Nov 1 07

November 1, 2007

We cleaned the trailer then Robert got the mail and posted our November Branch Calendar at the commercial center and the Tribal Office. We spent the rest of the day here at home.

Robert studied all day on some materials Chris Frasier at Family Services gave him. He can get Continuing Education credits for completing the worksheets that came with the material. He needs 20 credits to renew his psych license for this next year and currently has completed 11.

While he was studying I worked on the Primary Sacrament Meeeting Program. We’re going to do it either November 11 or November 25. I’ve called and asked someone from the Family History Center to speak in Sacrament meeting November 11, but since no one has returned my call I decided the Primary better be prepared in case this falls through. We’re anxious to get started on preparing names for the temple so our Cibecue people can be working on their own family names by the time we leave.

Preparing the Primary program is a bit tricky, since I never know who will show up for Primary. It would be pointless to send parts home for the kids to practice, as this would almost surely guarantee that particular child would not attend the day of the program. Also, there is almost no possibility anyone would actually practice the part with the child. So I’ve typed out all the parts and will just assign them the day of the program and let the children read them. It should make for an interesting Sunday.

Today is the day the Elders come. They don’t come out here quite as regularly as our other Elders have, so we weren’t sure they’d even make it, as we hadn’t heard from them all week. We were quite surprised when 4 Elders arrived around 2:00, although we really shouldn’t have been surprised. Transfers are next week, and the last 3 times they’ve expected someone from our group to get transferred they’ve come together and had a little party in the church. This transfer they’re expecting Elder Miller to go.

I had put ribs on for dinner, but had to scramble to come up with a little bigger meal than I was expecting. So I made rolls and that was a big success. We had ribs, rolls, browned potatoes and squash. They didn’t love the squash but Robert and I enjoyed it. After dinner they disappeared into the church with our copy of The Ten Commandments video and a bag of chips. Robert went over at 7:30 this morning and woke them up for breakfast. I know it’s a little outside the box, but we’ve pretty much agreed that what happens in Cibecue stays in Cibecue. It seems like a harmless little bit of fun for them. They also got to have a fun day on Halloween. It was P-day, so they did their regular P-day stuff then spent the evening in the Show Low Stake Center. They went home to sleep, but the missionaries from Eager and St. Johns spent the night because it’s too late for them to go clear home. So our Elders have just been regular party animals for the last couple of days.

The Elders here were Beus, Siegel, Wahlquist and Miller. Elder Beus is the zone leader and he says that this transfer they’re putting Elders in the McNary/Whiteriver trailers. Those Elders will work full time on the reservation, with Wahlquist and whomever still coming to Cibecue once a week. Elder Beus has talked with President about him being one of the Elders given the new assignment on the rez and he’s quite excited about it. Tomorrow they plan to start moving beds into the trailers. Since Eckmans and Petersons left, there are 2 empty trailers, one in McNary and one in Whiteriver. The Elders will spend 3 nights a week in McNary and 4 in Whiteriver, or something like that. We think it’s a great idea to have full time Elders there.