Week Ending May 11, 2013

Sunday we got to church early to copy the announcements and set up for Primary. There were nearly 70 people at church. It was testimony Sunday so I shared my testimony, expressing my gratitude to Heavenly Father for all He has done for us and our family. Primary went OK. I took the kids’ pictures to put on cards for Mother’s Day. I took my seminary stickers and they completely ate up the glittery stars. It went well. I told the executive secretary and the counselor that was a trial of faith—they told me it was a qualification for sainthood. I hope so.

In the evening we went to the CES Fireside. When we arrived we found out there was a group in the kitchen. The Young Single Adults were having a “Break the Fast” in the kitchen area just prior to the fireside. We were invited to join them for fajitas—yummy. Elder William Walker spoke about prophets and gave us a “life and times of the prophet Thomas S. Monson”. It was really good. We had a good time visiting with the group and will try to join them for home evenings in order to encourage them to attend institute. We may be able to help increase their attendance as well.

Monday was a crazy day. I had a list of things to do a mile long, mostly having to do with non-studying things. I wanted to make some bread for us since we were nearly out. I made the same recipe I always do—my fool-proof recipe—only it doesn’t count on me being a fool. We had some half and half that had been sitting in the refrigerator so Ted suggested I throw it in. I’m not sure if that made the difference or if it was the stone ground floor I included, but I have added the flour before without problem.

Everything went well until I tried to dump the dough out after the first rising to shape into loaves. The center part dumped onto the counter, but the part touching the bowl didn’t come out. I’ve had a similar problem before so I got my spoon and started scraping the stuck dough. It didn’t really loosen the dough—it just stuck to the spoon and then to my hands. I tried kneading the dough and then both hands were in and covered with heavy dough. Usually when that happens I can add some flour and it gradually balances the mixture and the dough starts to pull off the hands and come together in a ball. Not this time. The more I added the heavier the dough got, but it just continued to be really, really, REALLY sticky.

I tried scraping it off my hands and off the counter but that just got the spoon stuck to my hands. I have never seen such an awful mess. Ted kept pulling my sleeves up to keep them out of the mess, but I was really not sure what to do. Finally, I scraped about a third of the mass onto the spoon and then scraped it off the spoon into the first pan. I repeated the process with the other two pans, finishing by scraping the counter and my hands and trying to pull all I could off and into the pans. I couldn’t touch it to give it any shape, so it was just a messy glob of goo in the pans.

I left them to rise for the required time, hoping and praying they would. Meanwhile, I tried to get the stuff off my hands. Ted was good enough to clean up the counter for me. When it was time to put the pans in the oven, they had raised to the tops of the pans, but they weren’t round and pretty. I put them in to bake. When they were done, they were still flat and sort of lumpy on top but they looked OK. After they had cooled a bit I had a slice and it tasted good. Fortunately, they were no longer sticky. The first loaf I cut had a big air bubble inside of it, probably due to the pieces of dough thrown into the pan in a disorderly manner. It is a bit crumblier than usual, but it still tastes good so I guess it turned out OK.

Tuesday I spent quite a bit of time studying, or trying to. We had been trying to locate a package that had not arrived. We finally found it at the UPS building in Gallup. Apparently they sent the package UPS with a PO Box which doesn’t fly. However, instead of telling us that was the problem, they told us they had tried to deliver and had been told to hold the box. Since we didn’t know how long they would hold it we drove to Gallup to get it before it was returned or dumped.

Colten on trumpet (in red shirt)

In the evening we attended the band concert for Wingate High School. Two of my students are in the band. The pieces were all very basic and very short and it was clear the music program is in its infancy. It was also one student’s birthday so I gave him a stocking cap I had made for him. I hope he likes it, but at least he knows I made it for him.

Bethany on flute

We went to the Iyanbito senior center for lunch. It turned out to be their special Mother’s Day meal. Their program had not shown up, just as they said at the Easter program. They asked Ted to do Father’s Day. They had a nice meal and gave out bags of donated food and stuff. Ours had several things in that we could not use, so we will pass it along. It was sweet to include us. They also had a raffle of some very nice donated items. There was a beautiful necklace I would love to have so I think I’ll ask the person who donated it if they have more.

 I finished the Mother’s Day cards for Primary. I picked up the pictures from Walmart, so I just had to match them to the cards, crop them to fit the space the kids had left, and glue them down. I think the moms will like them. In the evening we went to the church for seminary. The one student made a real effort to participate and I appreciated his coming. I was glad Ted was there to fill in the ranks.

Thursday we spent most of the day studying. I tried one last recipe for the Relief Society meeting. The elders came over just before it was done. We waited a few minutes then told them we were ready to eat and invited them to join us. They declined. We didn’t want to eat in front of them so we waited. The dinner cooled considerably and we were running out of time so we finally said we needed to go ahead and eat and invited them once again. This time they agreed. The casserole had cooled considerably and dried out quite a bit. I’m not sure if it would have been any better, but it didn’t help to wait so long.

After the elders left Ted hurried and put the final touches on his lesson for institute. He was a little frustrated because he had counted on time for review. We had to do some shopping then headed to the stake center for CES inservice. We have a new supervisor. I think the new man will be really good.

Seminary graduation is going to be May 19. I think my student told me she is not available that night—I hope not. I was so thrilled that she had agreed to speak. I volunteered another student to say the prayer. I am pleased that my students will get to participate. After inservice, I joined the institute meeting. We had seven students—five are semi-regular attendees that all came at the same time and two are home from school for the summer.

Friday I made the dish for the Tohlakai funeral on Saturday. I did some studying, trying to formulate some better idea of what to do with my lesson on Saturday and reviewing for Friday night. I discovered I had left my scriptures at the stake center so we had to go by there. In our confusion and haste leaving, we left the dish for the funeral which meant we would have to take it Saturday. Oh, my. The Relief Society president called to say the night meeting is being cancelled this month, so we don’t have those preparations on the calendar this week.

We got to seminary in good time and got set up. I tried to figure out what hymn to sing that the kids would know—I’m surprised that they know so few that I do. So I spent the time before the students came singing some of the hymns and really enjoyed the experience. I have one student that has not come for four weeks. I sent a note during the week telling her we missed her, but she still didn’t come.

I was glad when we got home. It started to rain right just as we were driving into Ft. Wingate, so we missed the worst of it. The weather here is really crazy—one minute it’s beautiful and the next minute it is pouring rain. I hope the rain has stopped before tomorrow since high school graduation is outside.

Saturday it was a rush job to get ready for seminary. As it turned out we got there about 15 minutes early. Two of my students were there decorating for the graduation party. They had a table set up with all of the awards won over the years--they said there were more, but they didn't take time to find them. They weren’t going to be able to get to seminary since they had to finish up and get to the graduation ceremony. I told them I would do seminary on Wednesday night to help them since Relief Society cancelled. I just had two students and the missionaries for class. I felt like all but one student were asleep at the switch. I really felt they were disconnected during the lesson.

Did one person really do all that?

As soon as the lesson was over we picked up the dish for the funeral and drove to the stake center. When we passed the football field we saw that the bleachers at the high school were already half full. We were hoping there would still be seating by the time we returned. We got the dish to the stake center and headed home. As we pulled off the interstate toward Ft. Wingate the rain drops started falling, some of them fairly big. By the time we reached the hill going into the valley we’re in, it was passed, but we were worried for a minute. We shouldn’t have been—when we talked with our graduating student later she said she had prayed we wouldn’t have rain. She has great faith. When we got to the school the parking lot was already full and people were parking in the flood ditch and on the road. We decided it would be better to park at home and walk down. Ted dropped me off and drove the car home.

How much longer do we have to sit here?

As I got near the bleachers I heard a voice calling, “Sister Roeth”. There were two kids from the church at the top calling to me. I was glad I wouldn’t have to sit alone while I waited. I was also pleased that I could sit at the top of the bleachers where there is a backrest. The graduation went well. There were a few sprinkles, but it was good weather the rest of the time. I was amazed when I looked at the program and found my student was the Salutatorian and the Student of the Year. She went up a couple of times to be recognized. She’s in the National Honor Society and was part of the graduation committee. I think the graduating class probably only had about 70-80 kids, but that is still a big accomplishment. She is a really sweet girl and very involved in sports and music.

Enthusiastic graduates!

Bethany and parents

 After the graduation Ted noticed he had lost his name tag so he left to retrace his steps and find it. I went onto the field and took a picture of my student with her parents and one of me with her. While I was talking with her, her sister walked up and handed me Elder Roeth’s name tag. She had found it on the fence. I suspect someone had picked it up and stuck it on the fence to protect it until it was found. Talk about a small world and a tender mercy. I walked home and met Ted walking back, still looking for it. I showed him the tag and told him how it had been found. He had been praying he’d find it—a real answer to prayers.

Bethany and Sister Roeth

We rested a bit then we headed to the church for the reception. When we got there I helped in the kitchen. There were others there, but the mom was trying to do a lot herself and she had her hands full. We enjoyed a huge meal. The parents talked about their daughter a bit then she talked a while. After that they opened gifts which I thought was an interesting thing. I offered to help clean up, but they me they could handle it. I just felt so bad because the mom looked so tired.

Pine family at grad party