Jan 28 2008 - February 2 2008

January 28, 2008 – February 2, 2008

Monday morning we met Elder Beus, along with Elder and Sister Lamm and Elder Noble, in Carrizzo. It poured rain all day yesterday and the Lamms told us people in Carrizzo and Whiteriver have been evacuated because of flooding. Sister Lamm asked if we were worried about getting back home. We said, “We don’t have to worry about it for three days.” We’ve learned out here there’s no use worrying until something actually happens. You could drive yourself crazy.

Elder Lamm had to go in the missionary truck with Elder Noble. This morning we called to see if everything was still on schedule, and Sister Lamm said Elder Noble was out cleaning the truck because Elder Lamm refused to ride with him until he got it clean.

We had a great day with Elder Beus. He’s so excited to go home. We stopped for lunch at Red Robin and he could hardly even eat he was so excited. He saw a family he knew in the restaurant. That was fun. We had our first look at the Arizona-Tempe mission office and mission home when we dropped him off. Then we met up with Sharon, went to a movie and had dinner at McGrath’s.

Tuesday we had a great day. We met all the departing missionaries at the mission home and went to the Temple. We all gathered on the front steps of the Temple for a picture. One of the Elders said, “I’ve waited for this moment all my life.” We got to be the witness couple in the session. Hint: everyone go to the Temple. You will be surprised.

Then we went to the mission home for a lovely dinner and testimony meeting. There are 17 missionaries leaving this transfer. We all bore our testimonies, but it went really fast. No one took too much time and the testimonies were all very lovely and sincere. Sharon came to this with us, and that made it even more special.

Wednesday we drove out around the Super Bowl Stadium with Sharon. It was really fun to see it. Robert finally got to go to Cabela’s, which is practically across the street from the Super Bowl. We walked around and took pictures, then Sharon left for home. Robert and I proceeded to go to a movie, do a little shopping, have lunch, get lost, and drive home very late through our first snowstorm in the Salt River Canyon. We deliberately stayed late to avoid the Scouts only to discover they cancelled Scouts tonight. Serves us right I guess.

Thursday the Elders came and we met our new Elder…Elder Lefler from Tacoma, Washington. We’ve wondered ever since our first day here who would be the last Elders with us before we leave. Now we know. Lefler and Linsey get the honors. Elder Linsey said he’s very excited because he feels this should earn him a special page in one of my scrapbooks.

Friday we went to Whiteriver. We had picked up some planners for the Lamms at the mission office and wanted to deliver them and also we wanted to take a resume for John Cuoio to the school district office in Whiteriver. John is looking for places where he can contract to do testing for school districts. He’s planning to retire this year and has a daughter living in Phoenix, so wants to see if he can find extra work on some of the reservations around Phoenix.

We had a very enjoyable visit with the Lamms. We like this couple a lot. Maybe because they’re from Idaho. Anyway he told us a funny story. He said the church over there has been broken into multiple times since their arrival. Their trailer and several homes in the same vicinity have also been burglarized. One day a family near them saw some kids go around back of a house, then heard a window break. They called the police and while talking to them on their cell phone they saw the kids coming out of the house carrying TV’s and movies and some other stuff. The man told the police he was watching these kids steal things and head up the street. The police never came. Later the man went up to Basha’s and saw that the kids had set up a table and they were selling the stuff they had just stolen. Shortly afterward Elder Lamm was talking to one of the policemen asking why they didn’t respond. He said, “Elder Lamm, you like to fish. Sometimes when you fly fish you do catch and release, don’t you? Well, that’s the same for me. All I can do with the youth is catch and release because there’s no facility where they can be held. So I’m just a catch and release policeman like you’re a catch and release fisherman.”

Next we decided to go on to Show Low so I could get some pictures developed and we could buy some groceries. While we were there Keegan called and said his team won their first basketball game in a tournament in McNary and would play again at 4:00. So then we decided to go up there and watch him play, but he told us the wrong time. He didn’t play until 5:00. We watched the girls’ game, then part of his, then had to leave to come back and get dinner for the Elders. Then we went to the high school basketball game with them.

About 11:00 last night the phone rang. It was Debbra, who was baptized a few weeks ago. She said her aunt was all upset and crying because David and Maxine Bonito threatened to kill her. She wanted to know what Robert planned to do about it. He assured her that he would discuss it with the Bonitos in the morning. It’s a good thing he was half asleep or he couldn’t have said that line with a straight face. He got up and tried to call David and Maxine to warn them that there’s obviously some sort of problem. They didn’t answer any of their phones, but this morning he was able to call Maxine. Turns out they did have an altercation with this aunt after the ball game. Apparently this woman was involved somehow in an accident that killed Maxine’s nephew. When Maxine saw her at the game she said something about this accident and the two of them started yelling at each other. However, Maxine’s take is that the woman threatened to kill her, not the other way around. David and Maxine went home, and then heard shouting outside. Another of Maxine’s relatives was in a fight with his wife and she was throwing rocks at him and trying to hit him with a board. Maxine yelled at her and told her to stop then called the police. They never came and Maxine and the woman got into an argument and the wife said her husband was probably just like one of Maxine’s husbands, because everyone knows Mormon women have lots of husbands. There’s a new twist on an old story. By now the kids were getting pretty afraid, so they took them to Vanae’s house and David and Maxine went to Show Low to a motel. We didn’t know all this last night, but after the weird phone call we went back to bed and all of a sudden heard a weird noise outside…like someone pounding on something. We got out of bed and discovered that someone at Josephine’s house, the first house past the church, was throwing wood in a pickup. This went on until about midnight, when apparently they got the truck loaded and took off. What a wild night on the rez!

We’re happy to report that now it’s Saturday night about 7:30 and so far it’s been a peaceful day. The Elders stayed last night so we had breakfast with them, then watched President Hinckley’s funeral. Robert set up the TV in the church in case someone came to watch, but no one did. Murphy wanted to come, but Robert told him we’d record it and show it in Sunday School tomorrow. Have we said that Murphy is under house arrest? He went to court on January 25 for a very old warrant. He’s now on house arrest until he returns to court February 15. He won’t tell anyone what he did.

While we watched the funeral I made 3 pans of lasagna and 3 cakes for Fast Sunday Lunch tomorrow. Later on I cut and buttered 3 loaves of French Bread and prepared my Primary lesson.

The funeral was really wonderful. It was a lovely tribute to a wonderful man and his family. Every speaker was excellent.