God anticipates our shortcomings

God anticipates our shortcomings, and he integrates them into our plan

perfectly. It was late one Tuesday night, and we didn't know what to

do. We didn't want to do anything. The other elders in the area came

over randomly, and then we got to talking about potential things to

do. We decided on visiting Sacajawea's grave. So off we go late one

cold, December night, and then we see a car on the side of the road. I

saw that someone was jumping up and down and waving, so we stopped. It

turns out that the passenger had had 2 seizures, and the driver was

freaking out. If she wasn't in shock, she was pretty close to it. So

we called 911 for her, waited for them to arrive, the guy woke up, and

everything was fine. But it was good to see that God had anticipated

our lack of desire to work and had used that to have us help someone

in need. Side note: we found her grave. It's pretty creepy being in an

Indian burial ground late at night on the reservation where gangs will

mark your house and give you 24 hours to leave before they burn it

down. We were fine though.

Last week for P-day we did some rock climbing in a member's garage for

an hour or two, and my forearms have never been so sore. It was fun

though. Today we're going sledding with the youth in the ward, and we

told them to invite their non member friends so that we can fellowship

with them. Speaking of fellowship, one family in the ward is awesome.

Sis Anderson has been working with this family from Guadalajara (I'm

finding the diamonds in rough out here) for 2 years, and she decided

to tell us about them since I speak Spanish and all. They seem really

ready. The dad has already read the Book of Mormon, they are such good

people, they work hard...I can go on about the vibe I got from the

family, but I'll just say that I think they're all solid individuals.

I also met another ward member there, and we had a crazy connection.

She was my student teacher for a semester in my 9th grade English

class, and I even remembered an assignment that she made up. Small

world.

The free hot chocolate idea didn't happen. Neither Safeway nor Mr.

Dee's was ok with the idea of us being there. Christmas was good, of

course. The family we had dinner with invited us to help them butcher

a turkey this Friday, so of course we're doing that. The dad is into

martial arts, and he has a legitimate replica samurai sword. He uses

it to behead sheep, and he says it cuts right through bone. He

wouldn't let me touch the blade with my finger to see how sharp it

was.  On Saturday, we made a traditional Mexican dish that I can't

remember the name of with this family who had a daughter serve in

Mexico. It's hollowed out peppers with meat and a walnut sauce topped

with pomegranate seeds and served with rice. It was really good, but

stripping the walnuts of all of the brown took about an hour and was

really tedious. I've never worked for a meal so much. I understand why

they only make it about once a year now.

The Wind River Mountains.

Driving from Hudson to Lander.

A statue of Sacajawea.

Supposedly her grave.

I didn't realize illiteracy was still a problem here in the US (this was an entry in the area book).

That delicious dish.

Why did no one buy me this?

Flash cards.  I think my brain is done learning new words.