Oct 16

October 16, 2006

Another beautiful day in Dischii Bikoh. We did a 3-mile walk to the post office and experienced great joy when the Schwan’s truck drove by as we were walking. We went to the post office and picked up a wonderful surprise from Ethan and Allison. We now have art work hung on the hallway between the bedrooms and front room. At the “commercial center”, or our version of the Chester Mall, we met a lady named Benita Begay who is a social worker at the health center. She invited us to help with a health fair there tomorrow.

On the way home we saw the Schwan’s truck parked down a street in front of some homes. We chased him down and told him to come by. While doing this we met a young couple with a darling little baby who were very friendly. The Schwan’s truck literally followed us home, sensing a potential big sale. We think he must have known Duane.

We then did our first companionship study where Robert studied and Linda did the wash. Robert says her attention span hasn’t improved since our college days, possibly since Kindergarten.

Our supervisor from Snowflake, Ken Brown, then visited us for 3 hours and discussed our assignment and the addictions group we will eventually start. His counsel is to take it slow and get to know the people well, which we believe is good advice. After he left we visited several member families and also 2 nonmember families. One of the families was the one who had been on the placement program in Ashton. The father is actually a member, but the attend the Assembly of God church. He is a gospel singer and he sang to us and he and his wife played the guitar. We brought them some information about the foster family he lived with that Liz Hossner sent us. We hope to invited him to help with the ARP (addiction recovery program) groups as he is a recovering alcoholic and a good example for those who will be in the group.

Returned to the trailer and had dinner with the Elders. We had talked to them about the couple that didn’t get married last week. Neda at the post office said they were very upset about not getting married on his brother’s birthday. The Elders visited him tonight and he told them about a dream he had. In the dream he spoke with his brother who died. The brother told him that he goes to class where he was taught about 3 worlds in the hereafter. He said there is a big world, a smaller one and a small one and everyone wants to get to the biggest one, and he was being taught how to get there. He told the brother that he’s doing the right things and to keep doing them. The Elders were elated. They were able to talk to Byron about going to the temple and doing his brother’s work. His “wife” is very excited about getting baptized after they are married.

After dinner, actually during dinner, our little band of sugar addicts descended. We gave them peas. We told them the candy dish is closed and the only way they get more is to come to church. It’s not bribery, it’s self-preservation. They’re getting to be little pests, but Robert has the ideal solution. Next time they come we’re giving them a lesson, church songs and all. If they want to visit they’ll have to learn the gospel.

We loved making the home visits today. The spirit was strong and it felt good.