Week Ending January 25, 2014

Sunday I think the seminary lesson went well. It was about missionary work (Ammon and Lamoni) and preparing for missions. My two young men really need to get more prepared before they go. We talked about the things the sons of Mosiah had done to prepare and suggested these were the things they should do. I’m hoping they made the connection.

One of my students spoke in Church and did a great job. Our high councilor and his 11 year old son also spoke. The father said that the son had not made any notes for his talk so he was really concerned. He was very nervous, but he did a great job. He told us a new institute teacher has been called and will start soon. It looks like we’re moving forward on at least one prong of the new plan.

I talked with the mother of our institute student who wants to serve a mission. He is a sweet boy and is always there to pass the Sacrament. I hope he is able to get ready for a mission by summer.

I was so tired in the afternoon I took a nap. It felt good. I graded a couple of seminary assignments and set up the new week. I’m glad I didn’t forget that. We exchanged text messages with the elders about doing laundry, but they weren’t available to come until 10 am. Since that is the time they leave to go to Gallup they decided to do it elsewhere. They are an interesting pair.

Monday we had a good dinner and visit with the other senior couples then we went to home evening. The kids sort of straggled in. Sarah (the home evening leader) is the new institute teacher. She will have the young adults two nights a week. There were 5 kids there and we had fun.

Tuesday early, Bro. and Sis. Harvey arrived with everything we needed to start weaving on our loom. We rearranged our living room so we could set up the warp. He taught both of us and we did fairly well. We finally got it on the frame with the new side poles and he discovered the holes he had drilled for the security pins were in the wrong place so he wired the frame together temporarily. Then his wife was starting to show us how to weave and discovered that a couple of our warp strings were crossed so it wouldn’t work. I’m not sure when it happened as they were all straight at one time. It was probably when we took out one side of the twining yarn so it would be uniform. I was sure I could fix it, but not today. He left me some needles, battens, and combs and other things I will need. I was a little disappointed.

Tying the Warp to Dowels

 I worked on seminary for a while. I’m a little concerned that next week’s lesson is not in the system yet. I use it to prepare the assignments for my home study students. I have my lesson plan for the year to finish early May. I’m hoping that doesn’t change.

We ran an errand to the bank in Gallup. Our stake president works there, so we visited with him for a few minutes. He said they needed to make the upcoming changes and wanted to get something in place before we left. It will be interesting to see where it goes.

As we were driving home, Bro. Harvey called to see if we would be home in the evening. He had gone home and strung a new warp for us. (It took him 15 minutes where it had taken us 2 hours.) They wanted to come and fix things so he could put the project behind him. (They live about an hour away from us.) They arrived at our house about 20 minutes after we did. He had the new warp and his drill. He drilled the holes in the upright poles then we put the new warp on the loom and I threaded the heddle loops on. It will now work. I will fix the other warp when I get home.

We served them dinner. It turned out Sis. Harvey doesn’t eat beef and I’d made my favorite meatball soup. Sigh! After dinner she began weaving to show me what to do then I finally got to do a couple of rows. I need to tear out most of the demo since it was just random stuff, but at least I got the feel for it. I hope I can remember everything when I actually get to work on it. After they left I tried cleaning things up and trying to find a place to put our furniture with a giant loom in the room. They are good people and really went the extra mile for us.

Wednesday I weeded part of the front yard. It is a weed paradise. It is ugly and not a very good representation of who we are. I have spent about an hour 3 other mornings. I can see that I’m making progress, but I’m not really sure it will look a lot better when I’m done. The ground is still covered with smaller weeds and dirt. Anyway, it is a cold and thankless job, but someone’s got to do it.

We went to the senior center for lunch. I’m not sure it’s good for our health to eat there. We had unsalted rice with gravy, chicken that was hard enough to be used for a weapon, green beans and corn, a tortilla, and fruit cocktail which is my least favorite fruit. Usually it’s much better.

City of Trains - two trains passing in opposite directions

In the afternoon I graded seminary assignments. The elders stopped by for a few minutes to visit and see if there was anyone around we had been visiting with. I think they met our new neighbor and are going to teach him.

Thursday was the busy day. I went to the church for the quilting class. I got the machine stitching done on my little quilt and pinned most of the binding. I helped a lady cut the pieces she needed for her quilt and got her started sewing. She still has much to do but she was so excited to be sewing.

I studied most of the afternoon. When it was time for seminary, only two of my students came. One wasn’t home from school yet and one wasn’t able to get in. It is really difficult carrying the discussion when everyone isn’t there, but I think it went OK. After class I ate quickly then we went to institute.

I was amazed at the institute class. We had 8 students, including the young man who texted us last week. Two of the students teach high school which is impressive. Bro. Miller came before class to tell us the new teacher would start next week and institute was moving to Tuesday nights. It was sort of bitter-sweet to teach a last class and have such a good turnout only to say good-bye. Our new-missionary-to-be came late and we had her announce her mission call: Oklahoma City, Spanish Speaking. Interestingly, that is the mission another student’s sister just returned from, even Spanish Speaking.

Ted gave a really good lesson then we played Mexican Train Dominoes. The Relief Society was having an activity at the same time. Since they come in and out of the room to get things we teased them that they always come but never bring us anything. A few minutes later they brought us a tray of ice cream floats. Very nice. A student had brought some nut bread that was yummy, so we were well-supplied with goodies. It was sad to say good-bye. Ted feels a little sad not to be able to finish the year. I know just how he feels. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to give up my seminary class as well. Ironic.

Friday I studied a good part of the day. I graded some seminary assignments and worked on my talk for Sunday. I gathered most of the information I needed so I just need to organize my thoughts. I had my online teacher’s meeting as well. That was a little frustrating because my system kept freezing up and I missed quite a bit of the discussion. In the evening we went to the basketball game at school. The JV game was really close but they won. It was homecoming so the place was jammed. They have homecoming twice a year-once for football and once for basketball.

Staci and Banjo

Saturday we drove to Holbrook hoping to stop on the way at a trading post. We missed the exit so we had an extra hour. We stopped to see the Petrified Forest, but the coin we were given wouldn’t open the gate. We finally decided not to risk arriving late. Our plan was to meet one of my online students and see her compete in the Barrel Race. We were able to pick her out immediately and visited with her and her parents. She was wearing one of her buckles—it was huge. It was one she won last year. Her horse had been spooked on Friday in a freak accident where his reins caught on an edge of their practice barrel, so he was a bit skittish around barrels today. She still did a good job. It was fun being there.

Staci and Sister Roeth

On the way home we found the exit for the trading post. Ted discovered that they sold spumoni ice cream and was thrilled to get a cone on the way out. We realized why we had missed the exit on the drive west—it was closed. In fact, the on ramp to go east was also closed, so we had to go west to the last exit then turn around to go home.

In Gallup we got back in time to attend a baptism. It was really a sweet occasion. I’m fairly sure many of the people there were not members, including the boy’s cousins. He was nine years old but had delayed his baptism until his father could baptize him. His aunt offered the opening prayer and it was really sweet. Our friend gave a talk on baptism and the Holy Ghost. Most of her talk was from a book she’d bought when the boy turned 8. It was really good at explaining what baptism means. The boy’s sister and cousins sang “I Am a Child of God”. It seemed to me like the cousins didn’t really know it well. I was thinking they hadn’t practiced until the thought hit me that they were doing something they were unfamiliar with out of love for their cousin. It was humbling to be called to repent.

During the baptism itself, the dad made a mistake in the prayer so he had to do it over. He leaned over to kiss his son and let him know it was OK. Apparently, the water was really cold so it wasn’t fun to be in there any longer than necessary. While they were dressing, the boy’s sister played some pieces on the piano. It was obvious she was a fairly new student, but she did very well. She had a repertoire of three songs, but it was really sweet that she would do that. At one point she looked over the top of the piano and asked, “Are they back yet?” The bishop smiled and said, “No. Keep playing.” She stopped as soon as they came in, mid-song. We had a chance to visit with the family afterward. I’m glad we went.

I was impressed by the events of the day. The baptism was really a teaching moment for me. This little family has their share of challenges, but they had a large crowd from their ward and family. They had a mix of people that covered all categories. It seemed like a really humble group, with a good spirit.