Dec 13

December 13, 2006

The dinner was a huge success! It was so much fun! All of you out there must have been praying for us this week.

We were determined this dinner would be a little more together than the Thanksgiving dinner. Back then we weren’t sure what we could do to prepare without offending someone. Now we know what it’s OK to do…everything! The more we do the happier they are. But we don’t blame them. Basically President and Sister Bonito do everything, so when they get a little relief they’re extremely grateful.

We went over to the church first thing this morning and finished the treat bags. We put a baggie filled with candy, an orange or apple and a handful of mixed nuts in each bag, which was just a brown lunch sack. So then we decided it needed to be a little more festive than just a brown sack, so we folded the top, punched a hole, tied on a green, white or red piece of curly ribbon and curled it. They were actually kind of cute. Not that anyone besides us cared, but we enjoyed doing it. We filled about 165 sacks. The members last Sunday had filled 85, so we did the rest then went back and put the ribbon in the first 85. When we were all done we had used all the fruit we got and all the candy, except 1 little bag we thought we’d give to the Bonitos. But we had quite a few nuts left, so we started thinking what to do with the nuts. Robert swiped a few, but we thought he deserved them. We thought of some families to give them to, but that didn’t really do much for us. Then we thought of giving them to the Elders. Still lukewarm about that. Then I said we should fill some more sacks and just go to the community center and give them away. Robert said, well, if that’s what we’re going to do let’s put a pass-along card in each one. Bingo! That was the right idea. We filled about another 25 bags, but instead of putting the card inside we stapled it to the front of each bag. They really look nice. We used the one with the picture of the Savior on it. We’re going to ask the Elders if they’d like to go with us on Monday or Tuesday and get lots of OYM’s giving away the sacks. We can hardly wait. It should be another adventure, and we just love adventures out here on the rez.

Once we got the treat bags done, we put up all the tables. We put up every table we could squeeze into our little cultural hall and it turned out not to be nearly enough. We had purchased red plastic table covers and we put those on the tables. Pres. Bonito found some boys who would come and help put up chairs, so we got that done (of course Robert had to go pick them up first). Before we put the table covers on Robert washed every table and every chair. That hadn’t been done for a while. We put white covers on the serving table and put out all the plates and plastic utensils and cups. Yesterday in Show Low we stopped at a dollar store and bought a little nativity scene and a small fiber-optic Christmas tree. We put those in the foyer on the little table runner (which got destroyed again during the dinner…think it’s officially deceased this time), cleaned up the foyer, which is usually full of boxes with pamphlets thrown in them, and cleaned off the wall behind this little table that sits out there. It’s had letters and stuff from the church that are all old, so we took those off and put up a beautiful picture of the Savior that we found. So finally my Relief Society President self was satisfied. It was rudimentary, but we had organized and decorated to the best of our ability out here.

While Robert was running around and cleaning chairs and tables, I started cooking. I was so nervous about having enough food. I personally prepared enough food to feed 50 people. OK, I can hear everyone laughing as I write this, but it turned out to be a good thing. I made 4 pans of lasagna, 1 big pan of taco casserole, a big pan of corn and had bought 2 bags of chips and a huge bottle of salsa. The salsa got diverted, though. Maxine came over and informed me she’d quit her job. This is an excellent decision for Maxine, so I was delighted, even though she also told me they don’t have their home phone any more because they got behind in their payments. She said their phone is only $35.00 a month, but they let it go for 3 months and now don’t have the $100.00 it would take to get it back. Perhaps Santa needs to help them out with an anonymous donation this year. They’re such good people and work so hard, unlike many we know here who are content to live on welfare. Anyway, 1 lady had told Robert she couldn’t bring the enchiladas she signed up for, so Maxine called the lady and said if she had the ingredients Maxine could make the enchiladas this afternoon. That worked out. Then Maxine said she could also make rice but didn’t have salsa that she likes to put in it. So…that’s what happened to my big bottle of salsa. It came back at night as rice.

At 5:00 a family of 4 knocked on our door and said they were here for the dinner. Robert said it didn’t start until 6:00 but they said they got a ride over and could they just wait here. So we took them over to the church and they waited over an hour for the dinner to start. We had to leave at 5:30 to pick up people and didn’t get back until 6:30. While we were gone P. Bonito called Robert’s cell and asked what to do with the chips and salsa. We wondered when we got put in charge of the whole dinner, so basically said whatever. We got everything ready now you people there can get the dinner on. We didn’t see who brought food because we were picking up all our people, but when we got back to the church it was literally overflowing. The parking lot was full, there were kids playing out on the lawn, and people were still standing in line waiting to get food. We know we literally experienced a loaves and fishes miracle. There was not enough food assigned, even assuming everyone brought what they said they would, to feed that many people. There were 140-150 people, at least. We had 165 treat bags and not one was left over, although some people may have taken more than one. We totally ran out of food just as the last person came through the line. Bro. & Sis. Wilcock and Robert and I each snagged 1 enchilada, and that was it. There was not a drop left over. As soon as we came back to the church I started serving food and Robert started socializing. When the last person came through the line Sis. Wilcock and I each sighed and took a deep breath just as Bonito rushed up and said, “Pies. Pies. We need to start serving pies.” So for another 30 minutes we stood there talking and dishing up pies and the cobblers Bro. and & Sis. Wilcock brought.

When we looked around and saw some of the people who came we just had to laugh. Janet, who said she was going to Assembly of God, came. The lady who came to church drunk came with her sister. Another lady who hasn’t been to church for years but is a member came with her sister. The wild child from the hill came with his girlfriend, brother and sister. We had invited them Monday night when they visited. Gilbert and Alma and the baby came. Ona and Portia and their mother came. We think the 3 Nephites and Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego came. It was just amazing. P. Bonito had the biggest grin on his face all night, as I’m sure we did, too. We picked up one of our new little friends, an older lady named Manuelita. As we pulled up in her driveway the Assembly of God van was parked there and she was talking to the driver. The van pulled away and as she got in the truck she said, “Assembly God came for me but I tell them I’m going with the Mormons tonight.” Priceless! She also said, “I know a lady who needs you. You need to go to her house and pray for her.”

After preparing, cleaning, cooking, driving and serving all day, I took everyone home while Robert stayed to help clean up. One thing we have to say is that the people always help clean up. They’re very good about that and stay until all the work is done. I got back to the church exhausted, and noticed that one car was still in the parking lot, so went into the church. A member named Shauna Henry was washing the last of the dishes. She has a child with severe behavior disorders and has talked to us about him before. As soon as I went into the kitchen she started talking and we spent another hour with her before we got back to the trailer. We would like to help this lady. She says her son isn’t receiving any help from the school so Robert offered to attend an IEP meeting with her. The child is in Kindergarten and has no speech at all. She took him to a doctor in Phoenix who said he needs to learn to sign because he has a brain disease and will probably never be able to communicate verbally. But the school has said they can’t afford to hire a speech therapist. Robert would like to find out what the school’s side of the story is and help the mother understand her rights also.

Well, that’s the saga of the dinner.