ALSSI Newsletter
September 2024
Hello!
“How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?”
―Dr. Seuss
Hard to believe we blew right past the end of Season 8 and we’re almost a month into our podcast break. In case you’re wondering, our book manuscript is well in hand, and we’re already thinking about starting to record the new season. We’re also getting ready for next month’s Fall Gathering . Whew! We’re sure you’re all busy as well. Hope you’re also finding time to enjoy the beauty of the season, wherever you may be. Let’s start this missive with a message from Susan:
Here comes general conference!
Its approach always feels a little like I’m watching so many people I love stand in front of a speeding truck, and I want to yank them back to the safety of the curb. What will be said that will cause suffering? What will be said that will ease it? Will the Church spend the weekend pointing to itself, or to something larger? Can dozens of men in matching suits lined up to pat each other’s backs and shake each other’s hands for 10 hours ever feel to me like anything beyond an exercise in corporate self-congratulations?
And yet, having spent what is getting to be quite a long lifetime among the Saints, I personally believe their hearts are in the right place. I think—as leaders and the people being led—we generally think we’re doing the Lord’s work.
Heck, I often catch myself thinking I’m doing it.
Reading a bit from my beloved Anne Lamott recently, I came across this:
"I decided to start from scratch, with a simple prayer: 'Hi!' I said.
"Someone or something hears. I don't know much about its nature, only that when I cry out, it hears me and moves closer to me, and I don't feel so alone. I feel better. And I felt better that morning, starting over....Saint Augustine said that you have to start your relationship with God all over from the beginning, every day. Yesterday's faith does not wait for you like a dog with your slippers and the morning paper in its mouth. You seek it, and in seeking it, you find it."
This struck me because, for most of my life as a Latter-day Saint, I assumed I had a head start of some kind on faith, on a relationship with God. It seemed like I was supposed to feel that way. So many things were prescribed for me, from the time of my earliest memories—when to pray, how to pray, what it means to be good, how to be good, why I am here, where I am going next: all handed to me, neatly tied with a bow. Never mind that I never really felt the dog waiting every morning was carrying a newspaper I truly wanted to read, or slippers in my faith size. The dog was there. Always.
And always when I watch general conference, I wonder how I miss there what I find for myself elsewhere. I think the leaders would tell me they’ve been trying to feed me for decades. But the Good News writ large in the New Testament is almost always elusive for me in talks that repeat the same small set of simple human answers to the complicated questions I never felt allowed to ask God.
Thinking about the Sermon on the Mount, I can’t help noticing how Jesus was trying hard just to get his disciples to think a little bigger. He was begging them to follow him from rules to principles, a leap they struggled to make. He probably rolled his eyes. The fact that he had to do this so explicitly with them tells me it isn't easy—they'd inherited a lot of rules, and they liked waking up every morning to see that same dog waiting for them. Who doesn’t?
It's a comforting thing, knowing what to do and how to do it. I'm guessing it's one of our church’s biggest appeals for many members. But Jesus was saying, "You've heard it said that you should do visiting and home teaching; that's great, but I say to you, start ministering."
Now, I rolled my eyes as hard as anyone at the change from visiting teaching to ministering, partly because I felt like they were ruining a really good word by co-opting it to rebrand a Church program. But watching the ways in which the program has struggled is instructive to me. One day my very old dad explained to me that he'd been a 100% home teacher for over 20 yrs. But he's not so good at ministering, because he's not sure exactly what he's supposed to do, or when to do it. He was deeply perplexed by that revelation about himself.
So what if our leaders, in making the change in that program, were just trying to do what Jesus was trying to do with his disciples? Begging us to think bigger...isn't that their job? It seems to me that getting the members to minister rather than show up monthly with cookies is exactly what general conference should be about.
And yet I roll my eyes. They roll theirs. I wonder if they’re as frustrated as I am?
How could they accomplish this better? What could they say to me, a true-blue wannabe disciple, that I would listen to, understand, grasp, and take as my own? The Church is always going to have a program—they're always going to send their dog to greet me. It’s their job. So how am I meant to reinvent my faith, to begin again with God daily? Can it be done without sending the dog away?
Whether or not I watch general conference, I suppose the best way to approach my part of this whole thing will always be to set down whatever made me roll my eyes today and return to square one tomorrow—to reset with my simple prayer, and expect I can find the thing I’m seeking again.
“Hi.”
—Susan
“Do not live someone else’s life and someone else’s idea of what womanhood is. Womanhood is you.”
—Viola Davis
Coming up —
If you haven’t registered for our Fall Gathering yet, we hope you will! Remember, one of the benefits of being online this year is that if you can’t join us October 12, you’ll have access to the recorded event any time. Watch it at your convenience! Please keep an eye on your inbox in the next few days for a Substack post where you will be able to comment with your city if you’d be interested in a meet-up with other ALSSIers who may be in your area. Although we can’t all get together this year, we’d love knowing that some of you are getting together somewhere! Also, please note that thanks to the generosity of ALSSI community members, scholarships are available for the registration fee if needed. Drop us an email and we’ll comp your registration, no questions asked! Register here.
Our November Book Club meeting will be here before you know it! This month we’re reading Chris Kimball’s book, Living on the Inside of the Edge: A Survival Guide. You can register to participate in the discussion here. Happy reading!
We hope you enjoyed the last issue of Say More: At Last She Writes It with our compliments! You can receive future issues in your inbox 2x/month with a paid Substack subscription. Remember you’ll also get our monthly newsletter, Worthy Stuff 1x/month, access to our Live Chats on Friday mornings, our Sunday RS Chats, and you can start your own chats any time you need a place to set down whatever you’re carrying. Best of all, you’ll be supporting the podcast, for which we’ll be deeply grateful!
Speaking of Say More, if you’re interested in sharing your work with our audience, we hope you will. You’ll get a 6 month paid subscription, for yourself or to share with a friend. We’d love to hear your voice, and so would everyone else! You’ll find submission guidelines here.
“The most courageous act is still to think for yourself aloud.”
— Coco Chanel
Now, no matter how you feel about GC, everyone loves… cinnamon rolls!
“I love how soft these are and how small the batch is. It’s become my go-to cinnamon roll recipe. It makes just 8 so one for me (and the hubs) and the rest go in the freezer for cinnamon roll food storage.” —Cynthia
Ingredients
Tangzhong
1/2 cup milk, whole preferred
3 tablespoons bread flour (all purpose is fine too!)
Dough
2/3 cup milk, cold, whole preferred
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Filling
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons flour
3 to 4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/16 teaspoon salt
Icing
3 tablespoons butter, melted, divided
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/16 teaspoon table salt
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons milk, cream, or buttermilk (to thin to desired consistency)
To make the tangzhong: (Keeps them soft!) Combine flour and milk in a small saucepan, and whisk until no lumps remain. Cook over medium heat, stirring regularly, until thickened, paste-like, and the spoon leaves lines on the bottom of the pan (1 - 3 mins). Transfer to large mixing bowl.
To make the dough: Add the cold milk, then the flour and remaining ingredients to the bowl in the order listed. Mix—by hand, on low speed of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, or in a bread machine set to the dough cycle—to bring dough together. Knead until smooth, elastic, and tacky. Shape into a ball, place in a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap or a reusable cover. Let rise until puffy but not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 60 to 90 minutes (depending on the warmth of your kitchen).
To make the filling: While the dough is rising, put melted butter into a medium bowl and add the remaining ingredients, stirring until mixture is the texture of damp sand. Set aside. Lightly grease a baking sheet, or line with parchment.
To assemble the rolls: Transfer dough to a lightly greased work surface and press into a 10” x 12” rectangle about 1/2” thick. Sprinkle filling over the dough, covering all but a 1/2” strip along one long side. Starting with the filling-covered long side, roll dough into a log. Score lightly into eight equal 1 1/2” to 2” pieces; this will make large rolls. Cut the dough at the score marks.
Place onto prepared baking sheet, spacing at least 2” apart. To prevent unraveling while they rise and bake, tuck the ends underneath. Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and let rise for 30 - 60 mins (depending on the warmth of your kitchen). They should be puffy and shouldn’t bounce back immediately when gently pressed.Position rack in the top third of the oven and preheat to 375°F. Bake until light golden brown, 14 mins for extra-soft rolls, and 18 mins for a bit more color and slightly firmer texture. Remove from oven and brush hot rolls with 1 1/2 tablespoons of melted butter. Let cool for 10 - 15 mins before icing.
To make the icing: Combine the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter with the remaining icing ingredients, mixing until smooth. Ice and serve immediately. If you’re planning to serve later, wait to ice until just before serving. Store icing at room temperature, tightly covered, until you’re ready to use. Store completely cooled rolls, un-iced and well wrapped, for a couple days at room temperature; or freeze up to 1 month.
Note: You can bake the day before you want to serve; these stay soft for at least 3 days. Store tightly sealed (un-iced) at room temperature overnight; in the morning cover with foil and warm at 300° - 350° for 5 - 10 mins. Ice and enjoy.
“I do not wish women to have power over men, but over themselves.”
—Mary Shelley
That’s it!
Thanks for your support of this community! It wouldn’t exist without all of us showing up for each other. 🧡
—Cynthia, Susan
and the ALSSI Team