13 Mar 2011

We have survived our first 5 days as missionaries. ;o] Elder Olson drove to Chinle on Thurs. with a load of posts for the Chinle wards. He drove back the same day. It was about 270 miles.
On Friday we both drove over pulling a large trailer with 3 smaller trailers stacked up on top of the flatbed trailer.
We met 2 other couples who serve at Polacca. We rolled out 29 rolls of 100 foot fencing wire and cut them into 144 20' lengths. The six of us worked well as a team. Elder Olson said that meant cutting 13 wires at each 20 ft section. They call it horse fence, because the spaces are narrower than other types. Elder Olson says it's called 2 x 4 wire. ;o] I am sure I will understand a whole lot more in a month or so. I just did what I was told and hauled a lot of wire.
After cutting the 144 lengths the sisters helped with the paper work and the men tilled the 30 by 30 garden spot and put up the wire fence, so the people could actually see what the finished garden spot should look like.
Elder Seeley explained the program and then showed them how to use the materials to get their plot ready for the next step. The church supplies everything, but the participants have to sign a contract saying they will attend each demostration and then we have to actually go to their homes to see that each step is in place before they get the next thing they will use.
Last year some of the participants were able to harvest about 500 lbs of potatoes in just one part of their garden. The whole idea behind the program is to help the people become self reliant and raise some of the food they will need to support their family and not be dependent on others meeting their needs. They have the same program in Africa and South America.
The next day after the gardening demo we loaded the supplies onto the participants trucks or into their cars. At our station we had them pick up two 4' boards for the gate , a 100 ft roll of wire and then one of the 20 ft lengths we cut. When someone came without a man to help Ronnie toted the 100 ft roll to their outfit.
Before they got to our station they picked up 2 bags of fertilizer.
At station 3 they picked up 17 steel posts and the clips for the wire.
At the last station they picked up 6 bags of sawdust. They had to fill their own bags and 2 more so it wouldn 't be blown away. The wind is a huge challenge out here.
The sacrament in both wards today were amazing. The people are so humble and they speak from their hearts. We started at 9 with the 2nd ward, skipped Relief Society so we could attend the 1st ward at 11. The ward building is beautiful. It's much different than the first building I attended in Lukachukia 43 years ago.
Only one "trial" someone stole the borrowed trailer hitch and ball we used to take the trailer over. We had to borrow one to bring the trailer back. ;o[
One of the highlights was meeting Teddy Draper Sr. born 1923. He was a code talker during WWII An amazing man. You can read about him and his grand daughter who is serving in Iraq by googling his name.
Not sure what tomorrow will bring, but trying to take one day at a time until we know more about what we are doing.
I did spend 9-5 in the Family History Center and met some great people there. Managed to put in 88 names into a PAF file for one of the patrons. ;o} It's been a great week.
Desbah Tsinnie came by today. Ronnie baptized her in 1970. She writes at Christmas each year. Ronnie and Kellan went to her grand daughter's a few years ago. She's a wonderful friend.
Elder and Sister Olson

If any knows how to change our blog background please let me know.