The branch president talked for a few minutes then asked me to come up and share my thoughts. I told them how touched I was by their feelings for family, that they, as a people, have great care and loyalty for their families. It is rare to find a family that is not multi-generational and that does not include more than just parents and children. I told them we felt we had been welcomed into their family and were grateful for that. After church they passed out flowers and bags of chocolate drops to the mothers. It was a good gesture. Also one of the ladies had brought me a corsage which I thought was sweet.
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| Happy Mother's Day! |
After church we were told we needed to select a site for the
picnic on Memorial Day, so we took another couple and drove up to McGaffey to
look around. We decided the dry lake bed would be a great site, with plenty of
parking and a restroom nearby. Then we drove to a picnic area and found tables,
barbecue stands, shade, and restrooms all in a close vicinity. There would be a
$5 charge per car, but that seemed like a good site.
When we finally got home Ted barbecued steaks—that was a
nice change. We talked with all our children and some of our grandchildren.
That was the highlight for me. I am very blessed to be the mother of wonderful
children and I am grateful to Heavenly Father for the immense blessings He has
poured out on our family. In the afternoon we had to deliver some of the
Primary cards to the homes of kids who did not come to church today.
Fortunately, there were just two families to see. The first was straight
forward since we knew where they lived. The second was a little dicey. We had
directions, but it took three tries down some fairly interesting dirt roads
before we got to the right house. We did meet some nice people having their own
family gathering and we found an abandoned house in a patch of very soft dirt,
but it was an experience.
Monday I spent the time doing stuff in the house and
studying. In the evening we went to the Young Single Adults Family Home
Evening. We hope that our attending will help them want to come to institute.
Some of the kids there already attend, but there are a few we could recruit. One
young man fixed Navajo tacos. He actually cooked the fry bread outside while
everyone else played a game. I thought it was unfortunate he was not able to
play the game, but the food was yummy.
Tuesday I wasn’t feeling too well, so I walked slowly during
our exercise session at the church. I was really glad when the time was up. I
studied a lot during the day.
Wednesday I was still sick. I studied all day. In the
evening Ted volunteered to take my seminary class for me so I went over the
lesson with him. When he got to church two kids were there but their brother
came later and went into the cultural hall to play ball until his sister
retrieved him. While Ted was at the church the branch president told him he
thought the picnic should be behind the church since we didn’t want to spend $5
a car for parking. I think that’s a silly decision, but I guess they have
decided.
Thursday I studied more and rested a lot.
Friday I was tired. I seem to be getting better, but I
haven’t been sleeping well and I don’t have a lot of energy. In the evening we
drove to Tohlakai to teach seminary. I was thrilled when one of my students
showed up that has missed the last four weeks. I asked if everything was OK and
she said it was. She acted like nothing was wrong. I really can’t figure her
out.
Saturday morning we woke early. I remembered a family was dropping
their kids at the church to watch videos until seminary started. We had told
them we would get the TV out of the library for them and we had forgotten to do
it. Ted hurried and showered and drove to the church to get the TV out then
returned home. Since the parents are temple workers now, Ted didn’t have a
class so he came to mine. When we got to the church it was obvious the kids
weren’t there. When the missionaries arrived a short time later they said the
two kids weren’t coming. I was a little concerned since they were supposed to
go to the temple with us. Another student was on her senior trip and another
slept in so I had two students, the two missionaries, and Ted. It was a fairly
disappointing show of kids. I talked with the kids about their end of year
assignment that will be due in two weeks.
After seminary we dropped our stuff at the house then drove
to the temple. I had planned to go with the kids to assist them. Ted had
committed to help a family from our temple prep class who were bringing the
lady’s father with them. We had told them the session would be in Navajo and
they were looking forward to that. As it turned out, there were more English
speakers than Navajo speakers so they decided to do the session in English. I was
concerned that I would be disruptive to the session if I started coughing, so I
did some other work. The temple ladies were really sweet and very grateful for
my help. One of the first ladies turned out to be the mom of one of our
institute students and we had a brief chat. Then a later worker had a last name
of a friend from college and I asked her if she knew my friend. It was her
husband’s cousin. Such a small world. Anyway, I was able to enjoy that
experience.
Ted had talked with parents of the missing seminary kids
while he was in the temple. They had asked when the kids could make up the
lesson. I have no problem making up a lesson when there is a conflict or when
it is pre-arranged. I don’t like to do it when they stayed up too late and
didn’t want to come. I need to be more clear about what we will and will not do
in the future. I also need to have a better system for them to do more of the
learning and me less of the work. (I ended up suggesting they could do the workbook assignments for the chapters we'd studied and hand them in--that should give them opportunity to review what we talked about.)
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