Jul 4 07

July 4, 2007

Crazy morning! Bonitos invited us to a “dinner” in Show Low and then said they stay and watch the fireworks. From that I jumped to the conclusion that “dinner” was in the evening. Wrong! It was right after the parade. They went to the parade but we didn’t. About 10:00 they called and said they forgot their cooler with meat in it and could we bring it with us. Robert called DJ (who works with President) to unlock their house but couldn’t find the cooler anywhere. When he called to tell them that they said the parade was over and they would wait lunch until we got there. I was just getting out of the shower when he came home so we hurried as fast as we could and started out of town. Bonitos called again and said, well, just hang out in Show Low for a while because they were going to Hawley Lake, where Maxine’s family is camping, and then back for the dinner. We had visions of ourselves hanging around Show Low for hours before they could get back from the Lake and we really didn’t want to waste the whole day up there. So we called back and declined the invitation. I think they were both disappointed and relieved. I was feeling really homesick all day today, the worst I’ve felt in a long time, so I really wasn’t in the mood to try to fit into some vague Apache schedule. Instead we stayed home all afternoon and I wrote letters and then worked on my mission scrapbook. It was just the quiet day I needed. I’m so tired of driving! This town is like a ghost town. The Fourth of July is a big, big holiday. The tribe gives its workers the whole week off. So hardly anyone is around. Supposedly Gilbert and Alma are having their big bash, but we don’t know if it’s here or in Whiteriver.

However the quiet day was too good to be true. Around 6:00 Cecil Ivins came over and said Tamara broke her leg at Safeway in Show Low. Her husband, Abbitt, didn’t have a way to get up there to be with her, so Robert took him to Show Low. They brought Tamara home with a cast on her leg. She broke her shin bone and tibia. They told her she might have to have some surgery after the swelling goes down. Robert brought her home, along with their daughter and 2 boys who went with Abbitt and Robert to Show Low.

Robert says Abbitt had all kinds of stories to tell him. He said he had a four-year scholarship to play basketball at a college in the Albuquerque area. His mother got sick and his father wouldn’t let him go because he said he was needed here to help care for his mother. His father is Cecil, and they have, direct quote from Cecil, “maybe around 17 children.” Abbitt is the youngest of this group.

He also said that a while ago he had a dream where things that had been happening in his life were shown to him. He was told that he was being prepared to take his father’s place in the branch…that his father and mother were about to finish their lives here and Abbitt should take their place in the family and in the leadership in the branch. Cecil is the counselor in the branch presidency who hasn’t attended for a long time. However, he was there Sunday and bore his testimony and said he’d been slipping away and knows he needs to come back.

After the dream Abbitt started getting his life together. At one time he was on drugs and fooling around with women, and Tamara left him. But they got back together, and they’re the ones who got married, then 3 weeks later Abbitt baptized Tamara. At the baptism, Abbitt said that when he brought Tamara up out of the water he saw many angels standing in the room watching what was happening.

Abbitt also said he’s been dreaming of an evil spirit and that the spirit is walking towards him and he has a fight with the spirit, but he always seems to overpower the spirit and prevail. Then he talked about having the priesthood now and said that now he thinks it’s the priesthood that allows overcome the evil spirit.

Abbitt is Myrna’s brother, so Dinky, Myrna’s son who died last year, is his cousin. After Dinky (I’m not making up that name) died, he wondered where his cousin was and what was happening to him. Was he going into Heaven or not? One night he dreamed about a rainbow that was descending into a black cloud. He prayed about what that meant and was told to read Enos 1:27. This scripture talks about the spirits who enter into Heavenly Father’s rest and was a great comfort to Abbitt.

This is a great story but I have to admit I’m a little frustrated with the Apaches and their dreams. Last Friday night I dreamed that I forgot the French bread for our dinner on Sunday and I had to get someone to teach Primary for me while I ran to Show Low and bought bread. So the Apaches get these great spiritual dreams and the Lord sends me the “Don’t forget the bread” dream. It’s just not fair.