more than them last night, and would only eat what I fed her.  She's adorable.  She reminds me of Mya- very petite and blonde and quiet.  She also loves Madi, and followed her around most of the night.  What fun!

Anyway, those are my ramblings on our very diverse, wonderful ward.  It is a real bright spot out here and we are learning a lot.  We are always impressed that our kids really don't see race or culture.  Our blessing living in Okotoks was that our kids learned to look past differences because we lived by Andy and Dan, who both deal with disorders like Autism.  Our blessing here is that they are learning to love people from all walks of life.  And so are we.