New Mexico Packs Blog Post 9

We've been busy every day. There is never enough time in the day! But I can't always explain all that keeps us busy. One thing is Humanitarian Donations. We are the representatives of the Church here in Albuquerque in the process that organizations go through to receive donations from the Church. It has been eye opening to see all that the Church does to help alleviate need. We met with Lutheran Family Services to learn how the Church could assist as Afghan refugees arrive in Albuquerque. This was the beginning of a new grant for them. After we met with them, we got to work to figure out how much money would be involved. We then submitted the recommendation to our boss in SLC. It went up the chain and received approval. Now we are in the process of fulfilling it. There is cash involved and items from the Bishops' Storehouse. We are also involved in the re-application of 4 or 5 other donation requests from other entities. There is so much that the Church does just here in ABQ and multiply that by every city in the world and it is amazing! Our boss has been involved in a project to bring water and electricity to a Navajo reservation town in Utah. We are looking for more opportunities to help here in our area. 

Another project we have been exploring and would like to get going is a project to video the oldest members of the Native American Pueblos and Reservations to record their stories before they are lost forever. Knowing who you are and the stories of your past help a person to face the challenges of life – strengthens emotional resilience. So that is part of the reason for our effort. 

 

We have visited several of the Native American communities. (I think it was one of our trips on a back road to one of them that did our car in. :-[ ) We were invited to speak in Alamo, a Navajo branch of the Church. The branch president invited us to his home for a late lunch after. Alamo is 2 ½ hours from ABQ so it was a welcome invitation.  His home is on a ranch owned by his father-in-law. His wife grew up there. What an amazing place! It was a gathering place for ancient inhabitants. There was a huge rock outcrop, probably 150 feet high, called Council Rock. It reminded us of King Benjamin's gathering place where the people gathered to be taught. It is obvious that this was a going place in the past. The family has found hundreds of artifacts, including the stones for grinding corn, arrowheads, pieces of pottery and tools. It is located on a spring of water and there are tall trees all around (not that common in this part of New Mexico). It is a beautiful place. We were blown away by it all.

                                       Native American Dancers from a New Mexico Pueblo

                                          at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque

We also had the opportunity to attend the meetings of the Swahili Branch of the Church here in ABQ. That was an amazing experience too! It's a small group but growing. There had been a baptism the day before so the lady was confirmed in church. It was all done by the Swahili members. There is a set of elders in the branch who, even though they received no MTC training in Swahili, were translating on the fly from Swahili to English and the other way around depending on who was speaking. They have picked it up after getting here and they were doing a great job. Talk about the Gift of Tongues! It was humbling to be there, the Spirit was strong.

 

We prepared and presented some training to Stake leaders in one stake and we are going to present in the Santa Fe Stake next Saturday in a leadership meeting associated with their Stake Conference. Preparing for those things takes time. We are trying to enlarge the vision of what Welfare and Self-Reliance is and how it can bless the lives of members and non-members. It includes but is way more than running self-reliance groups. I believe it is where the rubber meets the road in helping people change their circumstances and overcome the things that hold them back. I like to think that it is building Zion people prepared to meet the Savior.

 

Oh yes, one more thing. We had a fun visit from our daughter-in-law, Jessica's parents, Jim and Marilyn Barry, who are on a temple tour since they have been called to be the temple president and matron of the Provo Temple starting in September.. 

 

Well this is certainly long enough but I was trying to catch up on some of the exciting things we are experiencing. It is amazing how the Lord prepares the way for us – so many tender mercies. 

New Mexico Pack Blog Post 8

 I'm catching up a bit since it's been a while since we posted. Our weeks have been super busy. This post is for activities in the first week of March. We've been spending a lot of time training for our employment responsibilities. We're supposed to be able to help job seekers in the Albuquerque Coordinating Council area and even some stakes in the Southwest Area. Luckily there haven't been many needing our help yet but we had an appointment with one last week so we needed to be ready. Part of our training involves attending the various meetings available on the Church's employment site. It is a pretty amazing resource for anyone looking for a job or trying to improve their job situation. There are live meetings with trained professionals. They include resume writing, preparing for interviews, finding job leads, ask an expert, active job search groups, and starting a side business. We've had to attend all of those meetings to see what they're like. If anyone is interested in checking out the website, it is employment.churchofjesuschrist.org. It's a pretty amazing website.

We were also preparing a presentation that we gave last Saturday for the Bishops' Welfare Council meeting in the Santa Fe Stake. We presented along with the Development Counselor and the Family Services Counselor to teach about the resources available to Bishop's, Relief Society Presidents and Elders Quorum Presidents.

 

A week ago Friday we had two consultation meetings with organizations that are wanting to apply for new Humanitarian Donations. It is amazing the work that these organization do. It's a blessing for us to be able to see all these things from this perspective.

 

Shelley has been working on getting some new computers set up in the Employment Resource Center. One of them is one for her desk. They were sorely needed and it's taken a few phone calls to the tech people in Salt Lake but they are finally working. 

 

We went to the Santa Fe Stake Conference last weekend. Elder Lynn G Robbins was the visiting general authority and he gave some amazing talks! We visited with him after the meeting Saturday night and confirmed that he is John's 2^nd cousin once removed. We traveled in a snow storm on Sunday morning. It does snow here, especially in Santa Fe. We have experienced several. In fact, many mornings it is colder here than in Arvada.

 

                                            Shelley and the Albuquerque Temple in February

Now if you have endured and made it this far, I (Shelley) will tell you of the tender mercy I received that week. I was out for a walk one morning and walking past the row of garages in front of our apartment. There was a lady who has been working on cleaning out her garage for the last week. As I was walking past, she came up to me and asked if I could use a small desk and then added "that has a sewing machine in it". The sewing machine aspect caught my attention! I have been trying to figure out how I could get some mending and alterations done on some of my clothes. I thought maybe I should see about buying a cheap sewing machine, should I find a tailor, is there a place to rent them? I could go to one of the other senior missionaries and use hers but that wasn't likely to happen before she goes home. Anyway, this seemed to me to be an answer to a prayer. It's a 1960 vintage Singer so I'll have to try to figure out how it works. The drawers of the cabinet were full of sewing supplies and attachments for the machine. I continure to be amazed with all the blessings that come each day.

                                              Shelley at her "new" sewing machine!

 

We're continuing our participation in an Emotional Resilience group. We're supposed to share each week. This week was about addictions. Here is my share: "If you believe someone you love needs help but hasn't opened up to you, tell the person about your concern. Express your love, share your concerns, and tell of your desire to help. Even if the person rejects your offer to help, continue to show your love and don't give up. . . provide encouragement and support by acknowledging the progress your loved one is making as well as testifying that there is still hope and the Lord loves him or her."