Week Ending December 15, 2012

Sunday we woke to a beautiful day. I had volunteered to teach a class in Relief Society on quick and economical meals. I was testing a recipe so I hurried and put the food in the crock pot. We got to church early so we could talk to Pres. Pine about having a New Year’s Eve party. He really liked the idea. Now all we need to do is plan it—yikes! Not my strength. The Relief Society president brought me a game she said is really fun. She had made me a crocheted hat because she said I was going to need it. She also brought us a container of soup. What a sweetheart. I invited her and her husband to dinner later.

Pink Hogan, 2200 Square Ft, dogs included

At church I was thrilled to see that the young man we’ve been teaching was there with his parents and the couple we had visited with on Monday was also there with her daughter. We decided I should stay with them for the other meetings and Ted would teach the temple prep on his own. They decided to stay for the full meeting block and participated in the meetings. They said they’d had a good time.  After church we discovered it was snowing outside. We decided we all needed to be on the road while we could still get out. The flakes were getting bigger. When we got home it slowed a bit, but it started again as the evening came. About 4 PM our guests arrived for dinner. I’d fixed a stew. It was a little dry and needed some flavor, but it was OK. We had a good visit then they headed home to try to get in before the worst of the weather.

Snowflake Temple, notice the ice in the fountain

Monday we left early to meet the Toh-la-kai missionaries and drive to the Snowflake AZ Temple. We had a good discussion on the way—they tried to educate us on how to be better missionaries. It was really cold. When we started the outside temperature was 8^o. As we drove toward Gallup it went down gradually until it was -2 ^o. It stayed there for just a few minutes but it didn’t get very high. At the temple we had a session with ½ of the missionaries from the southern part of the mission. The other half had been in an earlier session. The northern half went to the Monticello Temple last week. We had brief comments from the mission president and his wife and one of his counselors and the temple president. The temple workers had come in on their day off to give us the opportunity to go to the temple. They do this twice a year. Afterward we took a group picture. There were blocks of ice in the fountain—it was really cold. We had lunch prepared by the Holbrook Stake then headed home. It was a good trip.

12/10/12, -2 Degrees; Very Cold!!

Tuesday we spent the day studying and doing stuff in the house. I made white chocolate popcorn so I could take some to Pres. and Sis. Batt on Wednesday. In the evening we had institute.

Wednesday we left really early (6:30 AM) to pick up another senior couple and drive to Kayenta, AZ for a Zone Conference. The Zone Conference was really good. There were several new couples there so we still have about 45 couples in the mission. One couple had brought their youngest child with them—interesting challenge. After the meeting we had a light lunch and a brief program. Batts sat at our table so we felt very privileged. After we left there we drove to Monument Valley. It was later than we thought and it was overcast so we didn’t stay long. We saw some beautiful mountains. Ted was very sleepy on the way home so I was worried—it was about a 3 ½ hour drive. We were grateful to be home.

Sunset over New Mexico

Thursday I studied all day. I needed to prepare a lesson to teach a young man in the afternoon. It went well. We taught his grandpa immediately afterward, so I taught the young man and Ted taught grandpa. The mom came home part way through the discussion and joined with us. The young man is very receptive but doesn’t ask any questions. I asked him a few to see where he was. When I asked him if he would like to know if what we were teaching is true, he said he knew it was true. That thrilled me.

Friday I worked on my lessons for Friday night and Saturday morning. It had snowed during the night so we just wanted to stay inside anyway. After I finished my preparations I made some cookies. It was the birthday of one of my students in Toh-la-kai seminary and I wanted to make it special. We arrived in good time and got everything set up. Ted had one student show up and I had none. We had told everyone that if the roads were bad not to come and to let us know they weren’t coming. The roads were very good and no one called so we were disappointed. One mom called to say she had forgotten to tell her older son seminary was at 5:30 so they had no ride. They were going to find a ride and come late but thought it might be much later. About 10 minutes after class was supposed to start I had 3 kids walk in, including the birthday boy and his niece who is also in the class. I wished him a happy birthday and he was surprised that I knew. His birthday was actually Saturday, but he was pleased I remembered.

Another student came later so I had 4 students. We had a good lesson then we all went into Ted’s classroom and sang Happy Birthday. I gave him the hat I’d made. He was really pleased. After we’d had cookies and singing I felt a hug and a head on my arm. He had come to say thank you and say how much he liked the hat. I was so thrilled. I was afraid he would think it was dumb. He wore it from then on. I had brought two plates of cookies so there would be enough. I gave the second plate to the birthday boy to take home. I think I scored about a thousand points with him.

On the way home it was still early—one of the advantages of starting at 5:30. We stopped at T&R Feed and Rope store on the highway. It was fascinating. They had some really cool things. They had toy trucks that were very realistic—my grandsons are really going to enjoy getting some of them. They had rows of saddles, ropes, horse shoes, hats, and boots. It was a really cool store. We stopped at Walmart to get a couple of other things and went home. It was really cold outside.

Rope and Feed store, Lariats for sale!!

Saturday we woke to snow and more coming down. I’d had a call Friday night to see if the roads were OK for a student to drive on. I called to tell her the roads were not cleared and there was more falling. I told her not to come alone. As it turned out she came anyway—her mom brought her. I was so pleased that she came because she had every excuse not to. She told me after class that she needed another journal because she has filled the one I gave her at the first of the year. She reads the assignment every week and does the exercises. She is such a sweet girl.

After seminary we returned home. The roads were slippery and more snow fell off and on all day. Sister Batt called to say she had found me a puzzle for the New Year's Eve Party and was mailing it. I made some more white chocolate popcorn and bagged it. I also studied my next chapters for Saturday—nice to get it read so far ahead. I also tested another crock pot recipe—it didn’t turn out very well. I guess I didn’t follow the directions very well. It tasted OK, but the presentation was botched. In the evening we played a couple of games to test them for the New Year’s Party and I made a flyer to pass out. It is really cold and wet outside.