It is over! PRAISE THE HEAVENS. It is over. The cars are gone. The drunks have gone home. We don't have to listen to them yelling or blowing kisses at us. The tempting food vendors are gone. Life is normal again. Hooray!
Well, last Monday we drove out to the actual Shiprock and climbed around. It was nuts! I drove the truck out on these CRAZY dirt roads for at least 5 miles of bumps, jolts, and flying. IT WAS AWESOME!! Then the Elders decided to really go exploring and we turned on the 4 wheel drive. WOOT. Fun, and scary at the same time. There were a couple times where I just stopped the truck, stuck my head out the window, and yelled. "NOPE!" I was not going to flip the Church's truck. not going to do it. We did lots of climbing and exploring on the actual Shiprock. We could only go so high because the walls were literally vertical. I sent a couple photos of that. Then we went exploring on the lava wall that extends out from Shiprock. That was way cool. There was one spot where it really looked like a person had built this retaining wall, but no..it was god. Then the entire thing was made of tiny slate pieces. WAY COOL!
On Wednesday we went out to Red Valley as always, but we had a service project to do. There is a bridge leading to a Less active's home and it keeps getting washed out. There is a giant hole that gets bigger and bigger with every rain. The guy said he wanted to pick up some river rocks and throw them in the hole, but there weren't any big enough around. We picked up some last week for him, but they weren't nearly enough. We told the Elders about it. MISTAKE. They showed up the night before we left with at least 300 pounds of rocks!!! They loaded up their truck while tracting. It was amazing. I couldn't believe my eyes. It took a while to load them into our truck and then to get them in the hole. But even then, we still didn't have enough to fill the hole. (that tells you how big this monster hole is)
Now, for the fair. CRAZY! A shanty town developed over night. HUNDREDS of road side vendors set up shop all along the highway. sometimes 3 deep. There were shacks and tents and converted truck beds everywhere. Imagine the sea of tents set up for the Quiditch world cup. Then on Saturday was the big parade. It shuts down the city completely. Visualize what University and Center St. look like for the 4th of July. Now do it Navajo style. Freezing cold outside. Fires in the streets. Fry-bread and tamales everywhere. Mismatched assortment of chairs and beds lining the streets. cars parked on the median and in the turning lanes. IT was ridiculous. We drove our trucks from our trailers to the other end of town at bishop's house (because we both had appointments on the north side of town at night, but we knew traffic would be at a stand still from lunch until midnight.). Then we walked the 4 miles back to the trailers. we walked the parade route all day, and then had to tromp back to the trucks at the end of the day. Holy cow. my hips and knees were not happy with me that day. We crossed paths with the Elders about dusk, and they got rather nervous about us walking with all the craziness and nastiness. Elder Munns leaned down and whispered, "Do you have a knife?" I giggled and shook my head. "We'll be fine. I have enough spunk to handle anything." He got a concerned look on his face and then handed me his really nice switch blade. It was kinda sweet. And I honestly felt better having it in my pocket all night.
Well, that was our week. It seems like ages ago already. I hope you are all safe and doing well. Keep looking for the miracles. They are there. Read the Book of Mormon every day, I beg of you. Say prayers with your family or roommates. Do your visiting and home teaching. They are all simple things, but they make all the difference in building Zion. I send my love to every one of you!
Love,
Sis. Wilkins
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