Oct 3-8 07

October 3-8, 2007

Wednesday morning we ran around finishing up details for the conference team. We printed some more info off the Internet for them and took it to President Bonito. We also put gas in the van and took that to him. Wednesday night he took Cecil and 3 other men to Show Low for a meeting with the stake president. President Seamen gave Cecil and David a blessing for their trip (Maxine had EMT class and couldn’t go) and interviewed Cecil and Wes Machuse to become High Priests and Byron and Abbitt to become Elders. We also visited Wes and Cecil to remind them about their appointment. Then we picked up the mail and headed to Sedona to meet Larry and Janelle.

Sedona is beautiful and Larry and Janelle had an absolutely gorgeous condo to stay in. Wednesday night we ate dinner at a nice Italian restaurant and walked through a few stores. Thursday we went on a jeep ride up into the Coconino National Forest. It was a pink jeep and it was fun. We went four-wheeling over rock ledges, and huge boulders. We had a guide who told us all about the geology and history of the area. It was great. Fun thing to do. Came back and did a little more sightseeing, watched the sunset with about 200 other people, and ate all-you-can-eat crab legs at the airport. Larry and Janelle had taken a Grand Canyon tour and this was a place the bus driver recommended. He has great taste, as the food was excellent. Only problem was he has a big mouth. Apparently he shared his recommendation with a few other people as the place was packed. We had to eat at 8:30 to get in.

Friday we came back to Cibecue, but only after Larry and Janelle purchased a timeshare week at the place we stayed.

Saturday I got up early and did some cooking for our big day tomorrow, then we took Larry and Janelle on the rez tour…Whiteriver, Pinetop, etc. We had a great time with them. They’re as much fun as ever.

Sunday morning I got up at 6:00 to start cooking and get things ready. Larry and Janelle left about 7:45. We were sad to see them go.

When we got home yesterday there was a message from Shawn Davis saying he had changed the satellite setup a little bit. Just after we got that message someone from Salt Lake called and Robert went over to the church and they checked to make sure everything was working. It was set up so that the sound came through the phone line and into the speakers rather than through the TV. Sunday morning Robert turned on all the equipment and the first thing we heard through the speakers was, “This is the Apache Language Channel for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.” We were both so moved. That’s the first time in all of history those words have ever been said.

We served breakfast about 8:50…Christmas morning breakfast, sliced peaches and pancakes. There were about 35 people there for breakfast. Sister Wilcock didn’t come down, although Bro. Wilcock did. Bro and Sis McNeil also came. Sis McNeil was a big help. After breakfast we cut up lettuce and tomatoes and got ready for lunch. After the session we took a 30-minute break, then started serving. We had taco salad, corn, fry bread and cookies. I had people sign up for the cookies and I didn’t buy any extra. There weren’t many people who brought them, but we had enough. Somehow we always do. The taco salad was a hit. We served at least 50 people lunch.

The amazing thing was that people stayed all day. They came for the morning session and we thought by 2:00 we’d be the only people in the building. But when the last session ended there were about 20 adults still in the chapel listening and a bunch of kids outside playing.

I lost track of how many times President Bonito called us. He called the first time on Saturday morning to say he was in the Conference Center, sitting about 50 feet from the podium. He was so excited that he finally got to see conference and the prophet and hear the choir sing. Maxine and Cecil also had to talk to Robert. Everything was going well for them and they wanted to share. Then they called several times Sunday to see if people had come and if we could hear them and ask how they were doing. In the afternoon they said that someone had e-mailed a picture to us. It was a picture of the whole team in the translation booth. We printed a copy and passed it around the church. After the session President’s aunt asked if she could have a copy of the picture to take to President Bonito’s grandmother. This grandmother raised him and now is too sick to go out of the house. We gave her the picture we’d made and told her we’d make another copy for us. She was so tickled. We were delighted that she came, as this is the first time she’s come to church.

The nonmember lady who came last week also came, as did Cecil’s wife, Myrtle. We were surprised that she came, because of her health, but she stayed all day.

This was definitely a “pinnacle day” on the roller coaster ride of the mission. It was nice to be here when such a major event for the Apache people occurred. The spirit in the church was powerful all day and everything worked out so successfully. We had such complicated plans for the day between what we were doing here and the team in Salt Lake. There were about four million things that could have gone wrong, but nothing did. It was a victory for the good guys. An amazing experience.

Today was P-day. Robert went golfing. I scrapbooked. We had visitors this evening, Henrietta and Amber, and Elder Lamm from Whiteriver called for a while. We’re still exhausted from our big day yesterday.