Speaking of Korean...

Guess what I did with the Young Women today?

We had mutual and we made SUSHI! Ok, so it's not Korean. Only better!

Mmmm.... I'm drooling already just thinking about it.

All our Young Women were there, which makes a total of 5 people. That was ALOT of Sushi between us. It was really fun. My first activity with my girls. I keep having to remind myself that I'm a leader though.

Rachel was really at her best tonight - in case you don't remember or are just jumping in, Rachel is my bishop's daughter. Chinese girl, adopted by an american family. She just turned 12 towards the end of last year, but she has some special needs. She had a hairlip - though now she has scars on her face instead, but it's not just that.

Rachel's not quite her age. And she often gets angry at people. Especially boys. Hehe. Luckily the Young Women are such great girls, that they really do encourage her instead of making fun of her.

Isn't church just such a great environment?

She really looks up to Tiffany (see Self Pitying blog - Jan 19, Sunday) I guess she looks up to me too. She's the only girl in her family and she's looking for a role model.

Anyway, Rachel was smiling from ear to ear when we got to church. And that's very rare. Apparently, she just started recorder classes and was just bouncing off the walls, waiting to tell us all about it.

She's a very shy girl - and unsure of herself. She hesitates everytime she makes a move (like choosing a hymn, or picking a color for her handout, or even a sushi to eat) because she's afraid she'll mess up. She let's everyone go first or just shakes her head "I'm not good! I'm only good at soccer." (someone must have been giving her alot of reassurance in that field)

She said that when we tried to talk her into rolling the sushi. We all got turns. Mine was the biggest mess (surprise, surprise) and I kid you not - when she finally warmed up enough finally joined in, Rachel rolled the roundest most perfect sushi of us all.

Oh it was great!!! When at first, Rachel was too shy to even eat the food we had made, when she was about to leave for for home, we aksed her to take somemore (she was already eating one). She didn't even hesitate! Just smiled and took 2 home with her.

I guess this sounds silly to you. Getting so excited over someone taking 2 pieces of sushi home. Ohh... I nearly forgot, we had a huge giggle too. Rachel finally opened up so much she was talking about school and somehow got to talking about boys having hair under their armpits. loL! I don't know how the YW were responding to her, but her dad had just come in and she asked him "Dad, guys get hair under their armpits don't they?"

He was SO embarassed! But he said yes anyway.

"See...I TOLD YOU!"

We were too busy trying to hide how red our faces had become - both from laughing and embarassment.

The poor girl. A few more months and she'll need to check with her mom if she's really a girl.

Hehe. You just had to be there. I hope that wasn't just a one time thing. I mean, ok, I can go without having to talk about guys' underarm hair, but I hope she will continue to open up to us like she did.

It says alot about how much she trusts us.

I remember when Eli, her youngest brother was so shy and would cry when his parents left him in the nursery. He's totally come out of his shell now. It's a great feeling.

These are challenges that I really enjoy. It's the kind of thing you look back for the rest of your life. And it makes you feel good because you can say you did something small that changed someone's life in a big way.