Mar 8 07

March 8, 2007

Next chapter in the temple saga:

Sis Wilcock, who was nice enough to hem Murphy’s pants and Cheryl’s dress, is leaving today to go “down in the valley” (Phoenix) until Saturday. Then she and her husband are leaving early Saturday morning to come back and meet us at the temple. She was planning to take the pants and dress with her and just bring them to the temple on Saturday. But Worst Case Scenario Linda started envisioning all kinds of possible problems with that plan. So we decided we wanted to get the dress and pants before she left.

We needed to do some serious grocery shopping and had talked about going to Show Low today, but decided we’d wait until tomorrow. I even called Sis Wilcock and said we weren’t coming in today. We cleaned house first thing this morning. We have a lady in the branch whose husband died last week and so we planned to go to the wake today. We can’t go to the funeral because it will be at 1:00 on Saturday. This has been the only real kink in our plan, because President Bonito is conducting the funeral and therefore can’t attend the temple with our group. However, while this was disconcerting it may have been the deciding factor in getting Fernando to go, as he will be representing the branch presidency in the temple on Saturday.

However, as the morning progressed we just didn’t feel good about our whole plan for the day, so we reconsidered and called Sis Wilcock and told her we were coming to Show Low after all and wanted to pick up the pants and dress. She met us at the Show Low stake center and gave them to us, so we felt much better about that part of the plan. Now at least we have the dress and pants in our possession, and can give them to Murphy and Cheryl so that all their stuff is with them.

After meeting Sis Wilcock Robert dropped me at the grocery store and went to the tire shop to repair the tire that went flat yesterday. He is so nervous about all the driving we do that instead of repairing the tire he just bought 4 new ones. When that was all done we had 3 more stops to make: Kmart, ACE Hardware and Subway to get some lunch. WRONG! At Kmart Verbena called us. She and Dion were in Show Low with Dion’s mom, who had just said to Dion, “You can’t wear your white pants to the temple. They won’t fit you any more. You’re not so skinny now.” In a panic Verbena called us and wanted to know what to do.

Robert suggested they just go to Snowflake and buy some new pants and the branch would reimburse them. In the real world that would have been fine, but in our world people don’t have money. Verbena said they couldn’t possibly buy the pants, then proceeded to say well, he doesn’t actually have the ordinance clothing either, or a tie, or…well, you get the point. When he went on his mission he rented all his clothes, except for his shirt and pants, which no longer fit him. Robert just said hey, meet us at the Branding Iron, a spot midway between where we both were, and we’ll give you enough money to go to Snowflake and buy what you need. We’re that desperate to breach every barrier to the temple plan! So we met them and Robert gave them $60 and they were delighted to be able to buy his clothes.

I was in the truck watching Robert as he was giving the money to Dion. Dion was dressed in shorts and wearing this funny little hat, so he looked a bit disreputable. We had planned to give them $40, but as they were talking Robert realized that wouldn’t be enough, so he pulled out his wallet and gave them the other twenty. I just started laughing. This absolutely looked like a bad drug deal. I wondered if the cops were around if we could really make them believe the whole crazy temple story.

While at this point we were extremely tired and a bit frustrated, as we had spent way more time in Show Low than we wanted to, nevertheless we felt that familiar confirmation that the Lord is indeed involved in all of this. Once again, we just happened to be in the right place at the right time. We have experienced this so many times out here and it always feels good. This morning when we were making our plans for the day we didn’t know that Dion and Verbena needed us to be in Show Low. But the Lord knew and made sure we were there to help them.

We went to their house at 9:00 tonight to look at both their clothes and make positive sure they have what they need. Verbena’s dress is too long and her shoes are too big, but I said they’re fine for this first time. We can make adjustments later. However, Dion’s pants need to be hemmed, so we took the pants and will ask Thelma tomorrow if she can hem them for him.

Why were we at their house so late? Because Linda had Relief Society Enrichment night tonight (curse her husband). We did our first quilting activity. Only 4 sisters came, and I picked up 2 of them, but it was good and we made 4 baby quilts. Fifteen minutes before the activity I said I should have invited Alma, who called just as we were leaving this morning and said she’s back in town, back with Gilbert. Robert quickly called and she said she’d love to come. Then as I was going to pick up Cheryl, Alma called again and said Gilbert didn’t want to be home alone. So he came with them and had dinner and visited with Robert and the Elders while we kept Famisha and Alma made a quilt. She left before Linda was finished so Robert took her home and she told him she just loved making the quilt. She was also hungry, so Robert discovered that there is indeed a restaurant in town. Actually 2 of them. They’re both stands built behind a house with a sign in front that says “Pop Stand.” Apparently you can buy more than pop there (probably a lot more). Alma got something to eat and they went on home.

When we finally got home going to bed was pretty much our only priority. We both have terrible, terrible hay fever and have been miserable all day. But we did visit with the Elders for a while first and then slept very soundly.