Mission Zone Conference Luncheon, Star Wars Style

A couple months ago I was asked to chair a luncheon for a missionary zone conference held at our church building today. The instructions were to plan a lunch for 25 people. Our committee of 3 were to prepare the food, serve, and clean up. Not too complicated, right? We decided to keep things simple and have sandwiches, chips, veggies, fruit, and dessert. 

Then I had an epiphany: Why not add a Star Wars theme to it? 

There are numerous blog posts and articles about the spiritual and religious implications of the Star Wars movies, so I went with one of those. I debated about asking permission, but decided to just surprise everyone.

Here is our account, taken with our lame interim camera,

while we await replacing our broken one.

Overall Table Display:

complete with themed food labels and action figures!

Bread options: homemade wheat loaves, egg-bread rolls,
and store balloon bread 

Filling Options: Calrissian Chicken Salad,
Sliced Bantha Meat and Cheese,
or Jabba's PB and J

Fruit: Obi-Wan Kabob-i's

Vader Veggies and Droid Dip

(R2D2 accidentally got left at home, oops!)

Padawan Potato Chips

Dessert Options: Pretzel Light Sabers, Boba Fett Brownies,
and Wookiee Cookies

At each table, we included water, 

Jedi Juice (real lemonade made from Yuma-grown lemons), 

and reading materials relating missionaries to Jedis.

There was a slight pause when the missionaries first entered the room
as they were overwhelmed by the awesomeness of it all. They enjoyed the
food and the displays and some even asked if they could keep the printed memes.

And so far, I haven't been called into a disciplinary council for 

preaching Star Wars philosophies mingled with scripture.

Flashback Post: January in Del Rio

Good-bye to Megan

We loved having Megan visit for the holidays! We were still unpacking and setting up the house, so we didn't do too much. We went to the movies (Star Wars, of course!), tried some local cuisine, talked a lot and relaxed. She left January 2nd to return to her studies at BYU.

Missionaries!

We feed the missionaries once a month here in Del Rio. There is one pair of Elders and one pair of Sisters for the city, and we usually schedule both sets for a Sunday dinner. 

Sisters Shepherd & Angulo

The Elders thought we were so fun that they came back on a P-day to play with us. 

Elders Atagi and Forbush challenging
Dallin and Erin to a game of foosball

Then they battled with light sabers.

Fishing at Lake Amistad

The locals claim there is fish in this lake. We have yet to see/catch any.

Del Rio Chilly 5K

One of Ian's goals for 2016 is to run in three races. His first was a 5K on January 30th. He had been diligently training for the month, and his discipline paid off.

Starting off: Ian is #828 in a dark shirt

On the home stretch!

Ian ended up 6th place out of all the males, and 3rd in his age category! Way to go, Ian! His time was 21:24.6!

And he got this nice medal!