Locked Doors and No Water

Locked Doors and No Water

Dear Kidlinks,

  Today I went in and out of the backdoor of the church several times with no problems, but around 3, Sister Justice and the Elders rang the bell and said they could not get in with their keys.  So I went back into the center and got mine which I was sure would work.  Well, my key didn't work any better than theirs did.

  I had Elder Lewis try the other two doors and he nearly broke his key in the west door.  He also tried the east door and said it would not work there either.  So I assumed there must have been some foul play and called Facility Maintenance and the Stake President and told him what I assumed.  I mean we did have 3 Community Service Workers here today and yesterday one had used the east door and fixed it so he could get in without coming through the back door.  We have them come in the back door for reason, right.

My Dad taught me as a teenager what the definition of "assume" was according to him.  Lesson relearned, check before you call.  Elder Lewis's key did not work nor did mine which he also tried, but Elder Simpson's did on the west with a lot of effort and with some effort on the east door,  

I will probably see my dad smiling in my dreams tonight reminding me of the lesson he taught so long ago.  I was sorry that I had called before checking myself, but maybe they will get the building "rekeyed" and the back door fixed a little sooner, so the old lady won't have to walk so far. 

 I am curious to see if someone came to the back door after I went in around 2 and Diane came in around 3 or so.We have cameras at all doors and that is how we caught the last unauthorized person who came in and took things.

  While all this was going on, there were people in the FHC.

  Amber Manygoats happen to be in the center when Phil Zahne came in. We had spent a great deal of time on the phone with SLC trying to get her account information and a new passwork in place.

While she was on the phone with SLC,  I showed him her pedigree chart and he made a phone call.  She was able to add two more sets of gr grandparents and two siblings to her gr grandmother.  I am not sure who was more excited.  Both Phil and Amber were grinning so wide.

  I wished I had had my camera.  They were ear to ear as they listened to the person he had called who was giving them the names.  I remember just one, Skinny Manygoats.  I am sure he is very happy.

We also discovered that the water was off at the church and at the apt.  Fortunately it did come back on a little after 5.

  .  I think my dad would have enjoyed being out here and serving in this area.  He could make things out of nothing really, and he never let the minor things of life get to him. He spent about 13 months batting cancer and was optimistic right to the last few days.

 There were some of his traits that I did not inherit. I wish I had inherited his sense of humor, he loved a good joke.

     I do think I inherited both of their work ethics.  They were both hard workers. I remember one of our jobs was to find the nails that flew away when he hit them with the hammer.  He would carefully straighten them out.  They did not have a lot of money, so every nail counted.

  My mom loved her front  yard   Everything was neat and tidy.  The back yard was the same to a certain unmarked boundary line.  Then it was somewhat neat, but there was this amazing place behind the fence which was a kids' wonderland.  It was full of old things that did amazing things.  The old cars became our "own cars" where we could take amazing trips.

  The sheds were full of treasures too, but you had better not take any of those treasures or you would pay with getting buns heated up with a belt.  There were lots of hiding places though that weren't off limits to little kids who loved to explore.

  Most of Mom's treasures were in the house and you knew better than to play with any of her nicknacks to many chances of being caught in the act ;o}

 ( I did manage to drink the can of Hershey chocolate a few times without getting caught.  Yes, I was not perfect, even though my kids have been told differently.  LOL)

  In some of the pictures of the living room you will see the knicknacks in the windows behind the ruffled curtains that she also loved.

At one time she had a collection of tea cups.  There were not two alike.  It was a beautiful set, not sure whatever happened to it.

  Really not sure this all came out right now.  Guess I was thinking about them.  I really miss them sometimes.

  I started to weave a new rug yesterday, I think Mom would have loved to learn how to weave.  She was so creative and artistic.  I can see some of that in you grandkids.

  Grandma Naomi, loved to crochet, so if you love to crochet you have a part of her in you.  If you love to tease, you have a part of Grandpa, Lewellyn.

Love to see your comments, then I know someone is reading what I wrote.  Still looking for a proofreader. ;o}

Love,

Mom

AKA Aunt

Aka Sister Lainey 

Did you know that only Grandpa Johnny and Uncle Stan ever called me that, and Jackie does once in a while. LOL

Ann Thompson, young patron in FHC

Judy & Elaine at Alex Bown's Wedding

Sister Goldtooth's daughters

Picture of Sister Goldtooth's daughters

Elder Gay & Elder Teh

Yesterday, Saturday, June 21, 2014 we had a meeting from 10 to 2:30 with 2 members of the Quorum of the 70.  The area 70, Elder Rein, and a brother named Mike Murray who serves on the Perpetual Education Committee.
  I must confess even the idea of meeting them is a bit intimidating, let alone meeting with them for 4 1/2 hours and discussing what you are doing and how it is going.
  Our Stake President and his 2nd counselor were there of course and the meeting was actually set up for them.  We were invited to attend and share our feelings and some of the things that we have seen happen over the last 3 years. ;o}
  The Elders were Elder Robert Gay and Elder Michael Teh along with Mike Murray, who offered me a job when I left this mission.  LOL
  The first hour or so we talked about the Gardening Program and what we are doing in family history and how that was going.  Well, all of a sudden Elder Gay looks at President Justice and asks, "Do you want to  know why we really came?"
  We all looked up and each had some seconds of being slightly scared and racking our brain about what we had been doing recently that might have come to the attention of the brethren in SLC.  We all must have had similar expressions, which we laughed about later.  In any case, Elder Gay starts teaching this amazing insight about the scriptures relating it to what we are doing and how it is going.
  I could not begin to repeat all that was said, but it was an amazing experience to be across the table and hear the teaching of one who sits with prophet on a regular basis.  Their level of understanding of the scriptures is amazing.
  I have been keeping records of each participant ever since we got here.  I track them by name and know who has continued to plant and if they have not continued what the reason for stopping was, as we understood it.  Some stop because they move, some have actually passed away, but their family has continued.  Others are challenged with addictions and a few are just to lazy to do it anymore.  In any case I decided it would be helpful if I printed out the sheets with the names and what their planting record was for the last 4 years.
  I also did the percentage for each year, which I listed at the bottom of the spread sheet. They did look at it, but I wasn't sure how helpful it had been.  I also had prepared a PowerPoint presentation which we quickly went through.  Wasn't sure how effective that was either.
  In any case as we started to clean things up, Elder Teh folds all the spreadsheets and sticks them into his briefcase.  Elder Cay get out a thumb drive and wants to know if it is OK if he makes a copy of the PowerPoint Presentation.  I am going to assume that they want to check it out a little more when they have time.   I did tell him that I had made the presentation so he could use it if he wanted to.
  They made us all feel like we were doing some amazing things and we should continue to do what we are doing to help the people become more self-reliant through gardening and to work on their family history.  This week we were full to overflowing every day we were open.
  Our new Seminary Couple arrived Friday.  They are Elder & Sister Simpson from Layton, UT.  They are ready to jump in and get started.  I am so excited to have them here.  They seem eager and willing to help in any way that they can.  They have 7 children and 26 grandchildren.  I think we will do well together in furthering the work.
  President Batt called this afternoon and I guess nobody seems to know who we are and where we are, since they don't have any paperwork.  We were set apart 19 Dec 2013 for this mission which started on 14 Feb 2014.  Although I have sent rent money every month, it has not been taken out of our home ward acct.  He is going to work on that.  That may be why they keep calling to ask us our exit date.
  Tomorrow we will have our 4th funeral in 3 weeks. It is very interesting to watch how different things go when a member funeral takes place and what happens when a family that does not have the gospel in their lives takes place.  They cannot be comforted, because they  believe that the person is literally gone.
  Member families find peace and comfort in knowing that it is just a separation and that they will be reunited once again.
   Each day we learn more about the people and about ourselves and how much we need to continue learning and growing in the gospel.  I am so grateful for my testimony and The Book of Mormon.  We learned so much from Elder Gay about the First Vision.  I wish I had been able to record his words.
  We think of you and pray for you every day.
Love,
Elder & Sister Olson

Obituaries and Miracles

This week has been really extra-ordinary in several ways.  I am feeling very blessed to be a part of such a great work.

On Monday, June 9, I had the privilege of helping prepare a sweet sister to be put to rest. Although I did not know her well, I felt very happy to help the family in that small way.  She looked beautiful and so much at peace.

Tuesday Jun 10, in the Family History Center. We had 7 people working together on adding the information from the obituaries that we have found.  The top picture is of Janell, who has to work very hard to do the things we take for granted.  She is always persistent and fun to be around.

 The three ladies in the second picture came in together.  Kelly worked on her own family history. Ashley worked on the obituaries and although we had several "tech problems" she was able to add a couple of obituaries to our growing file.  What was really exciting was the fact that she was able to add one young man's parents and 5 brothers who had preceded him in death.

  Then we had Amber who out of no where found her gr grandparents names and a social security death record for each.  To add to that great find, she found a picture of their plaques at the cemetery, which someone posted to findagrave.com   That does not happen very often, at least on the reservation. 

  I suggested that she take what she had found over to the mortuary and ask if they might have been the ones who had assisted with the burials.  They were able to add both parents to one of her names and the mother of another of her names.  Another miracle in my book.

  Sister Thompson worked on the materials she is preparing for her class on How to Keep a Journal.  She wrote up some very short entries and put pictures to go with them.  She is trying to show the students that they do not have to write pages and pages each day, but they can write short little entries to keep track of their daily lives.

  She does an amazing job with those students, building their confidence and helping them with their family history.

  It may not seem as if we did a lot, but we were very busy and productive for 3 1/2 hours.  We laughed we shared, we bore testimony of the Spirit that we could feel as we entered the information.

  Kelly came back around 8 and wondered if I would be there much longer, she wanted to share what she had been doing with her sister.  We stayed until 8:30.

  What a great blessing to be a witness to the small miracles of the small and simple things that bring great things to pass.