Mar 11 07

March 11, 2007

Last night was very short. We had a hard time getting ourselves going this morning. But the blessing continued to pour in. President Bonito didn’t have a Sacrament meeting planned so he decided to have those who went to the temple speak today. The Apaches are a very reticent people, and don’t say much about their experiences. But they opened up in church today and we were amazed by what they said about going to the temple.

First Thelma and Roma spoke, then Alfred and Fernando, and then Maxine and President Bonito. They all expressed a desire to go back to the temple and they all talked about the immense joy they felt while they were there. Alfred spoke for about 15 minutes, all in Apache. We told him after that we couldn’t understand what he said but we could surely feel the spirit. But we told him it always makes us a bit nervous when they’re speaking in Apache and we hear our names. He assured us it was all good. Fernando, who is very quiet, spoke with great power and said that now he understood why others were always trying to get him to go to the temple and now he wants to encourage others to go. He said he felt like a little kid yesterday because he was so happy. President Bonito was very emotional. He said he felt 10 feet tall today. He said it was a bittersweet day yesterday because he wanted to be happy but had that funeral to conduct. He and Maxine were very disappointed that they couldn’t be in the temple, but knew he needed to be there to conduct the funeral. He said he often asked himself what he was doing wrong, was he not praying hard enough, because the people weren’t going to the temple. Maxine said it felt so good not to be the only ones who are endowed in the branch. Now they have others they can share their temple experiences with. Actually, there are 4 other endowed members in the branch: Wes Machuse, Irene Murphy, and Cecil and Myrtle Ivins.

The spirit was so strong during Sacrament meeting that I almost hated to start the piano for the closing song. I played very softly because I didn’t want the spirit to go away. For our rest hymn we sang Onward Christian Soldiers and that was even very moving.

We were supposed to have a couple come over tonight and start the temple class for the next time we go, but they didn’t come. Gilbert and Alma did come to church. We hope they were able to feel the spirit there. We certainly can’t guess the end of the story for this couple.