Jan 16 07

January 16, 2007

Yesterday Gilbert and Alma called and asked if we could take them to Snowflake to see about getting Gilbert a job. So that’s what we did today. Gilbert dropped out of school when he was a Junior, has no driver’s license, and has made no attempt to get his GED. Naturally the people at LDS Employment Services did not have any professional jobs for which he would qualify. Therefore, they strongly suggested that Gilbert get his GED, driver’s license, and some training. So much for learning something we didn’t know at the employment center. We did pick up the most recent job listings for laborers, but without a car how would he get to Show Low to work? Gilbert’s mom goes 3-4 times a day (that was not a typo, we meant DAY). Why? Because she’s a bootlegger (remember we don’t make this stuff up). There’s no alcohol sold on the rez, so she’s one of many people who make multiple runs to Show Low, buy beer, etc. there, return to Cibecue, mark up the price, and sell it to the locals for a nice profit. We can’t figure out why the kids around here are struggling so when they have such fine examples to follow. Apparently at one time Gilbert was participating in the family business, but that has come to an end and he’s poor again.

We also picked up a food order for them. It was mostly household items, like cleaning stuff, but we got some food, too. And we had a great time with them, including a lovely lunch and a drive around the Temple where we got a pretty fair lesson in on eternal families. Of course the obvious question is why would you want Alma and Gilbert’s families for eternity? But Famisha is adorable, so at least they should want her, if they manage not to totally screw up her life before she’s 10.

Back in Cibecue we went to the high school for basketball for a couple of hours, then back to our ARP group…where our attendance has been amazingly consistent…still zero. Last Sunday in our meeting Fernando Thompson, counselor to President, said he heard announcements on the radio about our ARP group. He said even the tribal elders talked about it. We’re not sure if Bettina got it announced or if our letter to the judge brought about this result. Regardless, it didn’t increase our attendance tonight.

Just before we left for the game Bettina came by and invited us to attend the Ministerial Council that meets once a month in Whiteriver. It’s a coalition of all the churches represented on the rez. Should be interesting.

Still cold but no new snow. By cold we mean 17 degrees during the night and maybe 30-40 during the day, but with a freezing cold wind.