Lay Liturgist, Top Golf, Iowa Football Chili Bowl, Bethany Voters Meeting

Lay Liturgist
On Sunday, November 17th, I served as the lay liturgist for the second consecutive Sunday.  On November 17th, I had an expanded role.  I chanted quite a bit, along with reading a lengthy gospel reading.  During communion, I served distributed the wine and gave the dismissal.  I am not sure the next time I will be lay liturgist because I am not currently scheduled on the schedule through December 1st and there currently is no other schedule.

Top Golf
On Thursday, November 21st, a Lutheran Young Adult Group and I played Top Golf in Alexandria. Top Golf is a point scoring golf game where players attempt to hit a golf ball with an embedded microchip as close as possible to a target from a driving range type structure.  The pin has concentric rings   The closer the ball was to pin in the concentric rings, the more points a player received. We could order food and drinks from tee box.

Iowa Football Chili Bowl
On Saturday, November 23rd, I went to the Capital Area Iowa Club to watch the Iowa vs. Michigan game at Crystal City Sports Pub.  There was all you could chili.  The chili tasted great!  It was a lot of fun watching the Hawks win and meeting fellow friends of the University of Iowa in DC!

Iowa Game Watch

Iowa Game Watch 

Bethany Voters Meeting
On Saturday, November 23rd, there was a Voters Meeting at Bethany Lutheran Church.  The Voter Meeting was held to discuss Bethany's mission and ministry for 2014 with respect to the budget.  The Voters Meeting went well and it appears 2014 will have a surplus.  The Voters Meeting was held in conjunction with a Soup and Pie Night.  I brought a chocolate pie.  I made the pie using a family recipe from my Grandma.  People seemed to really enjoy it!  Below are some pictures of the chocolate pie.

Pudding in Crust

Chocolate Shavings

Chocolate Pie

Chocolate Pie

Lay Liturgist and U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

Lay Liturgist
On Sunday, November 10th, I was the Lay Liturgist for Bethany Lutheran Church in Groveton, VA.  I performed the prayer section of the service including the Kyrie, Collects, Benedicamus, and Benediction.  The Benedicamus and Benediction were chanted.  Many people told me I did well for the first time.  There was a wardrobe malfunction before my part in service where my microphone box on my hip fell off.  I had to put the microphone box in its place before going out in front of the congregation.  I had some nervousness because I was doing something new in front of an audience, but the nervousness was small because of my training and preparation.  I was actually a little more nervous at the second service because I knew more people in the pews because the second service is the service I normally attend.

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
On Veteran's Day (Nov 11th), I went to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum right next to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  This is one of the places if not the last place on my list of things to see or do in Washington D.C.  When I arrived 15 minutes before the doors opened at 10 AM, there was no line to get into the museum.  Part of the reason is this is now the off season for tourism.  I really enjoyed this museum!  The size of the museum was just right, not too big and not too small.    I also enjoyed the history presented and how it was presented.  There were a few places for video watching.  There was a theater that showed recounts of Holocaust stories by Holocaust survivors.  There were also many artifact or pieces of history throughout the museum from Europe that had significance for the Holocaust such as shoes and clothing from concentration camps, pictures, typewriters, fence posts of concentration camps, Torahs, and the like.  There were also plenty of pictures and words for people to read to get a sense of how the Holocaust came to occur, what happened during the Holocaust, and what are the take aways from it.

Trip Home to Iowa, Georgia BBQ, and Meal of the Week

Trip Home to Iowa
I went home to Iowa to see my family.  On Friday, October 25th I saw Jake and Gabe play football in Eldridge against North Scott.  Both teams lost.  However I was excited to see Jake and Gabe play well.  On Saturday, I went to see Josh and Zach with the rest of my immediate family.  We all had breakfast at the engineering building for Parent's Weekend at the University of Iowa.  After eating, we played bags/cornhole and life sized jenga in the engineering building.  Zach is the worst jenga player who played.  He lost at least 2 times in the limited amount jenga games played.  While in Iowa City, I bought a new cell phone, i.e. Samsung Galaxy S4 to help Zach who broke his phone the night before I arrived.  On Saturday evening, I went to a benefit for Dave Casad who has stage IV cancer at Trinity Lutheran Church.  Sunday was travel day except for church for my Dad and me.  My Dad and I visited law schools at the University of Michigan, University of Chicago, and Northwestern.  On Wednesday, October 30th I traveled back to DC.

Georgia BBQ
One of my coworkers at the Patent Office attended the University of Georgia and is a big Georgia Football supporter.  She invited me over to her and her husband's new house for a Georgia BBQ for the Georgia vs. Florida football game.  There were about 15 people and 2 dogs at the house for the Georgia BBQ.  Last year, my Dad and I went to this person's Georgia BBQ last year for the Georgia vs. South Carolina game.  We had a great time and the food was delicious!  Before the game, some of the people at the party were breaking up a concrete slab and removing rebar from the ground in the backyard of the house.  This year there was chicken wings, beans, and pork butt.  The pork butt was some of the best pork butt I have ever eaten.  The hosts also make their own beer.  It was a fun to place to enjoy a college football game.

Meal of the Week
This week I made pudding made from scratch.  I needed to practice making the pudding for when I make chocolate pie for other people.  Sugar, cocoa mix, and cornstarch were mixed together dry in a bowl.  Milk was added to the dry mixture.  The solution was stirred continuously over heat from a stove until the solution thickened and boiled.  After removing the boiling solution from the heat, vanilla was added to the boiling solution.  After cooling the pudding for some time, the pudding was ready to eat.  It was delectable!

Pudding in a Container

Pudding in a Bowl