Week Ending December 21, 2013

Sunday we were all set up for seminary but no one was there. Finally about 10 minutes late the kids came. I made the comment that we were ready to start and one of the kids said something about being on time. I said that none of them were on time—they were all 10 minutes late. We are taking two weeks off for the holidays, but they want to get together a couple of times for a thought and games. Surprising. In our lesson we talked about when the angel appeared to Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah, their repentance process, and how they changed. We discussed the need for all of us to be born again.

After Sacrament Meeting the branch president was asked which lesson we were supposed to have since we left early last week. He said it should be this week’s. It turned out that this week’s teacher didn’t bring her stuff. I told them I hadn’t brought mine either. A few minutes later she came into the room and told me I was on. I went home and got my things so I could at least review the lesson before I had to give it—fortunately. I live very close to the church. I really don’t mind giving the lesson, but it seems like that should be decided ahead of time and the teachers should know when they should be ready to teach. They should follow up with the teacher and make sure she was ready and helped her prepare. She’s a new member and I think it’s been assumed she understands what to do. Anyway, I gave the lesson. I think it went OK, in spite of the fact that I hadn’t looked at my notes for a week.

After dinner Ted and I played a game. It’s really more fun with more people but we had a good time. I wrote out my plans for the upcoming events and worked on grading seminary assignments and setting up the new week. There was a lot to do and I was very late working on it.

A few days ago we ran out of toothpaste. We thought we had another tube, but we didn’t. We also thought we might have a travel size or dental sample, but we had given all those away. We use a brand that we have to order online, so we immediately ordered it, but over the last few days we have taken some very interesting extreme measures to brush our teeth. After we had absolutely squeezed everything out of the tube, we scraped a bit more out of the opening. Next I cut the side off, thinking it would have some left that we couldn’t squeeze out. There was a little at the top where it is difficult to squeeze. For a couple of days we scraped that out, but it quickly dried out with the sides open. Monday I officially threw the now really broken tube in the garbage. In hindsight, we should have gone to the store and bought another brand, but we were challenged to see what we could do with it.

We didn’t have home evening. The singles had a joint home evening with the Grants Ward and we chose not to go. Sis. Mortenson was trying to get a ride for one of the girls who had said she wanted to go. She had left work early and the only way to reach her is by texting her mom. We did that and got no reply. We actually drove by their house to let her know a ride was coming for her, but she wasn’t home. We gave it our best effort. We tried to drop some popcorn by to another family but no one was home. It was really tricky getting out of their place because there were dogs everywhere and it was pitch black by the time we were there. We were grateful not to hit a tree or get stuck in a rut in the road.

Tuesday I spent the day working on a project and doing seminary. I finished the lessons for seminary, but I am struggling with how and how much to present in my lesson. I need to get a new student’s prior seminary attendance figured out so she’ll know how much she needs to do for makeup work. The coordinator in her area is checking on it. She’s doing really well and I am enjoying having her in the class.  In the afternoon we went to the school for a girls’ basketball game. There was no one there and obviously no game going on. I texted a mom and she said she had forgotten to tell me the game was an away game. Too bad.

Wednesday I got a Book of Mormon ready to give to a lady. I also worked on my seminary lesson. I think it’s ready to go. I heard back from the Albuquerque coordinator about my student’s seminary credit and it’s about twice as many classes as they had originally said she’d had. That will seriously reduce the amount of makeup work she needs to do.

In the evening I went to the Relief Society night meeting. I wish I’d had a better idea of what we were doing. We painted ceramic bases for picture frames and decorated them. It was messy and I was afraid I would get paint on my clothes. There were six ladies there which was really good. We had spaghetti and garlic bread afterward and visited.

Sister Roeth, Artist in Residence

Thursday I went early as a lady had requested, but she didn’t come. I did some cleaning then started sewing on my quilt. That was a mistake—it seemed like everything I did went wrong. The top row I had sewn the border on the wrong side so it has to be undone. The second row I didn’t line up the borders between the squares so it looks funny, so it has to be undone. The third row I ran out of bobbin thread near the end so it has to be finished. The fourth row I sewed right after the third row without noticing the bobbin thread was out, so it had to be pinned and sewn again.

I finally locked the outside door about 11 AM so I’d feel a little more safe. About 11:30 I heard a knocking at the door. (I actually heard something earlier, but talked myself out of it.) When I went to the door the lady was there and said she’ been knocking for 20 minutes. I helped her lay out her squares on the floor to decide how to arrange them. It became very apparent that she needs to square them up before she does anything else. She didn’t want to do anything more, but at least we have placed them in an order.

I spent the afternoon working on seminary. When it was time for class, three girls signed in without any phone calls—I was so excited. I couldn’t reach the 4th. I’m concerned that she has lost interest. We had a good class. I showed them a Christmas video at the end and wished the girls a Merry Christmas. We left immediately for institute to meet a young man who was coming early to take a test to get credit for the class. We had a good group of three students. Afterward we played “Chicken Feet” with the dominos. The kids were really crazy and laughing a lot. They said they were on a sugar high from the cookies, but I’d never seen them like this before.

Another student stopped by while we were playing games. Her sister had arrived home from her mission and was with the stake president. Our student was so excited to see her again. I have been so impressed with the closeness of their family. We visited with her and her mom for a few minutes until her dad and sister came in. They gave us a 6-pack of cream soda. That was very sweet of them.

Sister Leggett reading "The Orange"

Serving up a Christmas Dinner

Friday we went to the senior center and set up for our program. There were about 10 people there already. Several more came in as we started and the room was full when we finished. Our program was simple: We had a prayer, sang three carols, told a couple of stories, showed “Mr. Krueger’s Christmas”, Ted told the Christmas Story from the Book of Mormon, and we showed the video “Good Tidings of Great Joy”. At the end , Ted shared his testimony of Christ then he offered a closing prayer and blessing on the food. 

We helped serve the food. It was jammed so it was tricky to get to everyone. After the meal they passed out gifts from their gift exchange. Then they passed out big stocking-like bags from National Relief Charities and bags of candy.

Grandma Bessie with her gifts--earring in her hand!

At home we opened the bags of goodies. There was a homeless shelter blanket in each one and lots of odds and ends of toiletries. We each had two bags of sample size shampoos and conditioners and lotions. Two of the bags had leaky containers in them so the items were all gooey. I sorted it out and we figured we should give most of it away. It was interesting though. I’m not sure how these people use up all the stuff the NRC sends them on a regular basis.

Phyllis and Brenda and ?? passing out goodie bags!!

We had a wonderful surprise. There was a lady at one of the tables who we didn’t know. She pulled Ted over and thanked him for the blessing he’d given her. It was a lady that he’d given a blessing to a few weeks ago. She’d just had surgery at the time and looked awful. She had cancer in her facial area and had some bones and lots of tissue removed. Today she looked great—no swelling or bruising, nothing to distinguish her from anyone else. She still has a difficult time speaking, but she was understandable. I was amazed. I gave her a hug and told her how happy we were for her. What a miracle!

Saturday early we picked up a couple and drove to the temple. It had snowed lightly during the night so we were a bit concerned about the weather, but it was beautiful the rest of the day. We had to run a couple of errands, but we were still able to get to the 10:30 session. We saw some other missionaries and members. It was a good day to be at the temple. Afterward we stopped to get something to eat then did our shopping at Costco before heading home. We were able to be home before dark which was really nice.

I spent some time in the evening recording family history information and doing some seminary things. I called the student who had missed class to tell her we’d missed her. Her sisters had come home so she had skipped. I feel like she has checked out, but the circumstances haven’t been good either. I emailed the new student to let her know what makeup work she needs to do for the year.