Mar 4 07

March 5, 2007

Back on the Blog again! Back on the Blog again! Could this be a famous song?

Seems like forever since we posted something. We had a great time in Arkansas. Jeron is so adorable, as are Ashlin and Jaxon, and of course Shawn and Veda. We hated to come back, but here we are, and while we hated to leave our family it was good to get back to our little mission family, too.

We hit the ground running when we finally got here last Friday. By the time we picked up our mail and got home there was already a message on the answering machine from Maxine Bonito. She said, “I saw you coming into town, so just wanted to tell you…” She went on to say that the husband of one of our members died and the funeral will be Saturday, our temple day. Also, there’s a lady who comes from Whiteriver to clean our chapel each week and her son committed suicide ( the people here say “suicided himself”) and that funeral is tomorrow. Well, that’s a typical return home from a vacation. Also, the Elders were still here and so we talked with them and fixed them dinner before they left about 8:00. Itri got transferred, so Elder Day, who has been out for 6 weeks, has a new companion, Elder Rogers, who has been out for 6 months.

Saturday Robert and I both had colds and didn’t feel well, so we made a couple of visits and then wanted to just rest and see if we could get feeling a little better. We visited with the lady whose husband died and then took some baby clothes Veda gave us to Alma. We just got home and relaxed, in our pajamas even, when Alma called and needed a ride home from a wake she was attending. It was a miserable, cold day, and we hated going out, but went and got her and the baby and Gilbert’s sister. When we took her home she said Gilbert was at his mother’s house, passed out, and she was scared that when he woke up he’d come home and be mean to her. Sure enough, a couple of hours later she called and Robert said he could hear cupboards slamming and Gilbert yelling and the baby crying…so we went out again to get her and take her to her mother who was still at the wake. Just as Alma was getting into the truck with Gilbert’s sister, Baby Girl (she’s 8) and Famisha, she said, “There goes my mom.” I was driving so I took off out of the apartment complex after the mom. I felt like we were in one of those movies where someone jumps in the car and says, “Follow that car.” I was driving around curves as fast as I could so we wouldn’t lose sight of the mom’s truck, because we didn’t know what we’d do with Alma if the mom left town. Finally we pulled up behind the truck and honked and they stopped. Alma and Famisha got in with her mom, but we still had Baby Girl. She said her mother was at another house, but when we went there the mother was gone. So we started down another road and Baby Girl yelled “Stop, there’s my mom” just as another truck passed us. We flipped a quick u-turn and took off after that truck. They stopped down the road a bit and Baby Girl went with her mom. Just then Alma and her truck full of people pulled up and stopped across the road. I just drove off. We’d had our full limit of drama for one day and figured we had everyone sorted out so they could fight with each other all by themselves. We couldn’t help laughing as we said, “Oh, if only the kids could have seen this!”

The rest of that night was pretty calm. Church on Sunday was wonderful. It actually felt good to be back to our little branch, and there is so much excitement about the temple day on Saturday. Keep praying for us that everyone will make it. Verbena already went to Snowflake and got her temple clothes. We’re taking everyone else during this week. The only ones who won’t give us a firm commitment are the counselor in the branch presidency and his wife. So pray a little extra hard for them. We’d never seen people so animated as they were on Sunday. President Bonito kept all the temple goers after meeting for a while and talked about getting their clothes and preparing this week. His little office was just literally buzzing. It was so neat.

Then, that afternoon the blessings just kept coming. Megan finally got baptized. On Friday she and her mother saw the Elders and her mother asked when Megan was getting baptized. The Elders asked when would be good for them and they said how about Sunday. We’re all like, oh yeah, right, but we went ahead and planned. Megan came to Primary and 2 of the girls asked if they could go to her baptism with us. I took Megan home and when she got out of the truck I said Megan, don’t you dare disappoint me again. She laughed. She sat by us in Sacrament meeting and during the meeting she leaned over and said, “Sister Charlton, I feel so happy about my baptism today.” When we went to pick them up they were ready and waiting. Naysha went with us, but the other girl, Terra, couldn’t come. Bonitos were all there and Bro and Sis Wilcock and their daughter and another lady who used to work in Cibecue branch and this Brother McNeil who’s been coming to church here. So we had quite a little crowd. Sister Wilcock even brought cookies. Robert gave the talk on baptism and confirmed Megan and President Bonito baptized her. What can we say? It was a wonderful day.

Today we got our first trip to the doctor. Robert felt worse this morning than he did on Saturday so we decided we better see a doctor. We went to urgent care and the doctor thinks he has a sinus infection so he’s taking 2 decongestants and an antibiotic. Hope this helps. We took temple letters to Fernando and Roma, but Roma wasn’t home so we still don’t have a clear feeling about whether or not they’re committed for Saturday. The other letter was for Verbena. She wasn’t home and thankfully only Robert went to the door because Dion answered and hid behind the door pretty much all naked as far as Robert could tell. I was so happy that I stayed in the truck.

We’re hoping that this medicine will help Robert sleep tonight. He can’t sleep at night because he can’t breathe. Funny how these small details can upset one’s body.