We talked about the lessons of the week, focusing on the introductory material to the Book of Mormon which talks about the purpose and promise of the book. I told my two online students to redo an assignment about why the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. They need to understand the significance. With the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, almost everything we believe in stands or falls. If it is true, our other claims are true; if it is false, so are our other claims. I challenged them to read, ponder the message, and ask Heavenly Father if it is true. The promise is sure that if they pray with real intent they will come to know it is true. That would be a good goal for the year—to find out for themselves.
At the end of class we sang Happy Birthday to the one twin and the kids polished off the rolls. When we saw the other twin in the foyer I wished her a Happy Birthday, but I didn’t have any rolls for her. I made a quick trip home taking all my seminary stuff, including the cards I’d brought for the girls. When I got back I saw another girl (former student) whose birthday was Monday and realized her card was gone. I’d also taken everything home that I’d brought for a new student.
Apparently, Ted had four students in his class and only one of them was a parent—that’s a real breakthrough. One was a less active man whose wife comes off and on. That would be a real step for him to come to class.
In the evening we went to the stake center for a CES broadcast. It was very good. Back at home I had to open the seminary lesson for tomorrow and set things up for the new week. In the future I will be able to open all the lessons for the week at once, but for now this works.
Monday we had a lot to do around the house. I spent most of the time working on my seminary lessons. I want to be a week ahead of the kids so I can decide what they should do in the workbooks. I am trying to make it as similar to the online program as possible so I am cutting some of the questions that don’t match up. It’s a lot of work staying up with both programs.
I met with one of my online students in the afternoon. She isn’t a real chatterbox, so I have to carry most of the conversation. She keeps busy with her horses and that is the real focus of her life.
In the late afternoon we drove to Tohlakai for our senior couples family home evening. We actually visited for a while then had a brief meeting. We had some refreshments then played games. We had to leave when the game was about half over.
We then went to the seminary building for young adults family home evening. Everyone was on the porch so we thought there was no key. It turned out Sister Mortenson had taken her purse with her cell phone and her lasagna into the building and gone back out to get her baby. Her son was in the building so she had not unlocked the door. When she turned around to go back in, her son was standing behind her. So her keys were in the building with her phone. The solution was to get another key so she could get into the building and the rest of us went to the home of one of the girls.
Tuesday we went to the senior center for lunch. It was pouring rain so it made for a messy trip. We took a couple of empty bottles to be filled with body wash and we picked up the ones we’d left last week. There is still a lot left in the vat. They also had a large pile of food to give to people. We got two 10# bags of potatoes, 4 containers of tomatoes, a few onions, a bunch of tiny apples, and a big bunch of green peppers. We also got 2 pounds of butter. From there we went to pick up my student workbooks that finally arrived.
I spent the afternoon studying and finished up the lessons for next week so I can hand out the assignments on Wednesday. I graded the couple of notebooks that were turned in. One had done about half of the first day. The other student had done the work for every day, but I don’t think he understood the assignments very well. I find that the kids really have a tough time with even basic English grammar.
Wednesday I studied more and prepared for seminary in the evening. On the way to Tohlakai we picked up a key for the old seminary building—at last! Seminary went OK. Two of the kids turned in notebooks for their assignments so I got really excited. They each had one day’s assignment done.
We drove to the church for Branch Council. There weren’t any others there for the meeting. The missionaries said they thought it had been cancelled. We decided to wait for a while. When the branch president arrived for activity night¸ I asked if we were having a meeting and he said it had been cancelled. He thought the missionaries would tell us. I told him there were things I needed to talk with him about, so he decided to go ahead and have the meeting. It is confusing to me the way things seem to function.
In the meeting we talked about the dinner for the Ironman Challenge. I suggested we invite the entire branch so everyone could be strengthened by it. He agreed. Two others arrived then and he pulled them into the meeting. They had forgotten, but they also didn’t know it was cancelled. The men took charge of the meal planning and Relief Society will take care of the side dishes. I came off with not too much to do.
I also asked about the keys for the cupboards. I said I would be happy to call and make a work order. I am more than happy to do this because at least I know it will be done. I had another item for discussion, but he went on to other organizations, so that was OK. They decided the branch has a need for teacher training. I think the entire branch could benefit by it, but I’m not sure how many will come. They talked about the Young Women and Young Men—they really need to strengthen those programs.
Thursday I went early to the quilting meeting so I could start working on a quilt top. I spent the entire time cutting scraps of fabric into different widths. My plan is to sew them in strips then sew the strips together to make a quilt top. The burrito lady came and brought some material she’d bought to supplement the fabrics she’d found last week. She cut some pieces and began sewing it together. Another lady began sewing some pre-cut squares together. I told her to be sure she sewed the seams straight and even. She did a fair job. None of the other ladies came that said they were coming.
Just as we were ready to eat, another lady walked in. I was so glad to see her. We visited a bit then she joined us for lunch. She had just bought a book with the hope of learning how to quilt. I told her to pick out a pattern, a fairly easy one, then come back and we’d get her started. I really hope this can help her have some contact with the church.
I stayed after everyone else had left and continued cutting strips. I really enjoyed the time working on it. We had to drive to the old seminary building for institute so we had to leave early. Just as we were driving up the driveway to the building we had a call from a student asking if we could come get him. His car was not working and he needed a ride. Fortunately, he lived really close so we were able to get him and get back in just a few minutes.
Friday I had a Webex meeting with the other teachers for online seminary. Our supervisor was not there but they recorded the meeting for her. There is enough delay in the timing that it is a little dicey on occasion. The lady in charge gave us all a turn to discuss the items we felt were of need to address. That worked pretty well.
The weather here has been really weird. The rain has come off and on without much notice. The skies usually look ominous, but it will be dry one minute and a deluge the next. It rained fairly heavily most of the afternoon here today. At one point it actually hailed heavily enough that we couldn’t see across the street. There was supposed to be a football game here in the evening that we had planned to attend. I was sure they’d called the game so we didn’t go. (It turned out they did not and the home team won so we would have liked to see it.) It rained very heavily off and on all night.
Saturday early we picked up a lady to go to Albuquerque to the temple. On the way we passed several areas where the rain had formed lakes and puddles. A couple of areas had the water completely surrounding the homes. At one place there were some vehicles with flashing lights blocking the road into the area, probably to prevent looters.
We had to get our tires replaced. Ted was very concerned that we needed to upgrade them before winter because our tread was getting lower than he was comfortable with. We were out within an hour. We decided to stop by a farmer’s market. It was interesting but it didn’t have any of the crafty items I like to see. We did get some produce that we’ll enjoy. It was all beautiful.
It rained heavily during part of the trip home. I felt so badly for the people who already had enough rain. I kept Ted talking on the way home so he didn’t fall asleep. Still, we were glad to get home and get things put away. We hadn’t been home more than an hour when it began to rain very heavily again. We were grateful to be out of the rain.
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