Week Ending November 24, 2012

Sunday early Ted had a call from the branch president saying he was sick and asking Ted to help Bro. Joe if he needed any guidance in conducting a meeting. Bro. Joe was just sustained as a counselor in the branch presidency last week. I did a few last minute preparations for my lesson and we left for church. Ted spent some time talking with Johnny Joe about conducting—fortunately the high council speaker was there. Bro. Joe did a great job and I was really proud of him. What an initiation!

Our temple prep class went well–we just had one couple there. I went from there to Relief Society just in time to start. There were only three ladies when we started. Then all the Young Women came in. It turned out that the Young Women’s president had a problem with one of her daughters and she had to take her home. That meant we had a full class which made it much nicer for teaching. We had a good discussion, even though I told them they needed to do what they can to prepare for emergencies and one sister told me they were all so destitute that there was no way to do any storage at this time.

In the afternoon we decided to do some visiting since our lessons had cancelled. We walked over to the Navajo Housing by the school to visit a less active member. When they opened the door they said, “What took you so long to come?” It turns out that the missionaries had told them they would tell us about them and we would come see them. We had a good visit. We offered to pick them up for church. She said she’d come and he’s thinking about it.

Monday visited our grandma. She was looking good today and we had a good visit with her. She was able to tell us where several people lived in her neighborhood so we have several to visit. It continues to amaze me the number of people we find who are members of the church who are not on the branch list as well as the number on the list who are no longer here. There are several on the list that are deceased.

After that we went to visit a man who lives on the same road. I cannot remember the last time I met someone who was as negative as he was. One of his grandsons came over while he was talking about not being able to go anywhere and said, “Don’t lie, Grandpa. You go over to the casino and gamble all the time.” He was really a sad character.

We had looked for someone in the branch to invite for Thanksgiving. In the morning I felt strongly that we should invite one of the families. We drove to Gallup to get more food so we’d have enough for their family. I talked to Heather on the phone and she gave me a couple of recipes that sounded yummy. By evening we hadn’t heard from the family we’d invited to know if they were coming. Then we had a call from the Relief Society President, inviting us to dinner.

Tuesday I studied most of the day. I still hadn’t heard from the family we invited by mid-morning, so I sent a message asking what the status was. I got a message back a few minutes later that they wouldn’t be coming. I was a little disappointed, but it also meant we could go somewhere. I made a call and accepted the invitation.

In the afternoon, we taught a makeup class for temple prep. The man’s granddaughter and grandson sat in with us. The granddaughter is home from BYU and is submitting papers for a mission in a month.

At institute we only had one student. He told us he’d invited several people he thought would be there. He said he really feels the spirit. He’s going on a mission, so we need to get this going before he leaves.

Wednesday I spent some time studying in the morning. I also spent time baking and doing things in the house.

Thursday was a good day. We have much to be thankful for and it was nice to have a day just to reflect on our blessings. We had the opportunity to talk with all of our children and express our love for them. We were invited to have dinner with our Relief Society president and her husband. We enjoyed the time with them. We were so grateful for their invitation as we had been feeling the pangs of being away from home for the holiday. It was nice to be with people we enjoy. We missed being with our own family, but we felt the love of the Lord with us.

Friday I studied almost all day. I needed to organize my thoughts for my lesson on Saturday. I feel so inadequate at times, like I really don’t know what is needful and what should be presented. I reread the book about teaching seminary and got some additional ideas about things I needed to do. In the late morning we visited a family here in Ft. Wingate. We shared part of a talk by Elder Echo Hawk and Ted gave the husband a blessing because he had a sore tooth.

Saturday morning I had an impression about a parable for the seminary kids to encourage scripture reading. I quickly wrote it down before I forgot. I’m not sure it really made a difference, but I think they got the message. They can only feed their spirits if they read on a daily basis. The kids are in need of the strength they get from the scriptures.

In the afternoon we went to visit in Iyanbito. We were looking for two brothers on Burnt Corn Rd. We turned into the area where they lived and met a man. He was their brother-in-law who lives on the same property with them. He invited us into his hogan—our first visit to a hogan. It was about 20 feet across, round and very basic with a ceiling that sloped up to the center point. It was in fairly good condition, but needed new flooring. There was a sofa facing an entertainment unit with several shelves of videos. There was a kitchen area and a small table where he sat next to the sofa. There was a wood stove on one side. There was a room off to the side that I assumed must be the bedroom. He was very nice, but he had some disappointing attitudes. He would make a good branch president and we strongly encouraged him to come to church and become active. He feels badly for his people and said many of them have totally lost hope. I was very impressed with him and felt he could really make a contribution to the branch. I told him we really needed him and encouraged him to come.

We then went next door to visit the first brother. We knocked on the door of the house which looked like it was falling apart. The door was about my height. A window opened to the right of the door and we saw a man with white hair, but he didn’t say anything. We told him who we were and told him who we were looking for. He shut the window and came to the door. His jacket had seen better days. It had lots of holes in it and the filling was coming out. He had a cowboy hat on and his hair was about to his shoulders. We had a good conversation with him. We invited him to come to church.

We then went to the next house where his brother lived in another hogan. He was outside and came over to visit. While we were there his brother came over without the jacket on, knocked on the door of the hogan, and went in. He was back out in a couple of minutes with a different jacket on. Apparently, his brother’s wife washes his jacket for him. We invited this brother to church and walked back to the gate. The first brother walked with us and told us we’d gotten off easy—usually his brother chases missionaries off. He said he has to watch out for the family and when they start to argue he has to separate them and restore peace. It was definitely an interesting experience.