Sep 15 07

September 15, 2007

We’ll try to describe this day as well as we can, but it was such an amazing day we’re afraid it will be impossible to convey the spirit as we experienced it.

We started very early, getting up at 6:00 AM to exercise, because this is the day our interpreter team needed to watch the training broadcast from Salt Lake from 7:00-9:00 AM. We wanted to be out of the church when they arrived.

President and Maxine arrived promptly at 7:00 AM. We jumped in the truck and ran over to Cecil’s to make sure he was coming. He was, and arrived about 10 minutes later. There’s always a first in the mission field. This was the first time we went knocking on doors at 7:00 in the morning.

We came back and I started cooking. Since I was fixing breakfast for Elders Miller and Bennett, we decided it would be nice to take breakfast to our little team, too. So we cooked sausage and waffles and took a plate to each of them along with some milk. After the training David and Maxine came over and talked until noon. They were excited about the training but very nervous about being able to do the interpreting when they get to Salt Lake. Maxine was especially apprehensive and we did what we could to reassure them. A few days ago they received an e-mail from Elder Barnes in Salt Lake reminding them of the importance of being spiritually prepared. Yesterday Robert mentioned to President Bonito that he feels there could be no better spiritual preparation than attending the temple. We reinforced that thought again this morning. Maxine was already committed to going to the temple with our branch this afternoon, but President had said he felt like he needed to study the DVD’s Salt Lake had sent and was too busy to go to the temple. By the time he left he had changed his mind and decided to go.

We were so happy that everything worked out for this training. I had worried all week that they wouldn’t come to it, or our system wouldn’t work, or something else would go wrong. But it went perfectly and we were thrilled. Every step closer to conference is cause for celebration.

We started picking up people for the temple at 1:00. We took Murphy, Betty and Cheryl with us and actually arrived plenty early to get Murphy ready. This is no small accomplishment. It was the first time we’ve been with him that we didn’t hold up the session and make it late starting.

As we drove into the parking lot, Cecil and Myrtle and Alfred and Thelma were already there. We were so excited that Cecil and Myrtle came. David and Maxine weren’t there yet, but I put their names on the list and we all went ahead and went into the endowment room. However, they never did come and the session started without them. We were very disappointed.

As Robert helped Murphy get dressed he had the thought that the Lord said that he who wants to be the greatest is the servant to others. Robert felt that it was a privilege to be able to provide this service to Murphy and that it felt good to do this just for the joy of doing it, with no expectation for any sort of return.

Ken and LaFawn Wilcock, the stake missionaries, also came. LaFawn sat down in front of me in the session and turned around to tell me that she had a nephew going on a mission and he was taking out his endowments in this session. She said they had planned a temple day a little later on when the whole family could be there, but last week he told his mom he didn’t want to wait. He just kept saying, “I want to go now.” So they called the temple to see if they could get into the 3:30 session. We sent our names in 4 weeks ago, but the temple said they could still easily accommodate the missionary’s family. So his mom started giving the names of people who would be coming. First she said LaFawn Wilcock. The worker said, “Why, she’s already on the list and so is her husband. Oh, and by the way, your dad and brother are already on the list, too. They’re all included with the Cibecue Branch.” LaFawn’s father and brother also served in the Cibecue Branch for many years. Her brother was one of President Bonito’s counselors when we first arrived last year. So they have a long history of service on the reservation and were all delighted to be there with our Cibecue members.

It was also the temple day for the Fort Apache Branch. Rosie and Steve were there, although Steve always does initiatory, and they had one couple with them. Unrighteous though we know it is, we were quite delighted that our Cibecue branch outnumbered their much larger branch. All together we had 13 people in the temple representing Cibecue, and that’s not counting LaFawn’s father and brother.

I sat between Thelma and Myrtle. Myrtle has had a stroke and is also very handicapped. She uses a walker and has more movement than Murphy, but still really struggles. As we started putting on the clothing, I turned to help Myrtle just as Thelma tapped me and said she needed help. Of course a very sweet temple worker was right there and she took over for Myrtle so I could help Thelma. Every time we raised our hands Myrtle just fought to get her right arm as high as she could. She would hold it up and then push it a little higher, then a little higher. It was so hard for her, but I was in awe of her determination. I had told her before the session started that she didn’t need to stand up when everyone else did, but every time we got to one of those parts she struggled, and I mean struggled, to her feet. She literally forced herself to stand. I couldn’t help but be impressed by such raw courage. When we changed rooms from the Telestial to the Terrestrial Room, I once again told her it wasn’t necessary for her to stand each time. From that point on she remained sitting. I felt like she was almost totally exhausted by then, and was quite relieved when she finally sat through the rest of the ordnance.

Being with her in the temple was particularly sweet for me because it made me think of Grandma Charlton. She used to tell me that she would like to go back to the temple but just couldn’t get up and down, and get her shoes on and off. When I went to work in Idaho Falls and learned that it isn’t necessary for people with physical limitations to do all that, I wished many times that I had known that when Grandma was still alive and could have taken her back to the Temple. Being able to do it for Myrtle was immensely rewarding.

At the end of the session I went through the veil and saw David and Maxine in the Celestial Room. What a surprise! They arrived too late to get into the session so David was ready to leave, but Maxine said no, I don’t want to go away empty-handed. So they did sealings and then met us all in the Celestial Room. It was the perfect ending to an already perfect day. They had never done sealings before and had a wonderful experience.

As soon as I got over to Maxine she said she had something to tell me. She said that she has been so apprehensive about being an interpreter for conference that she had just about decided not to do it. But she decided to come to the temple with just that on her mind. All through the sealings she was thinking about it, and when they finished and came up to the Celestial Room she sat down and picked up the scriptures. She held them in her lap and thought, “OK, you promised if I came to the temple you’d help me. Let’s see what you’ve got for me.” She opened the scriptures and the book literally fell open to D&C 64. She started reading in Verse 29 and went to the end of the page and closed the book. She had her answer. She had several of us read it also and there wasn’t a dry eye in that room. Read it for yourselves. Powerful stuff.

One last temple story. Just before the session started Thelma leaned over and said her son, Jared, asked her if there is someplace he could write to ask the church if they would extend our mission.

This was the day you hear about happening on missions but that I had decided I would never get to experience. The spirit has been so strong all day, even when we were just cooking waffles. Once again we are reminded that the Lord has not forgotten our little Cibecue.