A man was visiting church who had been a missionary here 32
years ago—very interesting. It’s amazing the way the Lord answers prayers. I’ve
been praying to know who needed my help these last few weeks, and today I had several
dropped in my lap.
Monday I made zucchini bread for the senior couples dinner. When
it was time to leave I sliced the bread and put it on plates. It was really
crumbly and tasted funny. I discovered I had left out the salt. Blast! We had
to stop to get something. We had a good meeting and enjoyed a good visit. There
was a lot of discussion about things to see in the area so Ted brought out his
map of the Indian Reservation/4 Corners area.
Tuesday at 1:30 am we got a text from a lady saying she was
at the hospital and wasn’t sure when she would be released. She was supposed to
have a procedure later and I was to pick her up to take her home. Things
escalated so she went in early. I gave her our schedule for the morning and
tried to go back to sleep. We were visiting seminary in Ramah at 6:30, an hour
away. We got there late, but they hadn’t started yet. I met one of my online
students that had transferred to the class and had a good visit. I was so
impressed with the teacher. She’s been teaching for years and has a good spirit
about her. They had a good discussion and it was uplifting to be there. We
visited a bit after class then left for home. We were so tired, I wasn’t sure
we would make it. I’m grateful to the Lord for the many times He has protected
us on these travels.
We went to the senior center for lunch. It was a good day to
be there—roast beef. We visited with a man and I asked him to visit our church.
He told me he has been there a few times. He told me he was very active at one
time, blessing and passing the Sacrament and baptizing people. I asked what
happened. He related a sad tale of his life, very typical of many. After years
of living away from God, he had an experience telling him God loved him and to
come back. He felt like God told him to start a church so he could testify of
the Savior and bring people to Christ, which he has done. He is very sincere
about his experience and has been very diligent about preaching to people and
talking about Christ. Some people make fun of him, but he stands firm in what
he believes to be right.
As we left, a lady in the parking lot asked Ted if we were
from Nevada. We invited her to Relief Society Wednesday night to make baby
blankets. She is a member but does not attend church. She follows the “Native
way” which is more nature worship, even though people will say they believe in
God.
We went to visit a lady we were asked to see Sunday. There
was a truck at her home, but no one answered the door. We stopped at another
home to give a lady the Navajo Book of Mormon on tapes. Late in the afternoon I
finished preparing dinner for a family. Just as we were on our way out the door
the lady texted me to ask if we were still doing dinner because her daughter could
fix something if we weren’t. I let her know we were just leaving.
We stopped for dinner then went to the El Morro Theater for
a production by music groups from BYU Idaho. One of our students was home from
her mission for a few weeks due to a broken elbow so we visited with her. She
is really enjoying her mission and doing a great job. We also had a good visit
with another student—she is always good to come give us a hug or handshake and
let us know she cares.
Wednesday we had an inservice meeting in Thoreau which is
about half an hour away. We were expecting a shipment from our home ward, so we
were concerned that it might arrive at that time. About an hour into the
meeting we had the phone call from the office that the boxes were on the
shipping dock waiting for us to move them. We told them we would be back shortly.
The meeting was excellent. Most of the teachers were there and we had a good
discussion about how to help students better understand the scriptures.
As soon as the meeting was over we made a quick stop to deliver
something then hurried home and drove straight to the shipping dock. We were
able to load 5 boxes at a time in the car. After three trips we had it all at
the church. The fabric and yarn will be a real blessing to the people here.
In the evening we had our Relief Society night meeting. We
had six ladies, including me. All the sewing machines were set up, but we had
troubles with all of them so it was far from smooth sailing. I spent most of
the evening trying to get the machines to work. Even my machine kept giving me
an error. One lady was discouraged with her job hunting so she made several
necklaces and earrings which she brought to sell. Most of the ladies didn’t
know how to sew, but we were still able to get some things done.
Thursday we attended the Gallup early morning seminary. I
feel like I’ve been on a treadmill all week. Brother Miller visited and planned
to do some training. He only had about 15 minutes to teach. He played a great
video clip for the kids and discussed it, but he didn’t have time to teach the
teacher.
After a brief visit we came home and I put together some food
for the sewing group. The burrito lady came and finished her blanket from the
night before. I looked at the two machines that had not been working and
figured out they were threaded wrong. My machine had a knob in the wrong
position, so I corrected that and sewed burp cloths. A lady brought pizza for
us so we ate while it was hot. Somehow I got a ton of thread wound around the
bobbin winder, so that took me a while to undo, but eventually everything
worked out OK. A lady finished tying her quilt, but she needs to fix something
before she can bind it. She’s planning to donate the blanket to the hospital
with the other things we made. At home later I worked on some seminary lessons.
Friday we were up early to drive to Farmington for our Zone
Conference. We left early to stop for some rug supplies and we weren’t sure
just where the store was. The store owner is LDS and gives missionaries a drink
and a snack when they stop. Very nice. They referred us to a place two doors up
the road for something they didn’t carry. When we stopped there they didn’t
have the item, but they thought a trading post in Shiprock might have it. Since
we were early we drove back to Shiprock. They didn’t have what we were looking
for either, but they told us how to make it.
We arrived at the chapel in Farmington about 10 minutes
before our appointment with Pres. Batt. We were told to hurry down to the
president’s office right away. We rushed down there so we could wait about 10
minutes before he was available. Our interview was very short, about 3 minutes.
Pres. Batt gave us counsel about going home. He told us to be weird—don’t
change to be part of the world but keep the attitudes and practices we’d
developed in the mission field.
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| Window Rock District at Conference-Pres. and Sis. Batt on left; Steele, Roeth, England, Rowley, Ashcroft, Olsen, Jones, Rogers, Stucki; Sister Jet is guide dog at front |
After that we mingled a bit before the meeting. I gave
Sister Batt a hug and she told me she would miss seeing us at the
conferences. She is a really sweet lady and always makes me feel special. After
all the teaching in the conference, it was time for missionaries who were going
home before the next zone conference to bear their testimonies. There were 10
couples that were leaving. We were supposed to take 3 minutes each, but that
doesn’t usually work.
As my turn came
around, I shared a few thoughts about how I had felt a lack of experience when
we were called, but I had learned to love the kids. I bore my testimony and
felt a strong spirit there. It was a powerful experience for me. After Ted
shared his thoughts, they decided to hold everyone else until after lunch. I’m
really glad we finished before lunch because it was really a break in mindset.
One of the members painted some plastic eggs with Indian
designs for all of the missionaries and made prints of a painting he had done
for us. We said goodbye to Sister Batt again and then left to check into our
motel. We were supposed to meet the other missionaries to do something. I went with
a few others to walk along the river for a while. Ted went with another man to Dairy
Queen. When we got back we played games then went with another couple to eat.
It was a chilly walk up the road and the menu was fairly limited. I got a cup
of soup. After we returned I worked to teach a lady to knit a scarf. I think
she was beginning to get it when we closed down for the night, but I know she’s
wishing she had it down better since we won’t see her for three weeks.
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| Sister Roeth at Aztec Ruins |
Saturday the missionaries met at the Aztec Ruins. It was good to see the ruins again and we enjoyed visiting along the way. After we finished there, we left with two other couples to see the Salmon Ruins. They were very interesting. We spent a while going through the entire guidebook then rushing through some Indian exhibits. When we finished it was about 12:45 pm so we took off for Gallup to get back in time for Stake Conference. We were really tired and it was hard for Ted to drive.
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| Salmon Ruins |
Ted went to Priesthood meeting and I sat with a couple of other missionaries in the hallway. I was too tired to do anything. One sister wanted to learn to crochet a pattern I’d done so I taught her the stitches. We planned to grab a bite to eat at some fast food, but it turned out that the Stake Relief Society had prepared some sandwich fixings for the men between meetings and they let us join them. In the night meeting Pres. Nilsson asked all the missionaries to stand. It was fun to be able to stand up. He encouraged older couples to consider serving. The meeting was excellent and there was a strong spirit. Pres. Haws talked about us being here for this moment in time. The theme was “Hastening the Work” and he said we are not here to succeed in a career; we are here to prepare for the Second Coming.
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