Sunday: We
slept in a bit so decided to attend Kirtland 3rd Ward which meets at
11. During sacrament meeting there Sandy
leaned over and whispered to me that William, Deanna, and Makenna were speaking
in Farmington 8th Ward (which starts at 1:00) so we decided to head
to Farmington after Kirtland sacrament meeting. The Paynes did a nice job and
it was good to hear from them. I met
Jared in the chapel at 4:00 for organ practice.
Maren joined us for dinner with the Paynes, which was a treat for all of
us. George hasn’t joined us for dinner
all this month since tithing settlement has been going on. He mentioned once that this may be his last
tithing settlement as he has been Bishop close to five years now.
Monday: We
left early to go to Tohatchi, which is about 25 miles north of Gallup. The missionary trailer there has been vacant
for over a month and needed to be cleaned up and made ready for missionaries
that will be there in Dec. 18 after transfers.
As we opened the gate next to the chapel it looked like we were driving
into the city dump. The three large
garbage bins next to the trailer were overflowing with garbage and the wind had
blown it all around the yard. Elder Hunt
spent about three hours cleaning the yard and bagging the garbage. The trailer was warm so I was able to dig
in. I started by cleaning out all of the
kitchen cupboards and drawers as well as scrubbing the stove and refrigerator. The elders who had been there before left a
lot of clothes and “stuff” that needed to be taken care of. We weren’t able to finish our job there so
decided to go back to pick up the broken bed and other things that needed to be
hauled out. We worked hard until about
7:00 pm and headed back to Farmington, which is a two hour drive. The
bed of the truck was filled with garbage and some broken furniture etc. We were exhausted when we fell into bed.
Tuesday:
Elder Hunt rose before the crack of dawn to go empty the garbage from
the truck bed so he could head back over Buffalo Pass to finish his job of putting
skirting around and winter-proofing the little trailer in Tsaile. I stayed in Farmington to take care of the
November baptism report and catch up on referrals.
Wednesday:
I rode with Sister James to Kayenta to the Zone Conference for all of
the senior missionaries in our mission. I had an envelope for each of them with
a copy of the poem I wrote, a refrigerator magnet, and a copy of “Harvest
Time” and was amazed that I was able to
hand all of them out – everyone was present (except Elder Hunt and Elder
James). I sat with the Blacks, my cousin
Stuart and his wife Jody. They are
serving on Polacca and are having a tough time there. We had some great speakers: President Justice, Tuba City Stake President;
President and Sister Batt; and testimonies from the missionaries leaving to go
home before February. After the luncheon
they had a couple of musical numbers, including my piano solo of “Silent
Night/Still, Still, Still.” I enjoyed my
visit with Sister James as we traveled to and from Kayenta –Elder James was
under the weather and Elder Hunt was working to pull the ox from the mire in Tsaile. Elder Hunt camped in that little trailer for
three days while he was working there.
Thursday:
It was my turn to give the office devotional so I shared a thought given
to me by Sister Gardner (the couple serving in Bitter Springs) about the wise
men. Her paper told of the significance
of the gifts given by the Wise Men and then concluded with this thought: “The Wise Men exemplify the journey each of
us take as we seek the Lord. They remind
us that as we draw closer to Him, we will be led to continue our journey
another way.” After devotional I went
shopping for some things for the Tohatchi trailer, including a new bed and
frame. It wasn’t as much fun shopping
without my companion who was still slaving away in Tsaile, but I truly felt the
Christmas spirit as I picked out items for our missionaries. I was in and out of the office during the day
as I had to leave in the afternoon for some lab work. It was dark by the time I got back to our
place (5:30!). Elder Hunt didn’t get
home until 9:30 pm and I tried hard to wait up for him. After he got home he had to go to the
Farmington Stake Center to get some chairs that had been replaced in the high
council room and were sitting out in the hall.
A funeral was scheduled for the next day in the building and they needed
to be moved out. We now have 26 NICE arm
chairs to distribute around the mission where needed. It was 11:00 before he fell into bed.
Friday: We
left the trailer with chairs in it parked in the Paynes’ yard and picked up the
new bed from the AP garage and two NICE arm chairs and an “easy” chair before heading
to Tohatchi AGAIN! It was raining in
Farmington when we left and it turned to snow as we got further down the
road. It was nice to drive into a clean,
but muddy yard next to the church. We
worked hard and fast and hoped to leave by 1:00 so we could be at the mission
office for the 3:00 pre-transfer planning meeting. We arrived in Farmington at 4:30 and the APs
were still there so they gave us a quick
briefing. They told us that Elder
Sherwood, one of our favorite elders would be in Tohatchi as a trainer for one
of our new missionaries coming in. That
made us feel well repaid for our hours of labor there. We had more Tohatchi “stuff” loaded in the
truck that we needed to find a home for so our first stop was Good Will. They were so kind to take the old, ratty
couch, the old bed, 2 big bags of clothes, some chipped dishes, and a few other
treasures. We only had one bag of
garbage to dispose of this time. It was
another exhausting day and I was in bed and asleep by 8:00!
Saturday:
We woke up to a winter wonderland with white all over the ground. My intentions were to stay inside and keep
warm all day. Elder Hunt went to the office to work on his phone report and also
his key indicators report. He also
printed up Culture Books for our new missionaries coming in next week and did a
few other odds and ends. He hoped that
the weather would clear so he could unload the chairs at the AP garage, but it
was still snowing a bit while that process was taking place. He called to see if I could pick him up at
the mission office after he returned the truck and trailer to the mission
corral. It was dark and still snowing
and Maren was here visiting me and offered to take her car. It turned out to be a good thing because her
little car with front wheel drive handled the snow packed streets quite well
(our car does NOT like snow!). We were
thankful to be back to our place safely and were relieved when Maren called to
say she made it back to her apartment safely as well!
It was a busy, busy week and we had a warm feeling about
all of our hard work and efforts to care for our missionaries.
