San Carlos Week 9-Signs of Spring

I know spring has officially arrived when Quinn swings a golf club.  This happened Monday when we went to Apache Stronghold driving range.  Some other signs are the blooming trees, the hillsides covered in poppies, and the barrel cactus growing blossoms.

 This statue overlooks the first hole of Apache Stronghold Golf Course.

 

 A barrel cactus above that I hope will soon bloom and this pretty tree in Globe.  The hillside of poppies is hard to capture because if I get back far enough to see how they cover hill after hill, it loses the appearance of flowers, but the hills are alive!

Tuesday I went back to the dermatologist in Mesa for a follow-up appointment and we were approached in Walmart by a woman who said she’d been “looking” for LDS missionaries.  She was a baptized member, had become inactive, but had a month old baby and wanted to get back involved. Did we know if some missionaries could come by? We took down her information, sent it along to the mission office, and I am pretty certain she will soon get a visit by two missionaries if she hasn’t already.  If only every contact was that easy! 

Quinn made bread to take to the detention center on Thursday.  It was a real hit--especially with the men. We only had eight (the attendees are very fluid as far as who comes in and who gets out) so everyone got two slices with butter and jam.  They could see there was still some left in the container so someone mentioned, “Just keep buttering it until it’s gone.” Then they each got another half slice. That night, for the first time, two inmates asked for priesthood blessings, neither one LDS.  That tells you their faith in religion and blessings and prayer. Quinn was happy to oblige and they didn’t care if it was in front of the group. They are mostly concerned about their families.  
I haven't made mention of the conversation we had with the director of the DC who lives across the road from us. For some reason, he felt it necessary to tell us some of the darker beliefs, practices, and superstitions of the rez. If there had been a teleprompter across my forehead that printed the thoughts in my head, it would have read: Why is he telling us this? I don't want to know this stuff! I think his point was to tell us to come "prayed up" to the DC. Duh. Like we don't? For a while during his stories, I couldn't tell if he wanted us there or not, but he did finally say there are 33 churches in the area and only two religions come into the DC to teach (us and the Lutherans). As people come in and teach Christianity, the incidents for discipline go down. There is a direct correlation between Christianity and improved behavior of inmates, which reminded me of a quote in ARP by Boyd K. Packer which says, "The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior. Preoccupation with unworthy behavior can lead to unworthy behavior. That is why we stress so forcefully the study of the doctrines of the gospel."
Because of the data, he said he is done letting medicine men come in and do cleansing ceremonies and following the "old ways". All he wants is people who come in and teach of Christ. That part made us feel good, because teaching the inmates has been a more positive experience than teaching the seminary kids.

 We drove up to see the "airport".  We couldn't tell if it was still operational, but I did get a kick out of these signs.  The one above says: AIR CRAFT HAS RIGHT OF WAY.  The picture below I showed to the guys at the DC and they said, "Oh yeah, people use to jog up there, huh?"  Not anymore.

 The statue above is in front of the entrance to Apache Gold Casino.  Below are some people getting ready to perform at the Pow Wow.  The feather headdress has a beaded center.

  I got the wall quilt back from the quilters and got the binding on it and hung it in place.  I also finished two tops from the material from the RS closet this week.  The top one is what I did with all the small scraps left over from the blue and red quilt tops.

One of us unknowingly stepped on this scorpion near the dining table.  We didn't notice it until after it was mashed.  It was a good opportunity to try out the black light flashlight and see if they do glow green.  Sure enough.  I refuse to walk in this house without shoes on.  We now have sticky traps out.

Saw this rainbow over Bucket Mountain on the way home from Globe tonight.  We had taken John to ARP.  We sure enjoy him and his sense of humor--he is the quiet type though.  We dropped him off at a birthday party his niece was having for him, his brother, and his sister--all with birthdays in March.  Perfect picture for March/leprechauns/pot of gold.