Our release date is 6 weeks from tomorrow—that is hard to
comprehend. In many ways I am anxious to get home—not to the house, but to do
things that I know need to be done and projects I want to get done. On the
other hand, it is like the end is coming too quickly. When we came, the end
seemed so far away. It seems strange that it is now almost here. I don’t feel I
have done as much good as I would have liked. There are things I wish we could
have accomplished, but they haven’t worked out.
I learned a lot through all my studies and I got to be more
confident in teaching the youth. I got to participate in the Online Seminary
program, and we have enjoyed working with all the seminary and institute
teachers and Brother Miller so I have had some great opportunities, but I
didn’t think I was coming to benefit me.
I have learned that I can get along on so much less than I have. I hope
I can retain that lesson when we get home.
Monday I took my sewing machine in for servicing. It usually
takes about a week, but if you give them a deposit it moves you up the line. I
asked how much I needed to give them—anything was fine, so I gave them a token
amount. As it turned out, I had to call again to see the status of the machine
before it got worked on. Somehow, the cash didn’t do much for the priority.
We went to home evening with the Young Adults. They had pizza—it
seems like if we eat before we get there, she brings something in. We had a
good visit, then we played Uno Wild. It is a crazy and very fun game.
Afterward, Sarah talked to a couple of guys about the Chief Manuelita
Scholarship and a university that is only $500 a semester. She did a large
amount of research a few years ago on what’s available. She is so connected to
the youth and young adults. She does not accept letting them loaf. What a
saint!
Tuesday we went to the senior center for lunch but it was
closed. We were disappointed but went to visit a woman and her grandma. They
had recently replaced their batteries in their CO alarms and were anxious for
us to come by to notice since we had asked about the beeping noise a couple of
times. We did. She tries to do so much. She is going to school full time but
comes home to check on her grandma between classes (17 mi each way). She takes
her on outings almost every week to visit family members. She has been reading
the Book of Mormon and feels the spirit of the book in her life—that’s a big
step. She is still on target to get her Associates in May.
I spent time working on my seminary lesson. I also worked on
correcting some makeup work. It is so hard to read the handwriting and even
harder to understand what is being said. I finally finished the notebook, but
then I had to have a conversation with the help desk about how to record the
work. He was in Online part of the year and Home Study part of the year and the
two classes are not on the same schedule. I was told to wait to the end of the
year to see how it all shakes out.
Wednesday we went to the senior center again. I worked on
seminary some more in the afternoon. Late in the day we drove to Grants for
institute (at night) and seminary (in the morning). We were supposed to meet
with the bishop before institute to discuss his plan to recover the youth and
young adults. He didn’t arrive until just when institute was supposed to start
so the institute teacher had to leave. We had discussed some things she could
do, so we relayed those to the bishop. In the institute class we had a good
discussion. Afterward we had another visit with her to offer some suggestions.
She is a really great person and the kids know she loves them. That is the best
thing any teacher can do.
Thursday we were up early. I hadn’t slept much during the
night. The seminary class went well and afterward we had a good discussion
about some things they could do to improve. They do a great job, so it is
sometimes challenging to offer help. We hurried back to Ft Wingate for the sewing
class. Ted set up the tables then walked home. The burrito lady came for the first
time in a couple of months. Her daughter passed away about a month ago so she
has been dealing with that. Her heater motor was out when she got back so she had
to take care of that. She worked on her quilt and the president and I cut
fabric for blankets and burp cloths. I think we have about 20 ready to sew on
Wednesday night.
I went home when the others stopped to eat. I spent most of
the afternoon resting on the sofa under a blanket. I really wasn’t doing well.
We planned to go to Zuni for institute in the evening, so we called to confirm
it with the elders. They weren’t sure anyone would be there, but we needed to get
them their supplies so we went anyway.
At Zuni they had three ladies, a young girl who was the
daughter of one of the ladies, and Elder and Sister Steele. There was a good
discussion. One of the sisters had just been baptized a couple of weeks before
and her daughter was just learning from the elders, so the group moved slowly
and answered a lot of questions. The elders did a good job. We visited a bit
after the meeting then drove home. We left them with several extra copies of
the student manual so they can recruit more participants.
Friday we slept in. After exercising and getting ready, we
loaded the car and left for Chinle. We stopped in Gallup to pick up my sewing
machine. We stopped at a trading post to get some rug yarn to take home. While
I was buying yarn a Navajo lady asked me if I could weave. I told her I could.
She acted very surprised, so I told her a Navajo had taught me. I thought that
was funny.
Outside I felt impressed to buy a cinnamon roll from a
vendor. (They were huge and it took us more than one meal to finish it,
sharing.) She told us she just moved to Ft. Wingate. She is a member of the
church, and her foster parents had just been visiting for a few days and so she
showed them the church. I told her the meeting time and got her address.
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| Offices of The Navajo Nation, Window Rock, AZ |
We then drove to the Window Rock where the Navajo Nation has
all their offices. I had not realized their offices were actually at the rock.
There is a nice memorial park with a monument to the Code Talkers and a nice
fountain. There is also a memorial to Native soldiers that died in the war and
those missing in action. The Window Rock is very impressive. It is actually a
hold in the rock which is a mixture of red and white minerals. We tried to get
some good pictures, but it is more impressive in real life.
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| Code Talker Memorial at Window Rock, AZ |
There was a vendor selling jewelry near the memorial
entrance. As we visited with him he told us he used to be a member, but he had
not been active since his foster parents had moved away and he’d had to return
home to the Res. He told us the sad tale of his unfaithful wife and having to
earn money to pay for his daughters’ IPads. He’d already paid off their
laptops. It didn’t sound to me like he needed much extra.
 |
| The Window Rock |
We drove to Chinle and checked into our hotel. We wanted to
visit a lady there so we called to get directions: Go to the light at the gas
station and turn right. Go a ¼ mile and it is the house with green with white
trim on the right. There is a blue Expedition parked outside along with two
other cars. We followed the directions to the light and turned, but it was much
more than ¼ mile and several of the houses looked green with white trim—some
more faded than others. Hers was the darkest green and the least faded, but
there were a couple of others along the way. The blue Expedition was parked
behind the house so we couldn’t see it from the street.
After we left there we got something to eat. We drove around
the south rim of Canyon de Chelly and stopped at the overlooks. There were a
few vendors along the way and it was fun to look at their stuff. When we
returned to the hotel there was a dog outside that obviously smelled the food left
over from dinner. I figured he’d enjoy it more than I would, so I put the
container on the ground. He sniffed it a bit then picked up the container in
his teeth and moved it away from us where he proceeded to eat. (He left the
mixed vegetables.) When he was finished I cleaned up after him and we went to
our room.
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| El Capitan at Monument Valley, UT |
Saturday we drove to Monument Valley to visit the daughter
of some friends who is teaching school at the Native American school there. She
had offered to show us around Monument Valley. As it turned out, her dad was
down for the weekend. He was going to do a presentation to her Kindergarten
class on Monday about Aftrican animals and had brought two bins of animal hides
and pictures, etc. We saw what we could see from outside the Navajo park area
of Monument Valley then drove to Mexican Hat and on up to Natural Bridges
National Monument. It was a really beautiful drive. We stopped several times to
take pictures. At The Goosenecks State Park, it was incredible the way the
water had worn a very deep, winding gorge into the rock. It was like a snake,
with about six turns before the river left the area. It was such a steep
descent that we could not see part of the river that ran directly underneath
where we were. Natural Bridges was fascinating. It was difficult to pick out
the bridges because the many twists and turns of the mountains sort of made it
all blend together. On the way back we stopped a couple more times for photos,
getting shots of Monument Valley formations. Back in the settlement of Monument
Valley, we ended up behind the high school by the hogans: the Female or Family
hogan, the Male hogan, the Sweat hogan, and the modern hogan.
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| Four hogans: Female/Family, Male, Sweat, Modern--used for teaching |
After a brief visit with our friends, we stopped at the John
Wayne Cabin for a few minutes then took off for home. I didn’t especially enjoy
driving in the dark with the headlights coming at me. I have driven very little
on our mission and I am not as comfortable as I used to be. I could feel the
tension in my hands and legs and tried to keep flexing them to keep from
cramping. I made it to Ganado, about 1 1/2 hour from home. We arrived home
about 10:30 pm which was pretty good.
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