from the kitchen of Aylene Christensen
1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 pkg Coconut
3 Tbsp flour
Mix flour and milk together then add coconut and mix well. Drop by spoonfulls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15-16 min. Makes 12 large cookies.
December Spotlight
Kim Black Olsen was born way back when the wheel was first invented in the small town of Soda Springs, Idaho. When she was 6 weeks old, her brave mother boarded a train with a new babe in arms and a 12month old son and headed to Kansas City, Missouri to reunite with her father who was attending dental school in Missouri. At the age of 4, Kim’s family moved to Orem, Utah where Kim grew up and attended school. She was active in sports as a youth, excelling in swimming and track. Kim received her LPN from the now extinct Provo Technical College and has worked in healthcare marketing and administration for over 30 years with a 3 year stint working in the funeral industry. She married Todd Olsen in June of 1987 and together they are delighted to count 10 children and 12 grandchildren. After looking to buy a home in northern Utah County for six months, the realtor suggested they look at a home in Salem. Kim said “we are wasting our time; I am not going to move that far south”! Needless to say, we walked through the home and both Todd and Kim said “we’ll take it’. We truly believe we were meant to live in the Salem 2nd Ward and be blessed with such marvelous neighbors and friends. Her favorite hobbies are hiking Goblin Valley, scuba diving in Maui, playing board games with our kids, spoiling the grandkids and shopping for shoes. Kim absolutely loves the Primary kids and the amazing, talented, fantastic, beautiful young women in this ward.
December Presidency Message
During the Christmas season thoughts of gifts fill our minds. Usually those thoughts revolve around temporal gifts, but as always, if we pause for a moment our minds turn to the reason we celebrate this season – God’s gift of love to His children.
Because our Heavenly Father is perfect, all of His gifts to us are perfect. He has given us everything we need – nothing has been forgotten or overlooked. Also, because He knows us better than even we know ourselves, each of His gifts are perfect for us. Among the greatest of His gifts is the gift of love. Because Heavenly Father and His love for us are infinite and eternal, we often cannot begin to comprehend how He can love each of us and love us so much. It can be easy to say to ourselves, “He doesn’t love me as much as He loves someone else,” or “I don’t deserve His love.” His love for us is there whether we believe we deserve it or not. Our capacity as women to love and to have that capacity to love increase is a small glimpse of God’s ability to love infinitely and without condition.
The greatest gift of God’s love to all of His children who ever have and ever live on the earth is His son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is real and His love for us is real. Prophets throughout the ages have testified of Him. (Isaiah 53, 2 Nephi 2, 2 Nephi 31:5-12, Alma 7:10-15, D&C 76:22-24, D&C 110:3-4 are some of my favorites.) “He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New. Under the direction of His Father he was creator of the Earth” (The Living Christ). He was baptized and lived and served perfectly to show us the way and He suffered in Gethsemane and at Calvary to atone for our sins. “His was a great vicarious gift in behalf of all who would ever live upon the earth” (The Living Christ).
The question for us is, “Are we going to fully accept the incomprehensible gift of God’s love and the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ.” These gifts are perfect, they have already been given and they are enough. They are exactly what each of us needs!
Because our Heavenly Father is perfect, all of His gifts to us are perfect. He has given us everything we need – nothing has been forgotten or overlooked. Also, because He knows us better than even we know ourselves, each of His gifts are perfect for us. Among the greatest of His gifts is the gift of love. Because Heavenly Father and His love for us are infinite and eternal, we often cannot begin to comprehend how He can love each of us and love us so much. It can be easy to say to ourselves, “He doesn’t love me as much as He loves someone else,” or “I don’t deserve His love.” His love for us is there whether we believe we deserve it or not. Our capacity as women to love and to have that capacity to love increase is a small glimpse of God’s ability to love infinitely and without condition.
The greatest gift of God’s love to all of His children who ever have and ever live on the earth is His son Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is real and His love for us is real. Prophets throughout the ages have testified of Him. (Isaiah 53, 2 Nephi 2, 2 Nephi 31:5-12, Alma 7:10-15, D&C 76:22-24, D&C 110:3-4 are some of my favorites.) “He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New. Under the direction of His Father he was creator of the Earth” (The Living Christ). He was baptized and lived and served perfectly to show us the way and He suffered in Gethsemane and at Calvary to atone for our sins. “His was a great vicarious gift in behalf of all who would ever live upon the earth” (The Living Christ).
The question for us is, “Are we going to fully accept the incomprehensible gift of God’s love and the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ.” These gifts are perfect, they have already been given and they are enough. They are exactly what each of us needs!