Nov 7

November 7, 2006

What an amazing day this turned out to be, except poor Elder Itri was still sick. So we called Beckie for some professional advice, gave him dry toast and orange juice with salt in it, and were out the door by 7:30. We went to Snowflake to pick up the food order for Gilbert and Alma. We had to wait an hour for the workers to get it ready so we got the oil changed in the truck, went to the LDS bookstore there and visited the LDS employment center. Then back to Show Low where we got some groceries for ourselves, some screen to cover the window in the Elders’ bedroom so they, and we, could have some fresh air in that room, stopped at Kmart for a few things and got gas. Then back to home sweet home.

Here in Cibecue we delivered the food order, then got a form for furniture from the DI and took it to Pres. Benito. Just got home and realized I had forgotten to give Alma the little burp cloth I had crocheted for her, so back there to give her that.

Before we left this morning Robert had a phone call from a man who came to visit us the very first week we were here. His name is Robert Ivins and he had been gone for a while. We went by his house one day and just left a pass-along card saying sorry we missed you. So he called to say he was glad we stopped and he’s out of money. Touching, we thought. Later that night he called again but I answered the phone and still have no clue what he wanted. We had a house full of people at that point and when I said we couldn’t leave right then he just said OK goodbye. No clue what it was about.

Visitor group #1 was the kids who like to hang out here. We talked for a while then sent them on their way because we were fixing dinner for the Elders. They didn’t show for dinner, so we ate without them about 6:30. Just as we finished eating, visitor #2 arrived. We heard a knock on our door and I opened it to the wildest looking man I have ever seen in my life. He had a dirty tank top under a hooded sweatshirt (which is a standard uniform around here) and crazy hair. His hair was long and all messy, like you might do your hair if you dressed up as a witch for Halloween. I just looked at him thinking, oh, my, what do I do now? He said, “Is there someone here who could give me a blessing?” I gotta confess those were the last words I expected to come out of his mouth. So I invited him in and he sat down and started talking to Robert.

His name is Kit Cody. His brother was recently released as branch president in Ft. Apache and his sister-in-law cleans the church every week. He said he’d quit drinking but had a relapse yesterday and got drunk and now he was feeling very bad, numbness and a headache, and thought he might have hurt himself while he was drunk. Suddenly a light dawned. Yesterday the Elders said they ran into the drunkest person they had ever seen. He had a guitar and was up at the grocery store trying to sing to everyone who came by. We later learned more about this binge but it’s probably not necessary to give more gory details. I’m listening to all this thinking we needed someone else here with us. I thought, “I’ll just pray the Elders here.” Five minutes after that thought there’s another knock on the door and it’s President Benito and his wife, Maxine. I thought, OK, Lord, they’ll do. I guess the Elders were still busy.

I still have dinner out on the table, so Maxine sat down at the table with me and President Benito sat with Robert and talked to Kit. Then Robert had to run over to the church and get some oil and he and president then gave Kit a blessing. Meanwhile, the minute Maxine sat down she just unloaded. Again the gory details are probably unnecessary, but the bottom line is that she needs to have her tubes tied and she has a couple of lumps in her breast. So she’s got to have surgery and a mammogram in the very near future. She’s only 30 years old and has other health problems, but was feeling especially frightened of course about the lumps and also sad that she’ll not be able to have more children…she has 3, a boy named Keegan and 2 girls, Faith and Ariel. They are adorable kids. When she sat down I asked her if she’d like to have some dinner and she said no, she was too upset to eat. Then I said, well, how about a little salad. OK, she ate a little salad. Then she ate some garlic bread. Then a nice plate of spaghetti. I felt like I was living in the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

In the middle of all this the Elders finally arrive. Seems they had dinner with Gilbert and Alma so I had bunches of spaghetti left. The Elders then went with Robert to take Kit home and Pres. Benito came over to the table. I asked if he’d like some dinner and he said no, his kids hadn’t eaten so he’d wait and have dinner with them. Wow! Did I have a deal for him. I packed up all my leftover spaghetti dinner and sent it home. We joked that they had come to the Charlton take-out. I know it’s a little thing, but I love the way the Lord works. The Elders just happened to eat somewhere else and I just happened to have a ton of food so we could help Maxine out by sending dinner home with her.

President and Robert then gave Maxine a blessing. Finally about 8:30 the Elders left and Maxine and President stayed until 9:30 and talked. When they gave the blessing the Elders came out and after the blessing Maxine was crying and talking about the lumps and how scared she is. Those poor Elders sat here like fish out of water. They just couldn’t participate in the whole breast cancer conversation. I think they were relieved when they could finally leave. They must have been in a hurry because they came out dressed in their white shirts and ties, basketball shorts and tennis shoes. Too funny!

It was an incredibly long day but rewarding. People are beginning to seek us out and that feels good, although a little surprising sometimes. It was just amazing that this crummy little trailer that we’ve complained so much about could be filled with the spirit as it was tonight. We felt that spirit so strongly and are amazed at how the spirit draws people near. We truly felt that it’s a privilege to do the Lord’s work. When the spirit is so strong the little details like isolation, humble living quarters, loose horses and poverty just don’t seem important any more. These are humble people and we know the Lord loves them and just hope we can do some good here for them.