Jan 9 07

January 9, 2007

Went to Whiteriver to visit Alma and Gilbert again and also to the jail to visit Joseph. He wants us to bring him a Bible. We’ve given him a Book of Mormon but didn’t have any Bibles with us.

Famisha is doing better but they’re still keeping her one more night. We stayed with her and held her and cuddled her while her parents took a little break. We also brought them some more food to snack on. They get 1 meal from the hospital, and when there are 2 parents they have to share, so it’s not a lot of food. We brought chips, apples, juice and some things they can heat in a microwave.

Not only is Alma cursed with a rotten mother-in-law but real mother isn't any better. Her mother lives in San Carlos which is probably 60-70 miles away on another reservation. While Alma was in the hospital with the baby her mother came to Whiteriver and never even stopped by the hospital to check on them. Then she called to yell at Alma because Alma will be 18 in July and the money her mother receives from Alma's real father will then go directly to Alma. Mother Dearest wants Alma to sign over the money to her, so Alma called to see what I think of that. I was happy to share. She had already asked us for money once to pay their light bill because Mom had come to visit and begged money from them. I can't remember if I wrote this in the blog already, but Alma's mother had 9 children and only raised 4 of them. She "picked" 2 boys and 2 girls to keep and gave the rest to friends and relatives. She doesn't even know where most of them are now. Isn't there just some basic "mother instinct" that tells a woman this isnt' right?

While Robert was visiting Joseph (he doesn’t let me go in the jail with him and that’s fine with me) I started reading the White Bible. I hadn’t even looked at it since the MTC. Quite enlightening, actually. It says we’re not supposed to hold babies and that rule applies to everyone regardless of age or gender. I’ve been holding Famisha a lot, so now think I have to tell Alma I can’t any more. I had also told them I would tend her sometime, but that is specifically forbidden, too. Although it hurts my heart because I love this baby, I have been told by missionary experts (aka my own children) that you’ll do a better job if you obey the rules. We have interviews Saturday and I am going to talk to the mission president about it, but suspect I already know his answer.

On our way out of town we stopped by the grocery store in Whiteriver (Basha’s) and then came home to make chip dip. This may not sound like a uniquely spiritual experience to some out there but it was. We bought all the ingredients for New Year’s Day, but when we made it the whipping cream tasted like it was sweetened and the dip was ruined. We thought we got a bad carton of cream, so bought another and it was the same. This was our 3rd try. The first 2 were Lucerne brand, so we bought another brand today and celebrated big time when it tasted like it’s supposed to taste! So we had chip dip and chips for supper. I threw in a chicken breast and handful of peas just to appease my conscience. Then we went to the church and waited for no one to show up for ARP again. We need a new plan.

I wrote some thoughts in an e-mail to Andi that I decided I wanted to record in the journal. First, being here has made me more grateful than ever for the influence of the gospel in my life. If every single person in Cibecue would pick just one commandment to live, i.e. word of wisdom, or marital fidelity, everyone's life in this place would improve 100%. These are principles that are totally foreign to them, yet we just expect them to be a part of our lives. We should truly appreciate the principles we've been taught. Even though neither Robert nor I had parents who were active in the church they still believed in these principles, along with education and work, that have made our lives so good.

Second, while the mission isn't always fun, knowing what I know now I would still come. It's an incredible growing experience, and we know that growing, learning, changing is not always fun, but in the long run beneficial. We've made some important changes since before Christmas. We are trying really hard to take some days completely off. Before, we would go to a mission meeting or something then take a few hours afterward to relax. Now, we're trying to take a whole day just to ourselves, although I have to confess it hasn't happened yet. It's on the schedule for Monday so we'll see if we can actually pull it off.

Also, we're giving ourselves the mornings to exercise and study. We walk in the church every morning, because it's cold outside and we don't like to be out in the cold and also because if we walk outside people stop and want to talk and it's takes forever to get 30 minutes of exercise done. So now we go over to the church and that's been fun. We memorize while we walk. We both really like this. We’ve reviewed the Articles of Faith and brushed up our memories on those, finally memorized all of the missionary stuff (purpose, D&C 4, and Standard of Truth (I think that’s what it’s called), the one that starts “Our missionaries are going forth to different nations.” We’ve had the missionary stuff memorized for a while but we’re trying to say it fast enough to keep up with the Elders and Sisters when they say it at zone meetings. We’ve also memorized the 17 points of the true church and are now starting to work on the scriptures that go with each point.

After exercising we stay home in the morning and study if we possibly can. We were running out the door the minute we got showered trying to do the Lord's work with little preparation for what we needed to do. The study time is helping immensely.

I'm very far out of my comfort zone here, but I think that's what I really like and also what's most discouraging. I just don't know what to say or how to react sometimes because the people think so differently than I do. But, I get very frustrated with old people who get stuck in their ways. Out here I don't have any ways to be stuck into so it has forced me to open my mind and look at everything with a fresh perspective. I like that part, even though it can be painful.

Just wanted everyone to know that while I can’t honestly say I love the mission I’m glad we came. Besides all the many ways it’s helping us we also love serving God’s children. The smallest thing sometimes gives us such a buzz. I know God loves all His people, including the ones who live in Cibecue. We go days and days and feel like we’ve accomplished nothing, then just one little thing happens and we both have tears in our eyes because we feel God’s spirit so strongly. What more could we ask?