NMFM Week 10: May 21-27, 2012

Hello family!  We are finding out what a holiday weekend in Farmington is like.  Today there were firetrucks blaring their horns for a while and Sunday meetings were pretty sparce.  George invited us to a Memorial Day potluck social in their yard tomorrow -- I guess it is something they have done with a number of their friends for quite a few years and has become a tradition.  This is transfer week for our mission so there will be a lot of activity at the office for the next couple of days.  It is really fun to see the missionaries interact with each other when they all get together and we are looking forward to watching it all happen again.  President Jones told us that more missionaries will be moved during this transfer than any they have had previously -- then explained that it just worked out this way and pointed heavenward (which is one of his favorite things to do when talking of the workings of the spirit). 
     George keeps reminding us that he sure hopes our kids will come visit us this summer.  So far, Maren is the only one who made reservations -- she will be here with us the week of July 4 and fly back to Seattle the following Monday. 
     Elder Tad Callister will be visiting our mission this coming week and we hope to be able to see/hear him -- he is one of our old BYU days contemporaries (he was in my ward my freshman year and was in a couple of Elder Hunt's classes that same year).  His general conference talks are always  powerful (he is LeGrande Richards' grandson, no wonder!). 
     We love hearing from family, keep the calls and emails coming!  We send our love, Elder & Sister Hunt

Monday:  We spent most of the day shopping and loading the trailer for our delivery to the new St. Michaels place.  Four elders have been living in an old, cramped trailer behind the church and a new trailer was brought in for two of them.  All four of them want to live in the new trailer, so it will be interesting to see how the split works out.  President Jones said he doesn’t care which elders move in so it will be up to the elders to decide. 

Tuesday:  This was our first delivery trip solo without the Langkildes.  Our first stop was at Sheep Springs to meet the elders from Crystal with old beds that they hadn’t been able to dispose of.  While there we met the Browns, the senior couple serving the Sheep Springs area, and had a fun visit with them.

     Our next stop was St. Michaels and the four elders there made our errand an easy delivery:  Elders Jones, Neilson, Christensen, and Earl were great help!. They unloaded the trailer and went to work putting together a desk, bookcase, and hooking up the washer and dryer.  We were there about four hours helping out.  We had a delivery in Gallup but didn’t want to drag the trailer down and back so we parked it in the church parking lot at Tohlakai.  While we were unhitching the trailer Sister Freestone came out of the church and invited us to join “the group” which turned out to be four senior couples who happened to be there all at the same time.  What a delightful visit! The following were there:  the McNeills from Ganado, the Bouwhuis from Window Rock, the Browns from Sheep Springs, and the Freestones from Tohlakai. 

     We met the Gallup elders in the parking lot at Pep Boys and gave them bed frames and cleaning supplies before heading over to visit the Haneys, the new senior couple in Gallup.  They live in a trailer next to the seminary building across from Gallup High School on the west end of town.  They were happy with the dresser and nightstand we took to them and asked if it might be possible for them to get a desk as well – we will make that a priority!  Sister Haney became quite ill during their week at the MTC with trigeminal neuralgia – we certainly hope and pray for improvement in her behalf.  They are from Missouri and are serving as counselors for the addiction recovery program – both of them are certified counselors and are a wonderful asset to our mission!  Our visit there with them was so interesting that it was difficult to get back on the road.

     We rehitched our trailer in Tohlakai and headed north and were home by midnight.

Wednesday:   We did some routine office work  and had lunch at Olive Garden, which is always a treat for us! 

Thursday:  Dennis gave our devotional on humility and shared some good thoughts – our hymn for the day was “Be Thou Humble.”  Staples gives the church a nice discount on their merchandise and it depends on the specific item how much of a discount is given.  On Monday we talked Elder Langkilde into getting two computer-type desks for the elders in St. Michaels (they only had two for the four elders there).  The interesting thing about dealing with Staples is that you don’t know how much of a discount you will get until you check out.  It turned out that the desks that were on clearance for $69 (originally $150) rang up for $3.99 at the checkout register.  So we talked Elder L. into going back to get the two desks they had left and also a couple of other desks needed by senior missionaries (the Haneys in Gallup and Sister Balling, a nurse instructor in Chinle).  We didn’t didn’t get quite as good a deal on those desks, but figured that it still averaged out to a considerable savings for the package. 

     During the afternoon there was a little down time in the office so I did some indexing.  We have been taking our laptop to the office each day and it has worked out well for us.

Friday:  During the morning we had an office planning meeting for transfer week.  It was our first time to attend this kind of meeting – we were out on the road before the last transfers took place.  We met with President Jones in his office along with the APs and the rest of the office staff.  We will have two new sisters coming in and five new elders – we will be having two sisters leave and seven elders.  After our meeting I did several baptism report entries and Dennis worked on key indicator reports that hadn’t been taken care of for a while.  We have to share office computers, only four computers have the IMOS church program on them so it takes a bit of cooperation on the part of everyone to make it work.  The APs needed the computer hookup and desk space that I usually use (getting ready for transfers next week) so after lunch I came home to work on a project that I could do at home and Dennis didn’t go back to the office until 4:00 pm (when he thought there might be a free computer) and stayed and worked until 7:00 pm.

Saturday:   After breakfast we drove over to the office and traded vehicles for the mission Silverado to do some furniture “swapping.”  We took the Bloomfield elders a better couch and loaded their old one into the back of our truck.  Next we went to Aztec to help the elders there fix their toilet, and then came back to Farmington and took our load to Good Will Industries.  While we had the truck we wanted to make it count, so we took two more loads of “Good Will” that was stashed in the AP garage over to their store.  Then we came back to our apt. and took care of our P-Day chores.

Sunday:  We attended meetings in Kirtland 2^nd Ward – had planned to meet Stephanie Benally there, but she didn’t show up today.  Maybe next week! We didn’t have much luck finding some of our contacts home so came back for lunch and a little Sunday nap.  At 4:00 we met Jared at their chapel for his first organ lesson.  It went really well – he is a gifted musician and will pick organ up quickly.

      

NMFM Week 9: May 14-20, 2012

Hello Family!  We have had another busy, fun, productive week.  We've done round #2 of inspections in the Farmington area and are pleased that the places are looking MUCH better than the last time we visited.  The missionaries seem glad to have us come and thank us for helping them.  We love to be around them and appreciate their desire to do good and to be good.  Today we were in the same Gospel Essentials SS class with a couple of them and it was enjoyable to hear their comments and explanations of basic gospel principles.  We are extremely pleased with the news of my brother John's forthcoming marriage plans.  GOOOO UNCLE JOHN!!!!  I just ran over to visit with the Paynes for a few minutes -- I asked Jared to put the Apr. conference talks on my ipod so I can listen to them whenever I want.  He said he would be happy to do that for me!  I guess he is my substitute grandson for now -- and he is a good one.   We hope to hear from you this week.  Love, Elder and Sister Hunt 

Monday:  Elder L. wasn’t feeling well so he asked us to make a trip back over to Shiprock to put a key under the doormat for McBrides, the senior couple coming in that evening from Logan, UT.  As we drove into the trailer yard (which is behind the seminary building) we commented that the McBrides would have somewhat of a culture shock as there was nothing growing is the yard besides foxtailes.  We haven’t met or talked to them yet, but hope to be able to do so this week sometime.  After we got back from Shiprock we went to the hospital ER to visit the Langkildes, he was there trying to pass a kidney stone!

Tuesday:  Elder and Sister James were gone to the Zone Conference in Gallup so we worked at their desks and used their computers to take care of some of our assignments.  They work together on the mission vehicles so use zone conference time to check out the fleet.  This week our mission got 9 new Chevy Colorado trucks in to replace those that had 50,000 miles on them. 

Wednesday:  It was apartment inspection day in the morning as we visited the following in Bloomfield:  Spanish speaking Elders Smith and Stephenson; Elders O’Connor and Baugh; Sisters Thomas and Sipherd.  We drove to Aztec from Bloomfield and visited Elders Awbrey and Burgin and also Sisters Miller and Real.  During the afternoon we worked on reports in the office.

Thursday:  We did an inspection in Farmington in the basement of a members’ home, the Ivies, as we visited Elders Marple and Gardner.  We made it to the office in time to give our devotional at 9 am.  Our theme this week was courage.  After lunch we went with the Langkildes on another “clean it up, fix it up” adventure to Pueblo Pintado.  To get there you have to turn off the highway from Bloomfield heading to Albuquerque.  It is the same turn-off that will take you to the east entrance of Chaco Canyon.  I’ve been wanting to visit Chaco Canyon, but Thursday was NOT the day for that field trip.  The last 15 miles were dirt road and we were thankful that it hadn’t been raining recently!   We were in the Silverado pulling a trailer again as we needed to take a queen size bed and bring back the two twin beds. The McNeils, a senior couple from Milan NM, will be staying in that trailer and working with the Escrito Branch there.  The trailer is right behind the chapel there.  That ups the number of senior missionaries in our mission to 89 this week!  It was 10:30 before we got home and we fell into bed tired. 

Friday:  I’ve been having kitchen “withdrawal” so got up early and fired up my Bosch and mixed up a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough.  We were scheduled to do apt. inspections here in Farmington so I divided it up into 4 qt. size ziplock bags and we took it to the missionaries we visited:  Elders Meers and Sypher; Sisters Pendelton and Stewart; Elders Ott and Nielsen; and Elders Lindsey and Sanchez (Spanish speaking elders).  This week was no exception to our routine – we left each place “BTIW” and also left cleaning supplies for them to use.  We got a lot of cheerful smiles and “thank yous” on our rounds. 

Saturday:  After taking care of laundry and chores around our apt. we went to Bloomfield and Aztec to do some finishing up there:  hung new window blinds, new shower curtain rod, light fixture, traded out a chair, fixed a sagging curtain rod.  We stopped and had dinner at the Panda Garden in Bloomfield and they heaped up our plates high enough that we had enough take-home for Sunday dinner.

            My mom called to say that my brother John is engaged and hoping to be married before the big June 30 birthday party.  Wendy is a cute lady and we like her a lot.  She and John both deserve companionship and happiness!

Sunday:  We decided to go to Kirtland 2^nd Ward at 9 and were glad we did – Cory Thellmann was there with his cute little fiancé.  Their wedding date is only a couple of weeks off – June 1 and we are looking forward to going to their reception on June 9.  We stayed for Sunday School and then went to visit our non-member friends, the Snows.  We headed back to the chapel and attended the Kirtland 1^st ward meeting block.  It was their ward conference and we really enjoyed their meetings.  President DeWayne Whipple gave an especially good talk, one that I especially needed on being steadfast and immovable. 

NMFM Week 8: May 7-13, 2012

Dear Family,

         Today has been a nice Mother's Day with calls and remembrances from our family.  We enjoyed hearing the primary children sing in sacrament meeting and wished we could have seen some of our grandkids singing to their mothers today.  We enjoyed the Tabernacle Choir broadcast today also -- we aren't usually here on Sunday morning, but didn't start our meeting schedule until 11:30 am today.  Our week has been full and also fun and it is hard to believe that we have completed two months of our mission already!  We look forward to another adventurous week and hope we can help make a difference to someone somewhere.  We send our love to all of you, Elder and Sister Hunt

Monday:  We went with the Langkildes to Shiprock to help Sisters Kesler and Patrick clean out their trailer – they are moving to Farmington and a new senior couple will be moving into that trailer (which is right behind the seminary building across from the high school).  We pulled a trailer behind the Silverado and pretty much filled it with boxes and trash – there was no place for the sisters to get rid of it.  After we got back we picked up beds to take to the Crystal and Toadlena elders the next day.

Tuesday:  We left Farmington about 8 am on a day trip to scatter sunshine:

·         Took new beds to Elders Eging and Dean at Toadlena.  Toadlena is at the base of the mountain and we missed the turn-off to their place and realized it as the road began its incline. The elders’ trailer is by the church and we missed the church because it is yellow and has a very small brown steeple which blends into the tree next to it making it hard to see.  The chapel is just off the road so wasn’t hard to find once we realized we had gone too far.  We also took them light bulbs for their ceiling fans in living room and bedroom (a different type of bulb than most). 

·          At Crystal Elders Ford and Barron had pads on the floor so we helped them move in bed frames and made some adjustments to get them up off the floor.  We moved out their couch and moved in a desk and chair for Elder Barron.  We also helped wash up dirty dishes, scrub their microwave, scrub their greasy stove, scrub mold in the bathroom, and clean out their bathroom.  We left the Crystal place BTIW!

·         Elders Harris and Buynak left us a key above the door of their trailer next to the church in Tohatchi.  While we were there, Virgil Tsosie came by with a lady he wanted the elders to help, but she didn’t want to be helped.  They both had bloodshot eyes and were “under the influence” of alcohol.  We did an inspection and left their place a little BTIW.

·         We hung a new mini-blind at Teec Nos Pos for Elders Iversen and Thomson and checked out their bed situation.  Their bed frames were in the church shed and they didn’t have a key, so we weren’t able to help them get their beds up off the floor.  That is the place that had bedbugs and we don’t want to have to burn more beds so were anxious to get those frames in place! They promised they would take care of it the next day.

Wednesday:  There wasn’t a lot going on at the office, so after devotional we left to work on “fix-up” projects.  We came back to our apt. and donned work clothes and got to work.  We went to the AP house where Elder Hunt worked on broken chairs; I worked on rummaging through the rummage sale items.  We painted a couple of chests of drawers that had lots of missionary graffiti on them – they turned out better than we hoped for.

            We came back in time to change our duds again and head to Aztec.  The Combs (the new couple in the mission office) invited us to their setting apart for their calling.  Their Bishop set them apart under the direction of their Stake President.  It was a good experience to share that special time with them.

Thursday:  I spent a couple of hours doing Indexing while Elder Hunt filed and took care of inspection issues.  In the afternoon we went with the Langkildes to Shiprock to clean and furnish the trailer there.  The new Sr. couple was supposed to move in on Saturday.  It was bedtime before we got home so we just crashed.

Friday:  I printed out the baptism report for the month of April and checked it for accuracy against the original baptism reports sent in by the missionaries.  There are always corrections that need to be made and called in to Salt Lake before the report is finalized.  Our mission had 67 baptisms during April. 

            After lunch we changed into work duds again and got busy.  I got out my Bernina and put a new zipper in a couch cushion, made arm covers for a worn out couch, and took apart a chair cushion for a reupholster job.  Elder Hunt worked on plugged vacuum cleaners and got a couple more running and has two more that need new parts. 

            We went to American Home Furniture and purchased my Mother’s Day gift -- the cute little recliner that we picked out earlier in the week when we went to pick up beds for our missionaries.  After that we went out to dinner at Olive Garden as our Mother’s Day celebration. 

Saturday:   We slept in until 7:30 and it felt sooooo good!  It turned out to be a REAL P-Day for us:  laundry, cleaning, fixing, napping, mending, shopping

Sunday:  Kirtland 1stWard Bishop Huffman invited us to attend their Ward Council meeting a couple of weeks ago so today was the day.  We enjoyed being included in their ward planning and look forward to meeting with them again.

            We drove back to Farmington to attend meetings in George’s ward as we knew that Lauana would be there.  It was a pretty tender scene to see George greet his mother as she came in and give her a big hug.  She snuggled up to me during sacrament meeting and hung on to me during most of the meeting.  She got pretty agitated towards the end so we offered to take her back to Beehive House so Joann could stay and attend meetings with her family on Mother’s Day.  Lauana seemed to really enjoy having the Payne boys give her hugs.

            Joanne was looking forward to being able to SCIPE with their missionary son, David, in the West Indies. I’m sure many missionary moms around the world have been looking forward to this day.  This missionary mom has certainly appreciated the cards, calls, flowers, and remembrances this weekend!