Week Ending February 23, 2013

Valentine's Day at Ft. Wingate

 

Sunday we talked about the new program. I suggested to Ted that maybe we should just get a 4-wheel drive vehicle so we can do what is needed. He thinks that’s overkill and he’s right. We will just do a lot of walking. The elders are continuing to contact people that live down really ugly roads. They need to be contacted, but the only way we’ll be able to follow up is on foot. I guess the upside of this is that I will get lots of exercise. And think of how much it will mean to people to know that we loved them enough to walk all the distance to their home.

Alvin & Jack Surprise, Horse Hair Pottery Specialists

Monday we drove to Thoreau to pick up the vase Jack Surprise made for me. It was beautiful. He actually gave me a choice of two since I had said I would prefer it without etching. He had one with etching and a turquoise stone and one without etching. I’m not sure if it was the etching or the turquoise, but that was the one I selected. It is made of the red clay of the area and has the horse hair added on. Jack is actually half Irish and half Miqmaq Pottawattamie Indian.

My new vase by Jack S, Horse Hair Pottery New Mexico

When we returned home we did the wash and studied. I felt like we should go to a family’s to show the DVD on the youth conference. We walked over to their home and arrived just as they were leaving to take the daughter to the bus station to go back to school. They let us show the video. I felt like the Lord had prompted us to go when we did so we could catch them before they left.

Tuesday I typed up a list of youth age 14-18 in our branch to discuss with the branch president. Ted went with the missionaries about 1 PM to visit some people in Pinedale.  That gave me an opportunity to do some more reading for my classes.

In the afternoon we went to the final game for girls' high school basketball. We didn’t realize there would be three games and each would be about 1 ½ hours. My students didn’t play until the second and third games and it was parent recognition night so it was extra long. We didn’t get home until after 9 PM. We felt it was important to be at the games, but they lasted FOREVER.

I had a call from a sister I had called earlier to let her know I had missed seeing her at church. She told me about her schooling and her work and said she’d be at church on Sunday. I was thrilled that she’d called. I wish more people from the branch could reach out to the others when they are missing. I think it would make a huge difference.

Wednesday we woke to snow and wind. It was really cold. Our evening appointment was postponed until Thursday. In the evening we met with the branch president and the elders to discuss the Center of Strength program. It was a good meeting. The president discussed several people he wanted us to follow-up on. He told the elders he thought they should work in Ft. Wingate and Iyanbito and we should handle Sundance and Church Rock and Pinedale. He asked us to teach a monthly class in Financial Management. We showed him the DVD on the youth conference. He wants us to contact as many of the youth as we can since this could be life-changing. But at the same time he indicated his kids would only be going if there was no sports camp. Amazing!

Petrified wood we found at our neighbor's yard--1 ft long

Thursday morning we woke to snow falling fairly heavily. The roads were a mess and schools were cancelled. About ½ an hour before an appointment we had a call to say the roads in the area were very bad and we shouldn’t come. I wasn’t too sad at being at home since I still had lots to do for my lessons and we had a full day ahead. I studied for a while then we drove to Gallup for our CES inservice meeting. There was only one other lady there. We had a good discussion about keeping the lessons and the material on a spiritual level and not feeding the kids “fluff”. I found I am not the only one that is challenged in getting the kids to read. We discussed some ideas that may be helpful. After the meeting we went to Walmart. We ran into the lady we had the appointment with earlier. The weather had cleared about the time our appointment would have finished.

From there we went to teach a young girl a final discussion before her baptism. When we asked if she remembered the things we’d been teaching her she reiterated many of them back to us. When we asked if she was reading the Book of Mormon she said her mom took it away from her so she wouldn’t read it on the bus. (Her mom said she didn’t want it to get tossed around and messed up by the kids at school.) She understands most of what she reads, but some of the big words are hard for her. When we asked if she was praying about the things we’ve told her she said she was and she feels good when she prays. Our lesson went well. We talked about several commandments and stressed that baptism is not something we do and then forget. We have repeatedly said we need to “endure to the end”.

Her mom’s brothers and sister all sat in on the lesson. When we were done we told the girl this was the last lesson and now her mom needs to talk to the president about her baptism. We invited the rest of the family to listen to the discussions. They all agreed and we will begin teaching them next week. We invited them to the other activities in the branch. We forgot to invite them to church—not very smart. When we got home I was not feeling well. My throat was sore and I felt really achy. Ted gave me a blessing and I went straight to bed.

Friday I slept in late. My throat still felt a bit like it was threatening soreness, but it was much better and the rest of me felt OK. I spent most of the day studying. I worked up a flyer for the elders—they want to do service for people. After the elders reviewed the flyer we headed to Toh-la-kai. No one came until nearly 10 minutes after the start time. When my class finally got underway, and I found a Bible for the student that forgot his, it was nearly 5:50. I felt like really blasting them. I pointed out that our lesson time was cut by 1/3 then went on with the lesson. I felt a bit disjointed about it all. I don’t know if I had not prepared as well as I should have or if I was frustrated with them because of the tardiness. I guess it didn’t matter. After we came home I worked up a form for auditing our membership records for the branch. It will help to get the records in better shape. They are such a mess.

Saturday I woke up early thinking about the records and got up to check a couple of things. Before I knew it, it was time to get up. I tried to rest for a few minutes, but I had to get going so we could get to seminary on time. Three students were missing so I had three students and the two missionaries.

After seminary we went out with the missionaries to try to find some of the youth on the branch list. We started with an elderly sister because we had several youth of the same name on our list and we’d been told she would know where they all lived. She didn’t know any of the youth on our list. We were able to verify the member information on her household. There was a nephew fixing her sewing machine so she could make quilts. He originally was somewhat closed, but after we’d visited a bit and admired the lady’s quilts, he softened up. He lived next door in a hogan with his daughter and granddaughter. He invited us over there when we finished. His daughter was ill so she was in bed sleeping. He has issues with God. I’d really like to visit him again and try to help him realize God loves him. As we left his little granddaughter ran after us so we could give her a hug.

From there we drove to another home a bit down the road. The mom and their two sons were there. We talked to her about helping the missionaries find opportunities to do service and we asked her to let people know. She’s very involved with the senior center. We gave her a flyer with the elders’ phone number and she thought she could help. She gave us the information for the member audit. The elders left her with a thought and talked with her about faith. She sounds like she has great faith. She’d be such a strength in the branch.

We then went to the home of an elderly lady I’d met at the senior center a couple of months ago. I’d taken her picture then. While visiting with another family, I’d heard she was ill so I asked the lady we’d just visited where she lived. When we arrived her daughter answered the door. We explained who we were and said we wondered if her mom would like a blessing. She asked her and we were invited in. She looked so tiny and frail on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket. We had a prayer and Elder Chavez explained about blessings. The men then gave her a blessing. I was so touched by her. I gave her hand a squeeze and told her Heavenly Father loved her. We left our contact information with her daughter and said to let us know if we could do anything.

After leaving her we drove to a home on the hill that the Relief Society President and I had to pray before driving down when we were there before. There were two cars at the house, so the elders opened the gate and drove up. No one was home, so we left a note. At the next home there was a padlock on the door. That is typical if the door won’t lock securely. No one was home there either.

We looked for a couple of other homes. At one we met a young man in black clothing who was playing heavy metal in the background. Another was down a really wicked road. (This was the road where we finally got out and walked. The elders were amazed we had been able to drive as far as we had. I was very grateful for the elders’ truck.) The man at the house where we asked directions told us where to find the family we were looking for. He told us to honk so someone would come to the door because the dogs were vicious and would attack us. The elders chose not to honk, but the man drove up in his truck behind us to make sure we were OK. I really appreciated that. 

High School Banner--Wingate Bears (Shush)

After the visiting we got some lunch then headed to the basketball game for one of my students. It was a good game, but the home team lost.