ONov 3

,November 3, 2006

Left home early this morning – 7:30 AM. We stopped in Whiteriver at the hospital to visit Cheryl and Ricky and the baby, Enrico. The baby has RSV but was doing better. The parents think he’ll be in the hospital for 4-5 days. We took them some cheese, crackers, and fruit to snack on but found out later in the day there is a social worker at the hospital that can give parents a card to go to the cafeteria and eat while they are there with their child. Sister Lefkowitz said she would call one of the social workers and make sure Cheryl and Ricky have food.

Next we visited the new couple in McNary, Elder and Sister Eckman. They are from Alaska and a very nice couple. The other missionaries say that McNary is the hardest place to serve on the rez because it has a high crime rate. The people in this town either attend church in Pinetop or Whiteriver. They have a meetinghouse where the couple’s trailer is, but it was closed a few years ago because there were not enough people attending church there.

Although we enjoyed meeting the Eckmans we rather regretted going there as we saw their trailer and it’s a whole lot nicer than ours. We could accept that except we all pay the same rent. They have things like curtains that match the colors in the trailer. And a dishwasher. And Pinetop ward had cleaned it. Sister Eckman said it was spotless when they got there. We have some serious coveting issues for that trailer, but not for McNary. We like our little Cibecue town.

We met Rosie and Steve Lefkowitz at the church in Pinetop and went out to McNary with them. So after our visit they asked if we’d like to drive around McNary. This couldn’t possibly take longer than 5 minutes, so we said sure. Well, after McNary they wanted to show us some nearby lakes, which turned out to be about the size of Larry Bennett’s fishpond. Then they thought we should drive to the ski hill…then to another town…then to a resort area to have lunch. We left McNary at 11:00 AM and returned at 4:00. It was such an enjoyable day…yes, another rough day in the life of a missionary couple…but not what we thought we’d be doing today. They’re a very nice couple and we enjoy them. Found some fun places to show visitors (hint, hint). Went to a great place for lunch. The towns we went to were Eager, Springerville, and Greer.

So of course we were way late getting home. Even after getting back at 4:00 we ended up going to see Lefkowitz’ house, because they live in Pinetop and serve as full time missionaries from their home. Then we had to get groceries. There’s a mission rule that on the rez you’re supposed to be in your home by dark every night. We’ve come home after dark 3 nights this week. Not so good at those rules. The Elders were planning to be at our place for dinner at 6:00 so we just grabbed Kentucky Fried and got home about 6:15. Itri and Meeks came in about 5 minutes later. They didn’t care what we had for dinner because they’d had an outstanding day. They came home tonight with 6 kids scheduled for baptism this month, plus one adult baptism that has been scheduled for some time. This is the woman of the couple getting married tomorrow and her baptism is this week…when is still a question. She, Juliet, called our cell phone, gave us the baptismal program and said it will be Saturday, November 11 at 3:00. When we gave that to Itri and Meeks they said they’d just talked to Byron, the about-to-be husband, and he said the baptism will for sure be on Tuesday, November 7, at 7:00 and gave them a completely different program. Everyone is in a tizzy over the wedding so it will be Sunday or Monday before we can straighten this out.

The investigator we took to church Sunday, Gilbert, is 19, and has a 16-year-old girlfriend, Alma, who is pregnant. Was pregnant. She had the baby this afternoon. They were in an apartment with Gilbert’s family but the fam got a new house and moved out, leaving Alma and Gilbert co-habiting unchaperoned. So what to do? Gilbert can’t get baptized unless Alma leaves or they get married. Itri was uncomfortable pushing marriage because he says it will never last. Robert said regardless Gilbert has fathered a child and should accept responsibility for that child. Who knows how that will turn out? I feel like we’re living in the middle of a huge Soap Opera with all those story lines that never end but just go on and on and on.