Week Ending October 7, 2012

Ft. Wingate historical marker

Sunday I wasn’t really sure if the program was planned in advance or if the speakers were called up from the audience. The first speaker was sitting in the audience. Then the branch president spoke. Both talks were very good, but it makes me nervous for future meetings. There were a couple of additional kids at church today so I invited them to seminary. We had a call from Heather. Five of the wards in their area had their boundaries realigned to make a new ward. Scott has been called to be in the bishopric of their new ward. He’ll serve under Bishop Downer who Steven was counselor to before the change. Steven was called to be counselor in his new ward but didn’t yet know who the bishop is.

Monday we got two doors from the shed behind the house and cleaned them up—no small task—and installed them on the bedroom doorways. Our apartment has a living room/kitchen combination and a large bedroom/study area combination. The bedroom was originally two rooms that have had the common wall removed to make one larger room. Since neither doorway had a door, it has been difficult for us if one of us stayed up later than the other or got up earlier than the other to turn on a light to read or work without disturbing the other person. Anyway, we are now the proud owners of two doors. It was really sort of a fun project to work on together.

After we had the second door in place, I was holding it on the hinge while Ted put soap on the two pins. Just at that moment the phone rang. Also at the same time, I felt something crawling on my neck, reached up and found a large bug. I’m not sure if it was a wasp or another variety of bug, but it wasn’t something I wanted on my neck. So, holding the door, I knocked the bug to the floor and tried to capture it with my foot without letting the door fall.

Ted Studying-- Reminds me of Mom (Grandma Hales)

Tuesday afternoon we went to Kyree Sky’s to teach her the first seminary lesson. She wouldn’t be able to attend the first two lessons, so we are teaching her at her home so she isn’t behind. We got lost going there—there are virtually no addresses and the directions we were given were incorrect and we got her house mixed up with another one we visited the other day. Her grandma Patsy Tommy was making tortillas while we were teaching and gave us some fresh, hot samples to eat on our way.

After leaving Kyree’s house we drove to Gallup to run errands and attend our class. We tried to find a store to get something. Garmin took us on a wild goose chase so we finally gave up and stopped at a grocery store. As we were checking out, the man behind us started talking to us about the church. He said he’d been in the placement program for 9 years and was just getting ready to try to find the church. He lives in Iyanbito—pronounced Yan-bih-toe—and I couldn’t tell what he was saying at first. That is a small community in our branch. He told us his name and how to get to his Hogan—the large purple one by the community church. He even drew us a map. We gave him the time of the meetings, told him not to come this Sunday because it is general conference, and said goodbye. I hope he really does come. After leaving him we drove back to the mall and found the store. I’m certain that we needed to meet Lon to help him find the church again.

We had the Strengthening Marriages class in the evening. After class we needed to go to Walmart to get a few things including a few more groceries. We had thought the lines would be much shorter at night, but they are really long all the time. We have never waited less than ½ hour in a line.

Wednesday I slept in late. It is nice having the doors up—Ted was up reading and I didn’t even notice. I tried to get the fax to work with the new ink cartridge we’d bought. I was about to give up and decided it was missing a part. In desperation I turned it on and the print cartridge holder came into view. After a few minutes I was able to change it out and get a sample page to print. We are good to go.

A rough map of our branch-- Left by the Elders

Down the street (there is only one main street)

We went for a walk all through our “neighborhood”. I had no idea it was so extensive. It goes back behind the street several blocks. Scott (the owner) told us there were 106 units, but I couldn’t figure where they were. There is a nice play ground at the back and a small picnic area. It was a nice walk. We also walked up to the old school. The gate was open so we went in and did some exploring. On the way out we saw the “No Trespassing” sign so we were glad we had not been caught. It was a really nice campus at one time.

Old Indian School up the street

Thursday we spent time preparing for seminary and the adult class for Saturday. I spent quite a bit of time making charts for attendance, scripture mastery, and reading the New Testament. It was sort of fun getting those together even though it took a lot of time.

Friday we planned to attend the football game in the evening. When the time came for the game we took our jackets. (We are at about 6,000 feet altitude so it gets a bit cool at night.) We made our way down the dirt path. We could hear the festivities going on at the field—it was homecoming and this is a big deal. We thought they must have a big band, but it turned out to be a recording. It was still light so we had no trouble finding the grating to cross and found our way to the entrance. We were the only pale faces in sight so we turned a few heads.

Presenting the Homecoming royalty candidates

There was only one set of bleachers so we asked where the Wingate fans were sitting. They told us “we all sit together”. At home the fans would have strangled each other, but it turned out to be very workable. Everyone just cheered for who they wanted to and had total disregard whether they were next to someone for the opposite team. The kids were all decked out—green and orange powder in their hair, faces painted, hair ribbons, spears with ribbons. Just before the game the band came in and they had to move a group of people to seat them. There must have been 8 – 10 band members and their leader was the only other pale face in the audience besides us.

The game was sad. The other team scored a touchdown in the first minute. We then scored and got two extra points. Throughout the game there was not one attempt to kick the extra point—they always wanted to run the ball. There were several long passes with the receiver not quite there. They did connect for one beautiful touchdown so that was good. There were so many penalties during the game it was difficult to keep track. A couple of times the ref would walk the ball one direction then walk it back to indicate there were off-setting penalties. There were a couple of penalties called “horse collar” with 15 yard penalties. One of our players was down for about 10 minutes before they got him off the field. Another time we kept getting penalties so it was 30 yards to get a first down. Our team lost 38 – 20. We did score a touchdown with 3 seconds to go so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Our branch president is the football coach and he was really disappointed. His son is on the team—first string as a sophomore. I hadn’t realized he was on the team because he is a wiry kid, but he can run fast.

When the game was over we made our way back over the grate to the dirt path. We were OK as long as we were near the football field with all the lights, but when we walked by the trailer homes it was pitch dark and we couldn’t see the path or our feet. We were grateful when the ambulance came to back into the station across the street and gave some light. Then we got to the trading post so we had a bit of light. I had not realized how dark it really is here. There are no street lights and even porch lights only shine a small distance. It was a fun experience and I’m glad we went.

Across the street, not a bad view

Saturday we had seminary at 8:30 so we could go to conference. We enjoyed all the sessions very much. We were especially pleased with the announcement that young men can now go on missions at age 18 and women at age 19. That will change a lot of plans for some of the kids. We went to lunch with another missionary couple during the break between sessions. At the afternoon session another missionary couple told us their trailer had been broken into during the morning session. The only thing taken was a couple of pieces of Indian jewelry. They left the computer. I felt a bit unusual attending Priesthood, but no one else seemed to care. After it was over we talked with Pres. Haws, the stake president, and got a list of the young adults for institute. We’ll plan to start a week from Tuesday so we need to get the word out quickly. We also met the former stake president—he competes in horse roping competitions. Very impressive.