Sunday we were up early and out the door to be at Toh-la-kai
Branch at 9 AM to meet with the leaders. Elder Freestone was just opening the
gate so we introduced ourselves. We walked around to the back to find his wife.
She was excited to have us at their branch. They are garden missionaries,
helping the people learn how to grow things in this area. It was amazing the
amount the gardens produced. They are done for the season since it dropped
below 30 two nights ago, but they still had a few things in the ground. They
took us to a shed behind the church. They had a counter full of produce. I was
amazed.
We visited while waiting for the meeting to start. He came
about 10 minutes before Sacrament Meeting was supposed to start. We told him our
announcement, he made a few arrangements, and the meeting started. There were a
good number of people. I was impressed with their meeting. There was a good
spirit there and the people were friendly. We both bore our testimonies and
told them how happy we were to be there. After the meeting we introduced
ourselves to most of the people.
Back at our branch we took our food for the meal with our
branch into the kitchen and went to Sunday School. There were definitely more
people in attendance—quite possibly the meal afterward. Pres. Pine said he had
counted 85 people in Sacrament Meeting. There were a few new faces but most
looked familiar to me.
The women are having a meeting Tuesday night. They are
making jam. I wish I could be there. None of them has ever made jam. I could
definitely be of help. It is going to be sad to miss all the Relief Society
activities—it would help to get to know the sisters if I could attend.
Monday we got ready for our visit with our grandma. She
welcomed us and got her scriptures. We had a good discussion. We talked a lot
about forgiveness and not letting others determine our relationship with the
Savior. We gave her some scriptures to read and prayed with her. She’s a good woman. At home I made some soup—the weather was
clear and fairly warm with just a slight chill in the air. (Our heater had
turned on during the night so it is getting colder.)
Tuesday I spent most of the day preparing for my seminary
lesson. In the evening we drove to Gallup for our first Institute class. We set
up the room for Institute but had no idea how many would come. At 6:30 we had
five students and two missionaries. Two of the people were from the Tohlakai
Branch; a girl who is being baptized Saturday and a friend from the branch who
just came to be with her. Two of the students were a brother and sister from
Tohatchi. Tohatchi is about 10 miles north of Tohlakai so they had about a ½
hour drive. They were really funny together, with the brother continually
volunteering his sister for everything. The fifth student was a member of one
of the Gallup wards, a young man I had met at conference. He is 18 and is now
getting his mission papers ready to submit. There were also the two young
missionaries from the Tohlakai Branch who came with their investigator. Ted
gave the lesson and it went well. He did a great job of introducing the course
and teaching about the Savior’s mission. We felt good about the start but hope
we get more students. After the one young man leaves on his mission, it would
make more sense for the others to attend in Tohlakai.
Wednesday we had our first Zone Conference. Elder Paul
Johnson of the Seventy, the Commissioner of Education, was there. I was amazed
at the number of senior couples—our mission has the most of any mission in the
church. Sister Batt spoke about not comparing ourselves to others, seeing
ourselves as Heavenly Father sees us, and doing our best. Pres. Batt spoke
about being obedient with exactness. He also asked us to refocus our efforts to
include the Book of Mormon along with the other scriptures in our personal
study. We need to feel the Spirit of the book even if we have already read it
many times. I was very impressed with both of them.
We heard from Sister Johnson. She talked loving others and
letting them know the Savior loves them. She said the best solution if we are
having trouble loving someone is to serve them. I can attest to that. We then
heard from Elder Johnson. He also spoke about not comparing ourselves to
others. If we spend time complaining, we are wasting our time and the Lord’s
time.
After lunch we heard from Pres. Haws, our stake president.
He spoke about finding some pieces of Indian pottery while visiting a niece and
compared it to finding the remnants of the Lamanites. We need to gather them
home. He also said it was time to stop walking and start running. I am so
impressed with him. We heard from Elder Johnson again. He spoke about recognizing
and teaching with the Spirit and being sensitive to the needs of the
investigators. I was so impressed by the entire conference.
We ran a couple of errands in Gallup then drove to Tohlakai.
We set up everything for the seminary meeting in the evening. We had no idea
how many to expect. At the time for the meeting to start we had about 10
people, including parents. As the meeting progressed, we had more people come.
We ended up with a full room of about 25-30 people. Sister Freestone had told
them we would be teaching an adult class as well, so they wanted to hear about
that. We had 9 students sign up for seminary. We had several that wanted to
attend the adult class. It will be interesting to see how many actually come.
After the seminary meeting, we stayed for the gardening
meeting. We visited with some ladies that sat at our table. One is the wife of
a minister of a church in Gallup. This was the last gardening meeting for the
year because Freestones are going home. They really had some amazing gardens.
There were 15 set up in the area. After the meeting we had a huge feast.
When we got home Wednesday night there was a message from the
Relief Society President in Ft. Wingate asking me to go visiting with her
Thursday morning, so when I got up I called her. We had a great time. We
visited a mother and daughter. They were two of the people on the elders list
that we couldn’t figure out where they lived. We had a good visit except that I
asked if they were sisters. After we left there we visited with a mother,
daughter, and grandmother. We got home later than I’d hoped. I spent some more
time preparing for a seminary class for two girls whose volleyball game
conflicts with our regular class on Saturday. In the evening when they arrived
they brought two girls with them. They said they were just checking us out. At
least they were honest. We had a good lesson and had a lot of participation.
They are so intent on the lessons in class, but they don’t do a lot outside of
class.
Friday I did some vacuuming. The vacuum made a loud knock
then it stopped sucking. The filters were really dirty, even though I had
thoroughly cleaned them 3 weeks ago so I cleaned them again. I took several parts
of the vacuum apart but couldn’t see anything that was causing a problem. I had
to wait for the filters to dry before I could reassemble it. Fortunately, it seemed
to work after everything was dry and reassembled. I needed to review the lesson
for the evening class. Then the Relief Society president called to ask me to
teach Sunday. I agreed although I was not sure when I would be able to prepare.
I spent the trip to Tohlakai reading the lesson for Sunday and trying to gather
my thoughts.
Our first seminary class in Tohlakai went well. We had a new
student come—niece of one of the boys. The family of four (the ones we are
meeting on Friday at 6:30 to accommodate) did not come. Only three students
brought their manuals and only one brought her scriptures. Most of the kids had
no idea who Moses was and they really had not had any experience with the
Bible. I need to be sure not to make assumptions about basic gospel knowledge.
Most of the kids have not attended any church during their lives. Sister
Freestone said she really learned a lot. I hope the kids did as well. Ted had
about six in his class—three were with the kids, but the others were branch
members who just wanted to learn.
Saturday we had seminary early because the branch had a
temple trip. My class had three kids there. I thought the discussion went well.
We talked about parables and how to better understand them. We spent quite a
bit of time discussing the Parable of the Sower. One of my students said she
has read the scriptures before but this time she is getting more out of it.
That felt good.
After seminary we drove to the temple in Albuquerque. (Because
it is out of our mission, we only go with our branch.) We got there early, so
we walked around the temple and took some pictures then had lunch in the
cafeteria. Our branch came for a Native American session at 1 PM. It was in
English, but those who wanted to could listen in Navajo. At one point they
announced that part would be in Navajo. They said not to be afraid if you
didn’t know the language, but it was sufficiently daunting for us.
After we left the temple, we got the car’s emissions tested so we could
renew its registration. Most of the state does not require the emissions test,
but Albuquerque does. The guy at the testing station was wearing a BYU t-shirt
and he was listening to the BYU/Notre Dame game on the radio. On the way to the
temple and on the way home I worked on the lesson for Relief Society. I felt
like it would be a good lesson for our branch. The scenery continues to amaze
us here and the sunset was really beautiful.  |
| Albuquerque Temple |
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