Week Ending March 23, 2013

Sunday we had a good turnout for church. I was asked to offer the opening prayer and lead the music. Ted played the piano because the regular pianist wasn’t feeling well. We had two kids there for the youth conference class. I asked the kids that had come last week to stay so the others would feel more comfortable. One mom stayed with us and she said she thought it was good. We still have three more kids to pick up.

We had invited the Relief Society president for dinner, but she called to say she needed to take a rain check. We had something for another family so when they came by to get it we invited them to stay for dinner. It was their chance to have a real Irish meal of corned beef and cabbage. We had enough plates and we pulled together enough chairs. I sat in the rolling chair and Ted sat in the stuffed chair. The two youngest didn’t want corned beef and cabbage. I fixed some hot dogs and that kept them happy. Their son had a meeting at the stake center so they had to rush. I was glad to see we were able to have that many people eat at our table in some degree of comfort.

Monday we went to pick up the basket and ring we bought Friday. The owner of the trading post had cleaned up the ring and made it look nice. We talked to him for a long time—he’s such an interesting person. He has had some great finds. Someone once gave him a Book of Mormon signed by Brigham Young. He also has received several things over the years from people’s attics, etc.

We then went to get a bite to eat. The waitress told us she couldn’t give us water because it was running brown from the tap. That made me a little uneasy. It turned out they were working on pipes in the area. I got an enchilada and a taco but I couldn’t tell them apart. Both were on the plate, lettuce and all, when they were cooked. Ted had a local special and enjoyed it.

Wednesday we got ready and headed to the Iyanbito Senior Center for our Easter program. We visited with people as they arrived. The program went well. We played three video clips of apostles and prophets bearing their testimonies about Christ. We also included some lighter stories that illustrated the concepts of the Atonement. The Relief Society president read a story about a parent and child bunny that sort of introduced our theme of love. One of the elders was on splits with the district leader so we had a brand new missionary from Dallas that stepped in and took his place. We shared the teachings about Gethsemane, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection. We took a bit longer than we’d thought, but the people did not appear to be restless. We had the center’s chairman give an opening prayer and one of our members gave a closing prayer. They also asked Ted to offer a blessing on the food.

After the program, three ladies talked in Navajo. The third one inserted some English phrases to welcome us and tell us thank you for coming. It turned out she was Bessie Gilmore, the lady that was sick originally when we went to give “Bessie” a blessing. I asked one lady later what she had said. She said they usually complain that they don’t have Navajo’s do the programs. She had told them that they can’t get the Navajo’s to come. They say they will, but then they don’t show up. She told them that when we say we’ll come, we do. That was good of her. She seemed pleased with what we had done.

We ate with the group and visited with the people for a while. Ted and the elders helped serve the plates to the people. They had soup (water with meat and vegetables—no seasoning), fried bread, Jello, and carrot cake. We had a good time. When they all went outside to do the Easter egg “hunt”, we left to go home and study.

I am really struggling with the Epistle of Paul to the Romans. I understand the doctrines he’s teaching, but I do not understand what he’s saying. I spent most of the day reading the commentaries in the teachers’ manual and that gave me some hope. Ted and I also spent time reviewing my seminary lesson so could teach my students in the evening and I could go to the Relief Society dinner.

Late afternoon we visited some members to read scriptures with them. The grandma had read one chapter and asked a couple of questions. The mom was also there. After we finished there, Ted dropped me at a member’s home so I could go to the dinner with her. We enjoyed a good visit, but there has got to be a way to get more sisters involved.

Thursday I woke up about 4 AM thinking about some issues. I did a few things then I went back to bed. Our morning was slow. I continued to read from my teacher’s manual and came to somewhat of a solution as to the topics to teach. A lady stopped by just after lunch time to give us a couple of fresh tamales she’d made. She had made them for her aunt to sell to her co-workers to raise money for a trip her son will take to Washington this summer.

I spent the afternoon reading the manual and organizing my thoughts for the lesson Saturday. The wind has been blowing a lot the last few days. It has been overcast for a couple of days and looked like it was threatening rain or even snow. It is still chilly outside.

Friday morning I made brownies for the party at the church. I tripled the recipe, but I failed to make the high altitude adjustment to the recipe. I also forgot to set the timer. I sort of guessed when they were done. They were fairly moist, even when they cooled, but they tasted OK.

I spent time putting final touches on my lessons and making some calls. We left a bit late for seminary in Toh-la-kai. We had to stop to do some quick shopping, but we split up and were out of the store very quickly. We actually arrived for seminary about 15 minutes early. My class went well. I really felt like we connected and the kids learned something. We finished talking about the life of Christ—this week was the Resurrection. It has been a good experience to study this part of the Bible and learn so much more than I have in the past.

From there we drove straight to the church. When we arrived we were disappointed to see there were only a few cars. The branch president and his family were there along with another family. The lady in charge and one other lady were there as well as the missionaries. They told us we could eat then they’d start the games. I think they should have gone ahead without waiting for us. We played a couple of games that were fun. I did OK in the writing game and won both times, but I really didn’t do well in the game where we had to be observant. Not my forte. Someone did the clean up while we were playing games. Yeah!! It was a fun evening for those who came.

Saturday was cold and windy. My seminary lesson went well. I only had three students plus the missionaries. The kids usually don’t add a lot of comment and the missionaries were quiet today. After we finished there we dropped off some papers for the youth conference. We have tried so many times to meet with them and decided this was the best we could do. We went to another home to try to talk to the mom, but she was sick.

After we finished there I felt really discouraged. We headed to the Flea Market to look for a blanket to match our pillow cases. We looked at a couple of stalls, before one lady told us the man that sells that pattern was not there today. It was really cold and windy and the dirt blew in our faces. It was not fun. We had planned to get something to eat, but it didn’t even sound good. I bought a loaf of bread and piece of pie that was wrapped in plastic wrap. We looked at some more pots, but we didn’t buy anything.

From there we went to a Chinese restaurant with a buffet that we’d heard was good. We really enjoyed it. As we were finishing Ted ran into a counselor in the branch presidency who was there with his daughter and granddaughter. The Relief Society president also came over to our table and took our bill. She had paid for it and just needed to give them the paper. Very sweet of her. The rest of the afternoon was spent doing some family history work.