Week Ending February 2, 2013

Sunday it was cool and muddy. I had to get to church early to make copies. At Toh-la-kai Ted had a large number of people in his class. It turned out they had thought there was a class on Strengthening Families that was scheduled for Saturday. They enjoyed his class, but they had taken all our handouts. Before Sacrament Meeting I asked a student if she would be the seminary class president. She said she really didn’t want to. I was really disappointed. I thought it would be a good experience for her.

After church a sister pulled out her knitting needles and ribbon yarn so I could help her get started on a scarf. I helped her do a couple of rows and she thought she had a handle on it. Ted gave a blessing to a sister with the branch president. Her husband was in the circle but didn’t give the blessing. People need to realize they can exercise the priesthood. The elders’ quorum president told me he had been in the hospital during the week with stomach problems. I asked if he’d had a blessing and he said he hadn’t wanted to bother anyone. I said when you are in the hospital it is time to have someone help and it is a blessing for men to exercise their priesthood. They need greater understanding.

At home I was tired so I took a nap and felt much better. I feel there is so much more we could be doing and are not. I looked at the assessments last night and my seminary students do not have even basic understanding of many principles. It made me want to cry to see that they are so unfamiliar with basic gospel concepts. I really need to focus more on just the basics.

Monday evening we went to teach a child in the branch to help prepare her for baptism. It had snowed off and on during the day and the weather was really overcast and wet. The family driveway/yard is really bad. About 20 feet in there’s a bump and there is nothing we can see on the other side of it. Once you go over it, it looked like there was no returning. The rest of their driveway was really rutted and full of puddles. When we got there we tried several ways to get in or find a place to park the car. We tried the side of the road, but there was a ditch very close and Ted felt the ground was too squishy to leave the car there. We finally decided to leave the car in the entrance to the driveway. As Ted pulled it in he got really close to the ditch, even with me guiding him. He couldn’t hear me and my hand signals weren’t the best, I guess. About the time we were about ready to leave the car, someone came out of the house to let us know that was OK to leave the car there. They had probably been watching our maneuverings and having a good laugh.

When we entered the house, it was obvious they were just about ready to eat. We had rescheduled because of our zone conference so we could get started this week. They all came in and sat down, some on the floor. The girl we were teaching is going on eight so we taught at a very basic level. I think that helped. The mom was taking notes and the grandma was listening intently. I was impressed with the little girl. She knew much more than I expected and she was very receptive. At the end, the grandma wanted her own Book of Mormon and said she’d read with her granddaughter.

When we were finished they offered us Navajo Tacos. We’d had dinner and were both quite full, but that was too good to pass up. They dished us a couple of plates and put them in a bag to carry. We said our goodbyes and left. It was a different world than when we’d come in. The sky was clear and there was no rain or snow falling. The ground was still a mess, but it was much easier to deal with. I was a little concerned about Ted backing the car out and not going in the ditch, so I tried to guide him. Thankfully, we got out OK.

Tuesday we woke to a good bit of snow on the ground. I studied most of the day, trying to get my lesson organized. I had a good idea what I wanted to do, but I was having trouble figuring out how to do it and involve the kids. I usually study in the chair near the furnace. It is not really good because there is nowhere to put my books and I am frequently piling them on the floor or balancing them on the arm of the chair. It does have the advantage of getting the heat when the furnace is blowing. In the afternoon we moved the kitchen table so it is out from under the counter and both of us can sit there to study. I’m not sure I’ll like it, but it is better in theory. I have an extra chair sit that I can use for a shelf when I need the table space. There is really no place to put everything, so we need to make-do with what we have.
 

Wednesday we drove to Chinle (Chin-lee) for a zone conference. The road goes through Window Rock then over a mountain before heading north. The road over the mountain was quite snowy, but hard-packed so we were clipping along. It was beautiful, like driving in a wintery fairy land. The trees were all covered in snow, so it looked like a picture on a Christmas card. I was working on a crochet project, so I didn’t look up all the time. Suddenly it got very quiet and the man in the back seat said, “Go around it! Go around it!” I looked up to see a school bus stopped in the road ahead with kids loading onto it. It had its flags up indicating traffic is supposed to stop. It was very clear that Ted was not going to be able to stop even though there was a good distance between us. It was not clear whether he could turn the car or whether there was anything he could do to prevent plowing into the rear of the bus. Just as we got nearly to the bus the car turned and we went around it. I was fearful there would be a vehicle coming toward us, but there was not. My next thought was that we were going in the ditch on the other side of the road, but somehow we did not. Then we were not sure whether we would be able to get back on our side of the road, but the car returned to our side and we proceeded on our way. I was nearly numb realizing how close we’d come to the bus. I was also very aware of the blessing that had been given us of protection and help when it was needed most. We said a prayer of thanks for the tender mercies of the Lord in helping us through such a dangerous situation.

Mountain road on trip home, after snow melted on road

The zone conference was really wonderful. It had nothing to do with the new elders coming except that they asked us to be of help to them. Our mission will be expanding from 129 to 220 within the year and that means at least 60-70% will either be trainers or trainees. We are getting a set of elders next week and I am really grateful for that. We will get mostly elders since it is not safe for sisters to be out on the Res. I was told that they disappear. Yikes!

An elder talked about Lehi’s experience being likened to our lives. He talked about how we’ve all left possessions and comfort to come to the mission field to follow the will of the Lord. It was an excellent analogy. There was a presentation on the multi-stake youth conference for the youth in our mission. It will be a week-long EFY-type experience at the university in Flagstaff. This has been done outside of the USA in several countries, but this is the first one in the USA. We were told we are beta-testing the concept. The total cost for each individual is $50. You can’t beat that for value. I hope I can get all the youth in my classes to attend. There were also talks by the stake president of Chinle Stake and his wife. He pled with us to help rescue his people.

Canyon de Chelly, after zone conference

President Batt quoted a thought he’d read in a book at the Aztec ruins near Farmington: “Remember to remember.” He referred to several things we should remember: remember our blessings; remember our covenants; remember Him who sacrificed for us; remember the promises made to us in the Sacrament prayers. He talked about Dan Jones and an experience he’d had in rescuing the Willie and Martin handcart companies. There were enough wagons to bring the survivors, but their possessions had to be left at Martin’s Cove. He and a group of others stayed to guard the things. Near the end some men came to try to take the things that had been left. He said the prophet had called them and they were determined to do what they were called to do. He said, “I will be true to that trust placed in me.” Pres. Batt asked us to do everything in our power to save the people as we were called to do.

Thursday we visited our sweet grandma. We shared our testimony that as long as we’re moving the right direction we’re on the path to return to Heavenly Father. We keep taking detours and Christ keeps beckoning us back. He will never force us, but He will do all He can to help us.

When we got home we had a note from the landlord saying the new apartment was ready and we could move in. We had decided we are comfortable enough where we are. I noticed the carpet did not appear to be vacuumed. The rest of the place looked pretty good. I told the landlord I thought it needed vacuuming and he wasn’t happy. (He’s been replacing a couple of hundred feet of pipe that froze 3-4 feet underground.) I told him I would do it. He said I shouldn’t have to do that. I told him I agreed, but that I could see he had many other things on his plate and I would be happy to do it. I think he was glad for the help.

After we had some lunch I loaded some cleaners and the vacuum into the car. I was fortunate to get a parking place where I didn’t have to walk in mud. It was fairly clean. We thought the electricity was off, but I bumped the light switch on the hood over the stove and the light came on. It didn’t dawn on me for a minute that that meant the electricity was on. I tried a few other switches and discovered we were in business. It took a couple of hours to clean and vacuum. When I was vacuuming upstairs I wasn’t watching closely where I was and stepped backward onto the top stair. Since I wasn’t expecting it, it threw me off balance and I nearly went down. Fortunately, I fell against the banister and recovered. Again I was grateful for the Lord’s protection and tender mercy. When I was done I was tired and sore, but I felt I had done a good work.

After I finished I did a couple of things at home, then we loaded the car and drove to institute. We had to stop at the water store on the way which meant we had to go an hour early. We had five people at institute, including a new lady. A couple of kids didn’t come, but we had a good group. After the lesson four of us stayed and played Settlers of Catan. We finally got out of there at 10:30. It was fun, but that is way too late for our weary bones. Ted was falling apart by the time we left.

Friday Ted didn’t feel well. I worked on some visual aids for the lesson for our young girl next week. In the afternoon a man came to get the keys to the missionaries’ apartment to move some beds in. The couple from the mission office arrived a bit later, but they just wanted to drop off their trailer so they could go to Gallup to get utilities set up for the new apartment. Since we would obviously not be able to help, we left early to do some grocery shopping on the way to seminary.

In Toh-la-kai my class went well. I had four students which works well for me. It was the first lesson about the last week of Christ’s life and we had some good ideas shared. When we returned home I got ready for bed just in time to hear a knock at the door. It was the couple from the mission office. We invited them to have some soup which we heated and served to them. They’d had a long day and we were all tired. We had a good visit while they ate and enjoyed the time together. After they left, I got things together for seminary in the morning and we went to bed.

Saturday morning we had all but one there for seminary almost on time. One student had returned from Albuquerque early and come to seminary. She seemed pleased when I told her how impressed I was that she’d made it two weeks in a row when I thought she wasn’t coming. Our lesson went well. We talked about the Crucifixion, what we could learn from Christ’s statements on the cross, and then talked about the Resurrection. I had them write in their journals about how they felt about the Savior after discussing the events of the last days of His life. I also suggested to them that if they have a testimony of the Savior they need to live it. If they don’t, they need to get on their knees and ask God to help them get one. This is the most important thing they can do.

After seminary I showed the video about the youth conference in June. It will really be a big thing and the Church is paying the bulk of the cost. There is no excuse for anyone not to go. They were generally excited about it. We need to contact about six other kids in the branch and hopefully get them on board.

The rest of the day I did stuff in our apartment. I worked on preparing some visual aids for a lesson on Wednesday. I mended a blanket that was previously made into a shawl/poncho as part of a Relief Society project—I made it back into a blanket. I fixed a yummy crock pot meal to test a recipe I’d been given. I worked on a scarf for the senior center sale in Iyanbito.

Ted and I discussed some aspects of the work and how we could do better. In our teaching we have a couple of times discussed gifts with the people we were teaching and told them how important it is to use our gifts in God’s service. I read something last night about helping students come to understand their gifts and it impressed me that I needed to really seek to know my own. In the zone conference a couple of the missionaries said how successful they had been when they took things with them to meet people—nobody ever turns you away when you bring gifts. I was impressed that I should make bread, I assume for the people. I brought my mixer to make bread but I have only done it one time and not very well. Practice might help.