Week Ending October 19, 2013

Sunday when it was time for seminary no one was there. One sister came for Ted’s class about 10 minutes late and had picked up two of my students on the road. I asked the kids if they remembered anything about conference. One young man told a story about a young girl who was a governess for a family. They wanted to adopt her and give her many advantages. Her mom wouldn’t let her go because she didn’t want her to lose the gospel. I told them that the lady in the story was an ancestor of our Relief Society president. They were amazed. Two more students came later. We had a good discussion about the Plan of Salvation in 2 Nephi 2. It went well. Afterward I talked with the kids about how they planned to get caught up so I could give them credit. They are sweet kids and I love them dearly, but they need a swift kick in the pants.

Monday I finished putting together the pieces for my quilt blocks. I had to cut a few more strips, but I think all the blocks will be fairly complementary, meaning the strips won’t clash too badly. I still need to arrange the strips within each block and sew them, but I think that will go fairly quickly once I get a chance to do it. I worked on seminary. I am planning to give a basic assessment at Tohlakai, I have a Zone Conference Thursday so I won’t have my online class, and Ft Wingate is two weeks behind the others, so I am looking at the Isaiah lessons to pick out things that the students might want to discuss in case there is extra time.

Ted wasn’t feeling well so he didn’t go to home evening with me. It felt funny not having my companion along. I probably would have stayed home with him, but we had to deliver a key to one of our students’ so they could get into the building on Thursday night in case we don’t get back in time.

Tuesday Ted went with a man to cut wood. We are expecting a bad winter and he wanted to get more wood for his family. I worked on seminary most of the day. In the late afternoon we walked to the school for the girls’ volleyball games. One of my students is on the varsity team and I know it means a lot when we attend. It was a real squeaker. Wingate won 3 games to 1 over Shiprock. The games were all really close, but it appeared to me that the officials did a poor job. They missed awarding a few points and they didn’t catch some errors. Really strange. It was really dark walking home with the football field lights off.

Wednesday we went to the senior center for lunch. They had boxes of food they were distributing, so we were given two. They also had potatoes and avocados. The avocados were really ripe, so I made some guacamole when we got home. We have a ton. The lady at the senior center gave us a case of shampoo to take to the Zone Conference to see if we could give it away.

I was pleased when I got to seminary—two of the three students had notebooks to turn in. I had decided to give granola bars to anyone who turns in a notebook. I hadn’t told them until tonight, but it went over well. I hope bribery works. I was double pleased because one student had no ride, but he ran cross country to get to the church, probably a couple of miles of fairly rough terrain. He was especially grateful for the granola bar.

After I dropped Ted off at home I went to the church for the Relief Society night meeting. The ladies were making monsters out of candy. I hadn’t had any dinner, so I really didn’t need candy, but it was a fun exercise. After that they tied some fleece blankets. They were one short and I really didn’t need one, so I offered to just sit and visit. The president was going to make one, but she gave hers to another sister to make hers two layers instead of one.

Second quilt--tied last month

 One of the ladies mentioned to me that she hadn’t realized we weren’t having activity night any more. Another suggested that two of her kids could do it and maybe I should suggest that. I wasn’t sure why I should suggest it, but I told her I thought that was a great idea and suggested that she mention it to the branch president. It really has nothing to do with me, so I don’t want to get in the middle. After everyone was ready to go home, the president packed up and left. I put something in the kitchen and came back to find that the last lady was on her way out and everyone else was gone. I made sure the lights were out and the doors locked. I also had to close the gate after everyone else was gone, which was sort of spooky. I need to find a gentle way to tell them that the person in charge needs to stay and make sure things get closed up and at least help get the building closed down.

Really interesting mountains

Thursday we were up early to drive to Kayenta. We were able to distribute all the shampoo to the other missionaries which I was grateful for. I really didn’t want to take it home. The conference was good. They always have departing missionaries share their testimonies. Our zone leaders go home in two weeks so they shared their testimonies. Elder VanTassell made a statement that really touched me. He said the commandments aren’t orders to do things; they are reminders from God for us to qualify ourselves for the blessings He wants to send. Someone also said “The Lord sees around the corner. He is never surprised.” In other words, He always knows what is coming and we should trust Him implicitly. One other person talked about trials and said, “If the mountain were smooth, we wouldn’t be able to climb it.” That is profound if you think about it.

 

More interesting mountains

I enjoyed a brief visit with Sister Batt. We have such a wonderful mission president and his wife is such a great person. I always learn so much from both of them. I always feel a special closeness to her, I guess because we were able to stay with them the first night we arrived. It was a good way to start our mission. Her comments today were especially timely for me. She talked about our attitudes and being responsible for our own happiness. She made the statement that if we are obedient to the commandments, the Lord will provide us the experiences to allow us to be happy. It was good. Pres. Batt talked about miracles and told us to watch for and record the miracles we see in our lives.

 

Still more interesting mountains

After a yummy lunch we began the drive back to Gallup. We were both quite tired, so it was a difficult drive. I took over about 2/3 of the way back and drove into Gallup so Ted could take a nap. We were much earlier than we’d expected. We stopped at a couple of places, then went to the church. We had five kids at institute. Bro. Miller was there to back us up in the teaching. He took over about half way through and gave some excellent insights into Isaiah. I learned some really great things. I wish I could teach as well as he does.

Friday we had an excellent online teachers meeting. There were a lot of really good ideas for using the Webex tool for classes. It takes some preparation time, but I know it can really help the teaching. We had the missionaries over for dinner. I fixed a good meal and we enjoyed a good visit. After that we all went to the football game at the high school. It was their homecoming game. Too bad, because they got trounced. We left in the middle of the 4^th quarter, but they had at least finally made a touchdown. It was just really cold and we were very tired and had to get up early in the morning again. We were grateful for the warmth of our little cottage.

Moon rising on Ft. Wingate

Saturday we were up really early again to go to the temple in Albuquerque. We picked up a friend for the trip. We enjoyed the temple session. There was a little Spanish-speaking lady in our session who needed a lot of extra attention. She was really cute, but it just seemed like everything turned out differently than expected with her. It was a good experience just watching her and those who assisted her. Afterward we went to the Owl Café for lunch and had a really fun experience. It is a really nostalgic place with juke boxes on the tables and milk shakes that are actually made from scratch. The food was yummy and the waitress DJ was really sweet. She’s been there 20 years, nearly 21. Amazing. I believe it is our new favorite place.

 
We managed to visit all the way home and Ted was able to stay awake. It went quickly.