Week Ending December 1, 2012

Sunday we wanted to go to church early to talk to the Branch President about the Break-the-Fast meal next Sunday. We suggested that it might be better to have everyone bring the food instead of bringing it in from a local restaurant. The president agreed and the Relief Society president made assignments. I am sure the branch will be better off for it even if it is more work. Our temple prep class went well. The granddaughter we were teaching has now got a new job which requires her to work nights. She is not going to continue with the discussions and I’m not sure if she’ll be able to continue with school. I’m not sure the job will be a blessing to her in the long run. We studied most of the afternoon and worked on lessons. We had a call from the Toh-la-kai elders asking about rides to the temple session on Dec. 10. Since we didn’t know anything about it we called and found out the young elders have the opportunity to go to the Snowflake Temple, but they need rides from senior missionaries since they have a limited mileage allowance. I’m glad to know we can be of some help to them.

Bessie Martinez

Monday we visited with our grandma. She feels “empty” much of the time. I talked to her about filling her emptiness. I told her she needs to feed her spirit by praying and reading the scriptures. I read with her in 3 Nephi 17 where Christ blessed the little children and prayed with the people. It helped her feel better. After leaving her house we picked up some things for next Sunday. We also got dog biscuits. The RS president had told us that they used to carry dog biscuits with them on their mission to keep the dogs from biting. We feel armed now. At home I made some treats. I wear an apron my grandchildren gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago. I like to wear it when I cook—it makes me feel closer to family having their handprints around me.

Tuesday I studied a bit. In the mid-morning we walked to the church to make some copies and I actually got the copier to work in just a couple of minutes. On the way out we noticed the gate to the lot was bent and off the track. It looked like it had been hit from the inside and knocked off the track. Someone would have had to hit it pretty hard with something pretty strong to bend the heavy metal poles. When we got home I cooked a bit, worked on a gift for a student, and studied for seminary.

In the late afternoon we drove to the stake center to get ready for institute. We visited with another couple for a few minutes before institute started. They told us our mission is considered an international mission because of the Navajo Nation. That was very interesting to me. At institute we had three students and two missionaries. While we were playing a young man told us he is working next Tuesday at the same time the missionaries told us he is being baptized. We suggested he get it straightened out. We had a good time and actually stayed later than usual until Ted told them it was time to go home.

When we got home there was a message from one of our temple prep students. She said her son had been asking questions about the plan of salvation that we had taught his grandfather last week. I suggested we would be glad to come to talk with him or answer any questions he had. She asked him about it and he wants to have us come and relearn the gospel. His mom said this is the first interest he has shown in the gospel on his own in many years. We made an appointment for Thursday afternoon.

Wednesday I went with the RS president to visit several sisters. We drove down some dirt roads to where the tire marked a driveway. We went to the second wall of tires and turned in. We had a good visit. The granddaughter brought out her baby even though he was napping. He was on a cradle board taking his nap. After we left their house we needed to put disinfectant on our hands because of some skin disease they had. Yikes!

We drove further down the road to a house the color of a pumpkin with two hogans next to it. The gate was chained shut, but I unwound the chain so we could go in. No one was home. From there we went to another lady’s house. We sat in her kitchen and talked with her. She was sad and a bit lonely, so she enjoyed the visit. We drove on down the road to the homes of several family but none were home. We drove up on the hill to a home because we could see the truck of a friend there. The road there was the worst I’ve seen yet. It was like a rutted river bed with a deep gorge in the middle. We started up one side and determined it wasn’t wide enough for the car, which is a compact. We backed down and started up the other side. I couldn’t see how she was going to get across the gorge, but she made it. We got to the gate and found it shut. I could have lifted the pole out of the wire loops, but she looked at the road ahead and decided not to chance it. We were starting to leave when a man saw us from the hogan and walked down. We had a brief visit with him. His mom was out picking pinons. When we started down the road she was undecided which side to try. I reminded her that the right side coming up was too narrow. She prayed to know which side to take down. We went down the right side (the left coming up) and made it with only a couple of bumps.

The road in our visiting

We drove to the senior citizens center where we could have a free lunch. We talked with a lady who was sewing quilt squares at a table with a lady named Bessie Martinez. She was a member of the church. I asked if I could take her picture. The lady asked her in Navajo and I took the picture. Today was such an experience. It seems so foreign to be at times. I am amazed at the living conditions some people tolerate. I am amazed that they live with such horrible roads. But they are good people. They do much to help each other and much to care for their families. I have never seen such a large number of grandparents raising children and even great grandchildren. It is such a sad condition and I don’t know what we can do to change it.

Thursday we had the opportunity to teach a lady a discussion on the Restoration. In the afternoon we taught a young man a discussion on the Plan of Salvation. He was very receptive to the teaching. His grandpa sat in on the discussion with him.

We were up very early on Friday to go to Red Rock Park for the annual Hot Air Balloon festival. There was a launch from the park of about 40 balloons. We were cold so we went to stand by a fire where people were congregating. Ted visited with some of the people. One of the ladies asked if we’d ever helped crew a balloon and invited us to help them. It was a real experience.

Hot air balloon filling

First, we lowered the basket to the ground from the trailer. Then the pole bag was lifted out of the basket and handed to me to be in charge of. The burners were lifted out in a bag and unloaded. Then I took the poles out of the bag and the men put them on the four corners of the burners. The whole arrangement was then lifted up and attached in the corners of the basket. They attached cables from the basket to the burners and we put pole covers over the poles, cables, and hoses to keep it all intact. Meanwhile, some of the men spread out a huge tarp to the side of the basket.

When the tarp was spread out we carried the balloon, which was in a bag and was very heavy, to the edge of the tarp, and attached it to the basket/burners. The front part was a large hoop about 10 feet across. When all the cables were attached, the bag was carried quickly from one corner of the tarp to the diagonal corner, unloading the balloon on the way. After the entire balloon was out, we pulled on webbing attached to the sides and spread it as wide as we could.

Hot air going in

When the balloon was spread out, a huge fan was set up next to the basket. Two men held the hoop up so it provided an opening into the mouth of the balloon. Ted was at the top of the balloon holding a cable attached to the top of the balloon. They turned on the fan began filling the balloon with air. It was really interesting to watch the balloons as they began filled on the ground.

Our balloon was labeled Nizhoni Gallup. Nizhoni is Navajo for “beautiful”. It had a stylized Navajo on the side. There were balloons of all descriptions. Several were striped or checkered. One looked like Humpty Dumpty with arms and legs. One looked like the world. One had fish on the outside like a fishbowl. A man told us that a balloon costs about $30,000-$50,000. Wow!

 

After the balloon was filled with air, the burners were turned on and the hot air was blown into the filled balloon. As the air inside became hot, the balloon began to rise. When it was sufficiently high we tipped the basket upright and the pilot and two riders climbed in. The rest of us were “weight on” to hold the basket down until they were ready to lift off. When they were ready, Ted was told to let go of his cable and they attached it to the basket, the rest of us let go, and they gradually lifted off. What an amazing experience.

Balloons going up

Balloonmania at Rio West Mall, Gallup

I thought we were just helping get it up, but then we piled into their truck and followed the balloon. We ended up on a dirt road just a few miles away. The balloon came down gently on the ground. As the balloon lost air and came down, two men held the cable at the top and had to pull very hard while they ran away from the basket to spread the balloon out in a straight line. The pilot’s wifeand I held onto a hoop at the top of the balloon and pulled hard while all the men helped pull a giant squeegee along the length of the balloon to remove as much air as possible.

Jump and mash routine 

We then put the top of the balloon into the bag. We stood every 5-6 feet along the balloon holding our piece on our shoulders while two men stuffed each section into the bag then moved the bag to the next person. A couple of times we dropped the balloon and surrounded the bag. The first time this happened one of the men insisted that I was needed at the bag. We all turned our back to the bag and, on the count of three, we jumped backward and sat down on the balloon in the bag and wiggled around trying to push the air out of the balloon. It was hilarious. We continued with the stuffing process until the balloon was in the bag. At the end they did the jump and mash again only I didn’t participate that time. We loaded everything in the trailer again, returned to the park, hugged and shook hands, and left for home. What a fun thing to participate in. I had no idea it was so complicated to fly a balloon.

Our appointment fell through so we studied and worked at home until time to leave for Toh-la-kai. We arrived early enough to get everything set up for our lessons. Mine had some scripture words I taped under the desks and a maze I had to draw on the board. I also had to set up the DVD to show a video clip. I discovered the DVD player was a little sensitive. There were only two electrical outlets, and it was difficult to get plugs in and out, so I did not have prelude music. Shortly after 6 PM one of the adult students arrived. At 6:30 no one else had come. Ted started his class and I went into my room. I felt a bit discouraged to think that no one would come. I called a few of the people. I finally started taking everything down and putting things away. I was really feeling sorry for myself. Then a young student walked in. He was surprised no one else was there. He said, “I guess I’m the only one that’s going to have fun tonight.”

We went ahead with our lesson. I blindfolded him and tried to direct him through the maze. We were just about to show the video clip when another student arrived. We finished the class, adapting the exercises to the smaller number. In the end I felt much better about it.

We were off to seminary Saturday shortly after 8 AM. At home I started in on my preparations for Sunday dinner. I made two batches of dessert then washed and foiled the potatoes. When I finished I reviewed for tomorrow. In the evening we drove to Gallup for Balloonmania. There were about 20 balloons in the mall parking lot, most of them different than the ones we had already seen. They occasionally flashed lights on inside the balloon that lit them up and made them look so beautiful. An announcer would count to three and they would all flash their lights on and off. We really enjoyed it.

On the way home Steven called to talk about family history. He had done some work earlier in the day and did a really good job. He wanted me to review it. He is amazing me with it. He is doing work on the German lines that had come to a dead end until recently when some of the records were indexed. I am so proud of what he is doing.