I love trying new things, going to new places, and meeting new people. Sometimes, however, we don’t need to go on some grand adventure or spend large amounts of money chasing life experiences. If we turn to the past, we can sometimes find inspiration from trying old things, which in most cases are indeed new to us. Here are three new (old) ideas that you could try in 2024.
1. Follow an Old Recipe
Eva Collard was a missionary in the British Mission from late 1949 until 1951. During her mission she served in Bristol, Nottingham, and for much of her time in England she was stationed in the British Mission Headquarters. The Idaho native regularly wrote for the Millennial Star and shared housekeeping tips, recipes, and more. The following is her recipe for a Fruit Salad published in 1950. Does your family have an old recipe you could try making? Or perhaps you might look for some ideas for meals that your ancestors might have eaten.
Cut up into a large bowl 2 medium-sized apples, 2 oranges, 1 cup grapes, and 1 cup pears. Add ½ cup dates, cut finely, and ½ cup walnuts. Mix together and add Fruit Sauce. Serve on a large lettuce leaf.
Fruit Sauce:
¼ cup pineapple juice
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornflour
1 cup canned cream, well chilled
Heat pineapple juice, lemon juice and orange juice together. Add sugar. Thicken with cornflour moistened with juice. Cool and add to canned cream which has been beaten until stiff and frothy.1
2. Arrange a Harvest Festival
In 1934, Joseph Merrill was serving as an Apostle and President of the European Mission. That year, while living in England, he attended a Harvest Festival which impressed him. The festival was part of a religious service in which the area around the pulpit was adorned with grains, fruits, vegetables, flowers, and various other foods. The service itself was based on gratitude and recognising the hand of the Lord which he was eager for Latter-day Saints to also implement. “…harvest festivals or similar affairs,” he noted in an editorial, “are certainly productive of much good…We heartily commend these affairs to every congregation.”2
For a long time, Harvest Festivals were a staple in Latter-day Saint calendars, at least in the British Isles, but in the 1960s they began to diminish. When I was called as a branch president in 2021 I decided to begin holding them and they are now one of the most looked forward to and best attended meetings. We collect items for the local foodbank and share home-grown or home-produced items with others, including neighbours, friends, and family.
You could run a Harvest Festival-themed family home evening with family or friends or you could speak to your Bishop or Branch President about the idea and offer to help if they run one. There are lots of great readings, poems, songs, and more that can be used.
3. Hold a Cottage Meeting
For generations, Latter-day Saints held small additional meetings in their home to which missionaries, friends, neighbours, and family were also invited. Writing in 1904, Nephi Anderson penned a description that I think captures them well:
COTTAGE MEETINGS.
This is the season when good work may be done by the means of small cottage meetings. During the long, cold evenings many people will readily join the family circle in such meetings, and listen to the songs and testimonies of the Elders. There is a freedom, also, in the cottage meeting which is not found in the larger gatherings, the Elders may become personally acquainted with the visitors, shake them by the hand, and chat kindly with them. Thus acquaintences are made which lead to the friendship necessary to a proper presentation of the Gospel.
The Saints may greatly aid the Elders in this work in opening their houses for cottage meetings, and inviting in their friends and neighbors. Let none be timid because they have not large or fine rooms. The poorest may be clean and tidy, and in such a place, the Spirit of the Lord will be pleased to visit, and that, after all, is the important requisite. Some of the best meetings are held in the cottages of the Saints, meetings long to be remembered by those who participate in them. As the holding of street meetings is now impracticable, it is urged that a special effort be made to hold cottage meetings both among Saints and strangers.
There should be no cessation of work because winter is here. When the cold is without, the work should be continued by the cosy fire within.
Back in the early 2010s (ha!), I served as a Ward Mission Leader and we instituted monthly Cottage Meetings to great success. We would sing a song, say a prayer, have a short lesson, an activity, and then a closing prayer before having some refreshments. They are simple, low-pressure, and a great way to engage with the gospel and share it with others. Our ward had a lot of success with them and we continue to run them once a month in our branch today which has been great for our new and returning members in particular.
So why not look to the past as you prepare for the future. andconnect with those who have gone before you in some way or another.
Eva Collard, ‘A House? – or a Home?,’ The Millennial Star, Vol. 112, No. 5 (1950), p. 147.
Joseph F. Merrill, ‘A Harvest Festival,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 96, No. 47 (1934), pp. 744-745.