Last week in Montana, I met two women who stopped me in my tracks.  The first was Nancy at the Windmill Village Bakery in a tiny town named Ravalli.  Nancy makes donuts.  Perhaps the best donuts I’ve ever eaten.  When we walked into her bakery, about an hour before closing, I was immediately taken by her open manner and kindness.  She had flour on her face and dough in her hands and a big welcoming smile.

As I asked her about these donuts we’d heard about, she told me about her Norwegian mother, who always kept a pot of potatoes on the stove, using them daily in different dishes.   Nancy’s eyes lit up as she described the “spudnuts’ her mother would make for special occasions.  She decided to make them in her bakery, and now she makes them by the hundreds, daily.

“Three minutes on each side,” she said, as we watched her plop fresh dough into waiting hot oil.  It smelled like heaven as they turned golden brown.  I asked Nancy about her recipe, which she said she’ll guard until the day she dies.  “Then,” she said, “I’ll have it published in the local paper, maybe on a full page!”  Oh, how I hope I live to see that happen!

Each donut is hand-dipped into a sweet sugary glaze.  Her secret here is a dash of salt in the glaze to cut the sweetness of the powdered sugar.We were 4 very happy campers.  The donuts were a full meal.  Food of the Gods.

I’m going to send Nancy my grandma’s donut recipe.  I told her I make my grandma’s German donuts every year on New Year’s Eve.  It felt nice to speak of our mothers and grandmothers and how their legacy lives on, making us and so many others happy.

The next day I met another Amazing Montana Woman.  Her name is Kapri and she is the creator and founder of Tinkle Belle, the best “Stand to Pee Accessory” out there.  She is a neighbor to Graham’s family at Ashley Lake, and we went hoping to use her internet when our phones got stuck in an update.  As we waited for the phones to figure themselves out, we met Kapri and her husband, Brad, and we learned about their business.  I was blown over.  Just the night before I was looking at other similar products to take on our upcoming trip to Africa, where it can be difficult to squat over pit latrines.

Kapri’s story was captivating.  She described the 3-year process of design with all kinds of trial and error and working with engineers and different materials.  What she’s designed is remarkable.  A urologist by profession, she understands a woman’s anatomy and a woman’s needs.  In the humanitarian work I do, I know lots of women who would appreciate these devices and I’ll be sharing with them!

The view from Karpi’s home:

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Good women are Heavenly Father’s gift to this world.  This week I met 2 amazing women during our Montana trip.  Both have made my world a better place.