So What if Dad Missed the Fair

A few weeks ago we read the blogs about the Eastern Idaho State Fair..... about the great time everyone, except Becca, had. It was a little tough on Alan. He has always loved the fair. He doesn't do the rides or games, but since I have known him, he has never missed the animal exhibit except when he was on his mission. Well, on a recent trip to the "interior" of our mission, he took the camera along to show you all the animals you can encounter without even leaving the road. First, of course, is a sheep. You have to look pretty close to recognize that it actually is a sheep, but Alan says it was and he ought to know a sheep when he sees one.

Now, that's a mama sow if I've ever seen one. We thought it was ironic that he caught it strolling along the road right by a sign that almost spelled PIG.

Even with all the variety of foods at the fair, I'll bet you couldn't get fresh dove meat like this guy was offering along the side of the road.

One of the many groups of goats meandering down the side of the road. There never seems to be anyone tending them either. Alan always says, "Who owns these stinkin' goats?"

The elders are always complaining about not being able to drive here. Alan offered them this alternative. I think Elder McConkie's legs would be dragging. All the horses we have seen here seem quite small.

I doubt this burro would win any ribbons either. They are unattended usually too. They just stand in the road, never moving as cars go by. It may not really be like the fair, but driving in the interior is always an adventure.

We Meant Well

Last week I attended a Helping Hands service project. I had never been involved with one before, but I guess the church does them all the time when there are natural disasters and stuff. If I understood correctly it was a huge project. Members all over Brazil were cleaning and painting public schools. Our ward and another one were assigned to a school not too far from our house.

When they handed me the putty knife I thought I would be patching holes, but I actually spent most of the time scraping gum off the bottom of desks and chairs. I didn’t really mind. In the long run, I think it was more interesting. A lady that speaks quite a bit of English told me that they give a medicine to the school kids in a gum/candy form. It must not taste too good because I think that was actually most of what I was scraping off the bottom of the desks.

While we were cleaning the desks, the paint crew came in. The just moved all the desks to the middle, took a few essays off the wall, and brought out the paint brushes which looked very much like the end of a broom to me. They were only painting the bottom half of the room. I guess that makes sense, from a functional point of view, because that is the only part of the wall that gets much wear. From an aesthetic point of view, it wasn’t that great of a plan because the paint wasn’t quite the same shade of white. But really, that point was minor.

The paint they were using smelled more like thinner than paint and it was very runny. With the broom like brushes you can imagine the drips and drops that were flying everywhere. The crew was mostly made up of men and boys and I really don’t think they thought about the drips and drops. They were just there to paint. When the paint crew moved on, I grabbed a rag and started wiping up drips. The one good thing about thin paint is that it cleans up easily. I didn’t even have to get any paint remover or thinner to get it off things. But I did wonder how long that paint was going to last on the walls.

After that was done, somebody handed me a small paintbrush and some of the smelliest, stickiest paint I have ever worked with. Three of us were supposed to paint the metal bars on the gate of the school red, yellow, and green. I had the red and two Mutual age kids had the other two colors. We were trying to work around each other keeping track which bar was supposed to be red, which was green, which was yellow. I sensed early on that this was not a place that I was going to be proud of my work. I ditched out of there as soon as another Mutual age girl came along. I think she wanted to paint with her friends anyway.

Then I got on the scrub team. The women there that day really knew how to scrub. I don’t know how long it had been since those wooden desk/chairs had been scrubbed, but they were getting the scrubbing of their lives that day. Those ladies were intent on getting all the writing off them. I don't even know what kind of cleaner we were using, but if you ever want to remove writing and the finish off furniture, I will try to find out.

It was fun to work with the people even though I couldn’t talk much and it was interesting to see what their schools are like. I sure didn't see much in the way of supplies or equipment and teachers' desks were a far cry from what I've seen in our schools. They weren't that great to start with and now there is a good chance they won't be able to get their drawers open...ever again. That bright yellow oil based paint they were putting on them is seriously sticky stuff.

This project probably turned out just fine, but let's just say I hope we did more good than harm and I hope the church doesn't get sued.

What's Been Goin On

Last week we finished up Zone Conferences. This is the lunch line. They seemed pretty happy when we finally got done with interviews and brought out the food. I made 2 cookies for each missionary and even though they weren't the greatest cookies, they were a hit.

This Elder painted the back of his badge to read "I am hungry." He turns it that way when they go to lunch at some of the members’ homes. He thinks it is hilarious. Don't ask about the tie. I might have to see if I can make that disappear sometime. Though ugly, the extremely patterned ties do hide food spots better and might not be that bad of an idea for some of them.

Some of our sweet Sisters.

The next two pictures and the captions are out of order. I have already spent too much time on this post, so you will just have to figure it out. Sorry.

At the last minute Alan brought the office Elders to the going away dinner too. That explains the short tablecloth. The dinner was well, interesting. I tried to make sweet and sour chicken and besides the chicken ending up a little tough, the sauce sort of congealed (I think that is the word) while we were waiting about an extra hour for them to get to the house. It turned out looking a little like globs of jello stuck to chicken. It tasted okay though and they ate it. We had brownies and ice cream for dessert (Thanks for the idea, Mary.) and that seemed to make up for it.

We had 5 missionaries leave this week. We had a dinner for them the night before they left. The previous president's wife always had their names on a paper taped to the door when they came so I did that too. It gave the missionaries the perfect opportunity for one last immature moment together before they become dignified "returned missionaries." Our tallest Elder and our shortest Sister were among this group. Side by side, the difference is very noticeable.

We had an uninvited guest show up. Yes, that is a gecko climbing up one of the Elders pants. It was really tiny and not very scary, but still just a little creepy. We captured him in a jar and I dumped it outside the apartment building in one of the plants. I noticed his tail had fallen off though. I hope they are like lizards and can grow a new one because that curly tail was pretty cute.

The next morning we said goodbye to them at the airport. They all looked so great. Elder Hamilton, next to Pres. Batt, is from Blackfoot. We didn't get to know him very well, but wish we could have.
Right after we said goodbye to the ones returning home we greeted 18 new ones. They look excited to be here and they seem like a great group.

We even got two new sisters which is great. We need to keep a little bit of the feminine touch in the mission. So, here we go again!