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| Sister Kayla Haws |
After church I grabbed a few kids and their parents for my
10 minute meeting. I explained that the online part was up in the air right
now, but we were planning to move ahead. I passed out the supplies then told
the parents that the success of their kids’ year in seminary was up to
them—they needed to be the encouragement and support the kids needed. I
suggested they do the lessons with the kids on occasion to see what is going on
in the class. Everyone was OK, but afterward one parent told me his daughter is
taking all honors classes and he doesn’t know if she’ll be able to do all the
work I’m asking for. It is a big difference this year.
Two families have committed to online and I have the forms for one family. The other was supposed to drop them by the house this evening and didn’t. I called and she said they hadn’t had a chance to do them so she’d bring them tomorrow. It is looking less and less like there will be anyone in the class. We’ll see. I have a low level of confidence it their efforts.
Monday I went visiting with the Relief Society president. We
stopped at the home of a recently deceased woman and her mom gave the president
some of the lady’s earrings when we left. One pair was clip-ons so she insisted
that I take it. They are nice, but I feel a bit guilty taking them. We stopped
to see another lady and met her neighbor who will turn 90 on 9/19. She lives
across the driveway and we had a brief visit. We visited another lady whose deceased
son’s girlfriend and their daughter are living with her now. We had visited her
several months ago and she was sad and lonely. Her house is now clean and she
seems to be quite happy and well taken care of.
We stopped at another home to let the sister know we missed
her on Sunday. When the president was walking up the ramp to the house, she
caught her foot and landed on her knees, hitting her forehead hard on the wood.
The bridge of her nose bled as well as her forehead. She was able to get
somewhat cleaned up but she looked like she’d smacked herself something awful. When
we left she had developed a headache so we decided to limit the rest of our
time. We made a quick visit to invite some girls to seminary, stopped at a
yard sale, then went to lunch in spite of the injuries. (As it turned out,
she no longer remembers lunch or her drive home and her husband says her nose
is broken, so she was probably hurt more than she realized.)
Tuesday I spent the day studying. We took a break to go to
the senior center for lunch. I’m really not sure that is worth the effort, but
we had a good visit with a lady and invited her to our quilting class. She
seemed interested. I am really torn about whether to continue to prepare using
the online materials or to just switch to the workbooks and try again at the
semester change. I talked to the mom who was supposed to bring things last
night. She wasn’t able to get the forms from her daughters. I told her that I
needed them by tomorrow or I wouldn’t be able to get them in for online
classes. She said she’d let me know if she couldn’t get them tonight. I was
just beginning to lose hope when there was a knock at the door and there she was.
I was shocked. She had the forms. There is missing information, but I am amazed
it got this far.
Wednesday I redid the seminary schedule last night for the
umpteenth time, trying to get it to work with all the school schedules, the
various holidays, and conference schedules. What a nightmare! I finally decided
Tohlakai and Ft Wingate could not be on the same schedule. I start Tohlakai
next week and Ft Wingate will start online next week and the rest of the
students will start a week later. Some days I wish I’d never heard of online. I
have the forms for 4 students, but there is still missing information. I don’t
like having the classes on different schedules. I did that last year and I was
constantly trying to review for the one class and prep for the other. I’ll also
have to go through the workbooks and do the online course as a student to know
what the students are doing in order to figure out what to teach them. The
online program requires it and the workbook students will need it. Whew! It
might be easier if I just forget to collect the online forms.
I was concerned today about the quilting class tomorrow. I’m
not sure how many will come. If we have a lot, I’m not sure what we’ll do. If
it is only the regulars, we can just keep plugging away. We need to get a quilt
on the frames so we can have whoever comes keep busy.
The weather here is bizarre. When we arrived at Tohlakai for
seminary there were clouds in the distance (the direction from which we had
come) that looked menacing and had long barbs of lightning in them. When we
came out of seminary it was pouring rain hard enough that I got fairly wet
going to the car parked 20 feet away. We drove out onto the highway to go home
and had not gone more than one minute when there was absolutely no rain and the
ground was bone dry. Go figure. All around us the clouds were black and there
was lightning, but there was nothing where we were.
I went straight to the church for Relief Society night
meeting. I had missed the lady from the Navajo Nation that was teaching how to
wash hands and was apparently very informative. The ladies were in the process
of making homemade noodles and were rolling the dough through a machine to cut
them when I got there. The president’s face was totally bruised across her
cheeks and she looked awful. She left shortly after I arrived. There were two
other ladies. Another lady came a bit later just in time to eat. We had to wait
for the noodles to dry a bit, so we spread them out on plates while we tried to
clean the noodle machine. We cooked the noodles, put some sauce on them, and
ate. There was quite a bit so we invited some of the kids to eat. We found some
punch in the refrigerator as well. After I had eaten and done dishes I left for
home. It was fun, but I really needed to get home.
Thursday morning I ran a little late but got to the church
just in time for the quilting group. The lady we had met at the senior center
on Tuesday came. Another lady came in just after we got there and the three of
us laid out the quilt squares so they’d be ready to sew. Just as we were
finished pinning, the lady who came last week arrived. We got her started
sewing and were just getting ready to go through the rest of the fabric to find
something for the two ladies when two more arrived.
The one lady sewed and the other five of us went through all
the fabric in the cupboard in the hall. One lady was able to use some squares
that had already been sewn by adding some fabric in between the squares. The
new lady found some cute squares already cut that she mixed with some other
fabric and was laying that out and cutting some additional squares. One lady found
some pieces that had been cut that she wanted to work into a project. Her
daughter found some smaller pieces she could make into some blankets for her
dogs. I saw several things I would love to have picked out and made into quilts
or quilt tops just for the fun of doing it. Maybe once we get the ladies going
I can go back and do something like that. The president was not feeling well so
she stayed home. When I told her there were six of us I thought she would cry.
She had about given up on the quilting group.
After everyone had found something to work on, one lady wanted
to organize the fabric before putting it back into the cupboard. It did make
more sense that way. We grouped pieces that had already been cut and scraps and
flannel and pieces that seemed like each other. I feel so blessed to have this
fabric. What an amazing amount of stuff we have been given. I am so grateful
for the ladies that gave so much to us. After it was all cleaned up we put out
the food we had brought and enjoyed a light lunch and visit. The ladies had all
visited with each other so it worked well. We put the tables and machines and
projects away so we could all go home. I was thrilled with the day.
I was supposed to have my test for online seminary to
certify me. I called my supervisor who told me that instead of me walking her
through the process, she could really see what I had done online. She told me
to go through the list and set up the things that needed to be done and let her
know when it was done. Then she would go into the program and check it out.
There are a lot of things I can’t do until the students have done some work,
like grading and so on, so she wants to wait on those. She also told me one of
the teachers for our stake gone so the stake is now in need of a teacher. They
are turning over her class to another teacher who will have 9 students to
start. I told her I could use a few more online students and I could meet with
them virtually if they can’t come to our live meeting. She thought that would
be a good idea to have more online kids interacting. So I may end up with more
students in the next few weeks. I finished up the things I needed to do for the
test and let her know it was ready to review.
Friday I went to the school dorm to try to help the two
girls sign up for LDS accounts for seminary. I had talked with their mother so one
of them was expecting me. Her immediate comment was that she was going to go in
and do it herself but her mom said I was coming. The other one really didn’t
want to do anything. For some reason my internet connection wouldn’t work. The
one girl and I went outside on the steps—the other wouldn’t come outside the
door. It still didn’t work. The girl indicated she would do it that evening and
she would help her sister do it. She promised to send the information to me
tonight. I checked just before I went to bed and she hadn’t sent anything.
I also received an email saying they had added two students
to my class. I am so excited. They are two boys from Holbrook, AZ. I don’t know
anything about them. I sent them the welcome letter, but I discovered that the
email that was set up in the system is the mom’s email address, so I’m not sure
if they got it or not. Anyway, I am excited to have additional students. I’m
sure it will make the experience much better.
In the evening Ted and I watched a movie I’d received for my
birthday and enjoyed that.Iit was good and we enjoyed the change of pace.
Saturday we were up early to drive to Farmington for our
mission conference with Elder Paul Pieper of the Seventy. We made a quick stop
at Sam’s Club to pick up a few things. At the conference it was fun to see
several missionaries we’ve worked with over the last several months. It was
good to see Elder Lords. He is our former bishop’s nephew. He was actually
conducting the conference. The conference was wonderful. Elder Pieper reduced
everything to understanding the doctrines and principles underlying issues. I
know we are teaching that concept in seminary. Understanding leads to
application and changing our lives. The premise was that most challenges are
caused by not having a correct understanding of the underlying doctrines and
principles. It was an amazing concept for me to grasp. I guess I need to
examine my life and figure out what needs to change and what doctrine I need to
have better understanding of to do so. Then I need to study the doctrines and
principles to get the understanding I need to make the changes. Wow!
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| Landscape between Farmington and Gallup |
After the conference we hurriedly left for Gallup to get to
stake conference. We really enjoyed the beauty of the ride both directions. The
land is so green right now that it really is beautiful. It started raining just
as we arrived at the stake center, but it was not just a gentle rain—it was a
deluge. We sat in the car for quite a bit waiting for a break to get into the
church. We thought there was a brief break, but it was deceptive. We were soaked. It made for a chilly meeting being wet and in wet
clothing. I think the rain didn’t stop until just as the meeting was starting.
I really enjoyed the meeting. We have some really good stake
leaders. Once again I was challenged to live up to the covenants I have made.
Pres. Haws spoke about covenants and how they can lead us to Christ. Again, I
need to reflect on my life and the direction I am going and make the changes
needed to follow Christ. Pres. Nielsen of the mission presidency spoke about being
here because we are called. He said there is no mistake in our being here at
this time and we need to ask Heavenly Father to help us know what we need to
accomplish.
After the meeting we drove home. We were really grateful for
the blessings of the meetings and the things we had learned, but we were happy
to be home. It was a really long day.
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