Monday I was able to get all of Week 1 done for online
seminary training. In the evening we attended family home evening. Only four
kids came so Mortensons took everyone to get ice cream. A girl from our branch
didn’t come. She texted another girl that she didn’t come because she didn’t
have a ride. That’s bogus. We told her and her parents we would love to give
her a ride any time. After we returned home I did another couple of lessons for
seminary then went to bed.
Tuesday I was supposed to go visiting with the Relief
Society president, but she cancelled. I spent time working on seminary lessons.
I need to finish Week 2 and Week 3 before the weekend. The students need to do
several things to participate in the program. The support specialist will get
the kids set up in the system once she gets everything. We are supposed to
start seminary in a couple of weeks so there is much to be done.
In the evening we picked up one of our institute students
from the 1st Ward to go visiting. We visited one family with two
kids. They are on a baseball team that plays until mid-October so they won’t be
able to come to institute until then. The boy leaves on a mission the end of
October so he is out completely. The girl’s boyfriend is being baptized soon,
so maybe he will attend with her after baseball. We visited the grandparents of
another girl who was out with her boyfriend. We left the information for her.
We drove way out to the west end of town to find a couple more kids. We
couldn’t find one home and the other was not home so we left a flyer. We then
stopped by a very nice home. There were some very noisy dogs in the courtyard.
We were a little intimidated by the dogs and no one seemed to be home so we
left a flyer in the mailbox for the kids. It seemed like an unproductive
evening.
We took our student home and Ted suggested I go meet her
parents. It turned out the mother of another girl was there for a book club so
we talked to her about institute. Her daughter is leaving for school in two
weeks so we encouraged her to enroll in institute there. One mom was wearing a
t-shirt with something on it about collecting scraps for quilting. I told them
we were starting a quilting group in Ft. Wingate. (She was probably horrified
that we would tie a quilt out of sheets because she had made some really
beautiful pieced quilts.) I then told them if they knew of anyone getting rid
of a sewing machine to let us know. One lady said she had one that was missing
the plate, but she has used cardboard on it to sew. She had just had it
serviced and wanted to give it to us. They also said there were two machines at
church no one used that we could have. I was so excited to have the potential
for three sewing machines. The Lord does indeed answer prayers and provide for
our needs.
Wednesday we went for lunch at the senior center in
Iyanbito. We got there about the time lunch was to be served. Our Relief
Society president was there. I sat and worked on a puzzle with her for a few
minutes while we waited. Another lady was there and we visited a bit. Finally they
started serving. It turned out that the van driver was running the kitchen by
himself. The manager was in Window Rock for something—I hope she hasn’t left or
the center will fall apart. We had lamb ribs, brussel sprouts that looked like
zucchini, strawberries and bananas, corn on the cob, and a tortilla. I think it
had been ready at 11:30 since it was well cooked.
As he was serving he would pick up one tray, put everything
on it from various locations in the kitchen then hand it out. I would have
taken several trays and put the meat on them, served the vegetables and fruits,
and then put the silverware on and handed them out. I gave my tray to an older
lady then got her some tea. By the time I went through the line again he needed
to cut up more meat which took about 10 minutes. Ted and our friend were almost
done by the time I joined them.
In the afternoon we went to read with a family. The mom wasn’t
home but arrived just as we started. Her grandma also joined us which was nice.
We invited them to the quilting day. It would be good for the grandma to get
out and socialize with the ladies. After we read a chapter we reviewed some
basic principles with the little girl. Her baptism date is finally set for
Saturday. Ted and I are giving talks and her uncle is baptizing her. She remembered
quite a bit of what we had taught her.
From there we went to get water. Ted dropped me at Goodwill
to see if they had a crock for our crock pot base. If they didn’t we would get
one at Walmart. I was totally surprised—they had a blue crock. When Ted arrived
I brought the base in to see if it would fit. It did—totally amazing—even though
it is a little snug at the top. Anyway, we got it. They said we could return it
if it didn’t work.
We went to Walmart to pick up a few things then headed to
Tohlakai. After seminary we had scheduled a meeting with kids and parents about
the new seminary year. They have a temple trip on Saturday so the branch
president wanted to interview them during the meeting. I told him that wouldn’t
work since they had to be there to get the information. I had scheduled the
meeting so he could be there, so that really surprised me. None of the kids
have computers in their home and none have the internet so they have no option
but the home study workbooks. The kids really are dedicated to keep coming week
after week. I hope they are getting something out of the class.
Thursday I went to the church for our quilting day. Our
Relief Society president and I went early so we could clean out the cupboards
so they’d be ready for the material when it arrived. Our kids are bringing some
with them when they come next week. She cleaned the cupboards in the Relief
Society room and I cleaned the one in the hall. Mine didn’t really have
anything in it so it was just dusty with a few cobwebs. She threw out a bunch
of stuff. There’s a lot of room now.
When it was time for others to arrive we were still working.
When we were finished and no one else had come we were a bit concerned. We had
lunch and visited for a while. I suggested that we come each week and sew on
quilt tops. When we have stuff to show, we’ll show the ladies and tell them
what a good time we are having and encourage them to come. I think we can reach
out to more people in the area and maybe get some increased interest. People
need to see that something is happening before they want to join in.
In the evening we went to Gallup to watch the Indian dancers at the Courthouse. The evening was really great. It had just a bit of a breeze and a little coolness to it. The Olla Maidens from Zuni were dancing. They dance with pots on their heads as an honor to their ancestors who had to carry water in their pots for their families. We were there when they first arrived and watched as they put on their accessories for their costumes. They wore wide sashes around their waists and pulled them really tight—I couldn’t see how they could breathe. They had leather bands around their legs with fabric wrapped underneath. They also wore regular moccasins, but it looked like boots with the leg wrappings. And they all wore an amazing amount of turquoise jewelry—big necklaces, huge rings on at least two fingers on each hand so their hands were almost entirely covered.
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| Elder and Sister Roeth at Gallup Courthouse |
The dancing was good. Basically they just do kind of a
shuffle with their feet, with small steps either forwards or backwards. They
also had flowers they waved while they danced. When they put the pots on their
heads they sort of kissed the pot then moved it around on their heads to find
the secure position. The pots have a concave base so they will stay on their
heads better. They said they use green ware pots because the handmade ones are
too expensive. One girl stopped in the middle of one of the dances to adjust
her pot.
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| Zuni Olla Maidens dancing |
They sang songs in between the dancing. Only the men write
the songs. One of the songs was written by a father-in-law. The songs only seem
to use a few tones but I’m sure the beauty is in the message. Afterward we took
pictures—they wouldn’t let us take pictures before the performance even though
that was the most interesting. I got my picture taken with the three dancers.
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| Sister Roeth and Zuni Olla Maidens |
Friday I had a call from the CES supervisor. He said they
had decided not to let me teach the reduced number of students online. They
wanted to have just one class for all the online students in the Gallup area
unless the numbers made it so they could have at least 7 in each class. I need
to prayerfully consider what to do to make the class for the remaining students
meaningful. If I have three students in the home study class, I can’t imagine
it will be as good as if I have six. If I get all the students to go online, I
still might not be the teacher. I am
really not sure what I am supposed to do at this point. The supervisor
counseled me to talk with the branch president and let him decide how the
branch wants to move forward—each student making their own decision, or all the
students going the same way. I feel
jammed.
In the evening we had a heavy rainstorm. At first the
thunder and lightning was in the distance, but at one point it felt and sounded
like it either hit our house or very nearby. The house shook and the lights
flashed, and it sounded like a gun had been fired next to my ears. It was a bit
scary. It happened again about 20 minutes later. The rain was extremely heavy
for a while then slowed to a gentler rain for several hours. We felt that we
were protected and watched over.
Saturday I only had two students at seminary. We had a good
discussion on learning, how we learn, who is responsible for our learning, and
how that applies to our seminary class. Ted had gone to help prepare for a
baptism, so I took the two kids with me to the baptism. The little girl we
taught in February was finally baptized. Almost the entire family of her mother
was there. Her brother had come from Denver and was dressed in a white shirt
and tie. I congratulated him on his baptism and told him he looked like a
missionary. Her mother and sister were there from Albuquerque and I
congratulated them on their baptisms. Her other two brothers were there, but
they stayed outside and goofed around. Lame! If I were their mom, I would have
told them to come inside to the baptism and support the little girl. It was a
good group.
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| Pres. Joe (uncle), Emily Joe, Sugar Joe (mom) with Roeths |
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| Emily Joe (in pink) and family |
After the baptism we went home to heat our food for the
branch dinner then headed to the church. I’m not sure the Saturday meal is
going to last long. The branch president is already saying it isn’t working. There
were only about 35 people when everyone was there, but we enjoyed a good visit.
No one had assigned food, so we had three main dishes and a baptism cake from the
little girl’s family.
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| Elder Patterson, Claudia Thomas, Anfernee Begay, Elder Landon |
In the evening we headed back to the stake center for another
baptism. The young man’s mom welcomed everyone and was very emotional as she told
us how happy she was that her son was finally able to be baptized. She was
baptized a couple of weeks ago with a younger son. Some of her aunts were there
along with her mom. She is now waiting for her mom to be baptized. It went well
and was a very spiritual event. Afterward we went to the Indian dancing at the
courthouse. It was less interesting tonight, but the dancer did a buffalo dance
with the white buffalo headdress which was nice. The air was really nice and we
enjoyed being out.
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| Celicion dancers with Roeths |
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