Brother can you spare a van?

Saturday, March 14th,

Parent Teacher conferences are today! The appointments are scheduled from 8AM till Noon. Jerry & I met with Miss Springer at 9:30 about Abby. She is doing well. She is struggling a little in her math work and more so in her penmanship. But I think that she has trouble with her small motor skills because she is younger. All in all, we are extremely happy with all that Abby has accomplished with Miss Springer's help!

Mr Bill, Miss Springer, Jerry & I also had meetings in between the conferences. We are reviewing and editing all of the admission materials and procedures, along with preparing information for the teacher training session scheduled for the first of August. After the conferences were over, we all went out to eat together to a Mexican restaurant in Winslow. Boy was the food good! After lunch, I went by the library to pick up a book I had on hold and then we went home.

Sunday, March 15th

This morning, the Lord was with Jerry especially close. He decided to take the cell phone with him on the church bus run. When Miss Springer got to the church this morning, there was a message. Jerry was on his way in, but the red van he was driving was having some severe problems. He was at mile marker 68 and needed someone to come pick up him and the people he had picked up for church. I drove out on the reservation and found the van sitting on the side of the road. The van's front passenger side tire was sitting at an awkward angle. The problem was diagnosed by one of the kids on board. Her dad was a mechanic and she said that the wheel bearing had gone out. There were four people on the bus transport with Jerry, so we all loaded into our pick-up truck and headed back to church. I don't think I mentioned it, but back before Christmas break, one of the white vans had broken down and it was STILL in the shop.

We had a great Sunday School session. We were so late getting back to class that we ate the muffins I had prepared for them and just talked about their lives and took prayer requests. They have really opened up about their families and the need for prayer for their loved ones. I enjoyed it! Jim and Anne have returned from Phoenix and it is very encouraging to see them here!

About three in the afternoon, there is a knock at our door. It is Alan Harrison and his family from Dayspring Christian Church in Colorado. His family is on spring break and they came to spend two nights here with us at the mission. It was inspiring to see his wife Susan and their four children (Michael, Lisa, Kelly and Matthew) giving up their vacation time to work here. After they settled in, they began preparing food for the potluck at Dilkon tonight. Alan was giving the devotion. They rested for a while then we set off for Dilkon Christian Church. We took two cars, because the van was broken down. Lisa and Kelly rode with me and the girls in the truck and Jerry rode in the van with the rest of the Harrison family. It was a beautiful ride to Dilkon, as always. We had an extra treat in store, because Genevieve led us in singing hymns in Navajo. That was really wonderful. I think that may be the key to my learning the Navajo language, using the music. Lisa and Kelly shared a song that went along with Alan's devotion. Alan present his devotion and it was right on target. It was wonderful to hear him speak! Then, we retired to the fellowship hall to enjoy the pork chops Mr Bill had prepared. There was also fry bread, pasta salad, vegetables and apple sauce. The Harrisons had brought Texas (or maybe southwestern?) caviar and some chips and cheese dip. The caviar contained some beans, olives and red onions and other ingredients that I do not recall, but it smelled and tasted wonderful, as did the queso dip. One of the ladies, Verna, was recovering from pneumonia. It seems a lot of people living on the resevation have contracted pneumonia. I hypothesize that the dust storms irritate their lungs and causes the pneumonia. We all traveled back to the mission and the Harrisons spent the night in the "first" hogan, next to the shower house.

Monday, March 16th

Ms. Susan, Lisa and Kelly worked in the library, organizing the non-fiction books and cleaning shelves and removing out dated textbooks. Michael & Alan worked around the property. I am not sure of what all they did, but I know that they fixed the exterior lighting around the hogans and loaded up some garbage to take to the garbage dump. They worked hard! And that night, the Harrison family watched Abby & Kelcy while Jerry and I went into town to have dinner by ourselves. It was such a strange thing, to be without the children. We had a hard time conversing. Ms. Susan told us that we couldn't talk about the mission or our children. It was wonderful to be out together. We REALLY appreciated the opportunity to go out without our children and be adults together. We hadn't done that since December. We kinda of looked at each other a whole lot, having a hard time making conversation, but we enjoyed ourselves immensely! Thank you, Harrison family, for your help of our family and mission on your spring break vacation!