Howdy howdy!!!Here is a long quote for ya. " When I was a boy, the Sioux owned the world. The sun rose and set on their land; they send ten thousand men to battle. Where are the warriors today? Who slew them? Where are our lands? Who owns them? What white man can say I ever stole his land or a penny of his money? Yet they say I am a thief. What white woman, however lonely, was ever captive or insulted by me? Yet they say I am a bad Indian. What white man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry, and left unfed? Who has ever seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken? Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am a Sioux? Because I was born where my father lived? Because I would die for my people and my country? - Sitting Bull ( Teton Sioux)Its been a looooong day. I haven't sat in the same seat for that long of a time since the plane trip to Africa. You can only watch "Night at the Museum" so many times...after the 6th time in a row I was done. But we dont have that convenience out here of just zoning out til you arrive somewhere on a mission but thats ok, gives a person a lot of time to think. I forgot to mention that we had to go to Farmington today and we wouldnt be emailing til later. We left at 730 this morning and go tthere at 1130. All for a little oil change! Our vehicle coordinator was a motor pool sergeant forever so he is very picky about car care places and the only place he trusts for Oil changes out of our entire mission of over 50,000 square miles is Big O tire in Farmington. Which is over 4 hours from us. Long day. I got to see a lot of the southern part of the Navajo Rez and its pretty alright....pretty boring. But hey President Batt told us our 1st day that our favorite color at the end of our mission would be brown, and I think its becoming true. The only trees are the Juniper and Pinon trees that are just overgrown bushes so that makes me miss Idaho and Cortez a lot but I guess I was born to be a Desert Rat which I am happy with. This week we actually got back up to 10 lessons for the week so that was good and we are involving the members a ton with the investigators. Nearly all of our lessons this week we had a member with us, it was great. I will share with y'all another experience I had about gratitude and how important it is to be humble.
During our devotional last thursday at our zone Christmas party President and Sister Batt both spoke and they both had some good things to say. First off, it has always been kind of difficult for me to understand the atonement and the phrase " Jesus paid for our sins" especially. I just get confused every time I hear that. Well Sister Batt sure helped with that in her talk. She spoke about how she was at the Walmart in Idaho Falls and she noticed a man that was obviously in the "RV tourist attire," with a short sleeve Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts and Croc sandals. Sister Batt said in her head that he looked ridiculous and said she would never be caught wearing something like that. Anyways she ended up standing behind this man in the cashier line and in front of that man was a lady that obviously was less fortunate. She had dirty unkempt hair a raspy voice and seemed that she hadnt taken a shower in weeks. This lady had some groceries that obviously were for children and babies that she was purchasing but when the cashier rang up the price the lady put her head down and started crying because she didnt have enough money. She pulled out what money she did have and paid for whatever she could afford from her grocery pile and left. Which wasn't much at all. After she was distanced from the cashier the Funny looking tourist guy told the cashier to rebag all of her items and he would pay for them. He did and the bag boy hurried to find the lady out in the parking lot and gave her the rest of the groceries. A few minutes later the lady came running back in and wrapped her arms around the man and was sobbing "Thank you" over and over again. Now this makes sense to me compared to Christ's atonement. After all we can do, which may not be much for some people to pay for our own sins...thats when Christ steps in and pays the rest no matter how large the debt. That is "grace" defined perfectly and simply. No matter how bad or good we are in this life...everyone wil receive a resurrected body because Christ paid for it. Thats one story. President Batt then spoke about how when he was on his mission in the Dakota's with the Sioux that all he got for Christmas from his family was 2 pairs of socks and a chocolate bar. Im sure it made some of the missionaries in the room feel a bit spoiled (including myself) because there was some Elders that received multiple packages over 30 pounds each. Kinda crazy... But anyways President Batt went to say that after they opened up their packages on Christmas day they went to visit some of their investigators and just to go wish people a merry Christmas. They knocked on this one tiny little house and a very old Grandma ( or shi'ma as we call them) opened the door and in very broken English told them that she was very happy to see them and invited them in. Elder Batt and his companion noticed that there was very little firewood and there was 2 small children living there. They left a short gospel message and left the home. They decided that "nobody should be cold on Christmas" and they went back to their home and chopped a bunch of wood and went back to the home and dropped the wood off. Elder Batt then went inside and gave EVERYTHING he had gotten from his family to the little children. 2 pairs of socks...and he broke the chocolate bar in half and gave each child a piece. He said that Christmas was his favorite Christmas of his life. Pretty amazing. Hearing that made me feel sick to my stomach of how selfish I've been. I was determined to do something good for someone this Christmas season.
Well we were coming back and we had a bunch of fruit and and other foods they gave us. I also got my Garrets popcorn which I was anxiously waiting for! Well we came into our trailer and looked at what appointments we had left for the day and we headed out with all of the stuff that was given to us and I loaded up a few things from my Christmas package just in case I saw someone who would need something. Our appointments fell through of course and we didn't have anything to do anymore but we decided to stop by this house where a man lived named "Stevie B" as the town knows him. We talked to Stevie B a couple of days before and he said to come back...during our short little conversation though we learned a lot about him. He lived in a very small rundown house...no electricity, no water, lives alone. Never been married. Hes 61, and he served in Vietnam for a few years. He said he has nightmares sometimes from what he had to do over there and when he would talk instead of saying "Uhm" or something as a catch phrase he would make gun sounds...pretty intense. He said he has never received any help or payment from the government since he got back and he lives day by day just to get a sandwich or anything from the work he might do for someone that day. He told us that there was one point where he didn't even have enough money for a postage stamp. He then went on to say about how often he has wanted to commit suicide because he receives no help or kindness from anyone. I was hit pretty deep just listening to him. We set up another time to come back and said a prayer. We then had the same idea without saying anything and grabbed EVERYTHING we had from our truck...wood, candy, my entire huge popcorn barrel you guys sent me, and gave it to him. He was very grateful and I am happy that we were able to help someone feel a little happier themselves. We plan on bringing some more wood to him on Christmas cause just like President Batt....we decided "nobody should be cold on Christmas." Gosh 1 year ago from now, or even a few months ago I don't think I would be so sensitive to other peoples needs, now I feel terrible when I think about myself, I can't stand it. Spending a few months on the Hopi reservation will open your eyes a bit and if you wont humble yourself...the Lord will teach you. I love it here. Even if I am basically cut off from "civilization." One small little grocery store and a bunch of Hopi's is all I need. ( and some wood to chop in case I get bored). Thank you all to who this email goes to and everything you have done for me. If you get this email then whether or not you meant to be an example to me...you have and I have noticed and am grateful.LoveGamaalii Christensen
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