Pretty interesting day.

Sunday, August 7, 2011
Rick Holmes was here with us and that was very enjoyable. First we
went to choir practice. I was the only woman, and mat and Rick were
the only men. After choir practice on the way to the Gospel
Essentials class, mat was asked to teach the lesson. He had about 1
minute to prepare. It was on charity. Actually there was lots of
class participation, so it turned out well. Lots of investigators.
Then the Elders asked me to sit by Christene, a black young woman, and
it was her first time. I also met Janice Webster who had just moved
into the ward. Also Tuki, a new member who owns a Thai restaurant.
Another lady was there who was in levis, and her phone kept ringing,
and she was drinking a red bull while listening to the Relief Society
lesson. Sacrament meeting was very good. It is the gospel in it's
simplest form. The testimonies were all well done and to the point.
The large Samoan family that we home teach came to church, and even
the father came, which was great. We gave the kids who have birthdays
in August some licorice. 4 of them. Then we came home, ate some
tomatoes and foccacia, and took Rick to the airport.

Because we had some time, we called a man who had been investigating
the church, but hadn't come today. His name was Lawrence. He lives
with his mother in a pretty nice part of town. He is pretty high up
in the Masonic Order. His mother is a deaconess in the Baptist
church. She was delightful to talk to, 85 years old. We didn't stay
very long.
Then we called the other 2 families which we have, both are single
sisters. We went to see the one. This is definitely "the hood". We
went through an iron gate which was 10 feet tall, and up some rickety
stairs into the room. The door was open. 2 girls, 10 and 8 were
there and a granddaughter who was 2, and the mom, a big black lady,
pretty tough. Life has been hard on her. You could not see the
original color of the carpet because of all the stains. There were
holes in the walls, which had not been painted for 20 years. We sat
on a couch that had no back cushions. As we were visiting it came out
that her husband died when the youngest girl was 1, and her 15 year
old son was murdered a year ago. Then her oldest son came home.
Apparently he had dropped off his daughter for a "few minutes", and
then went to Sacramento for 3 days. He and his mother got into a face
to face shouting match. He said the F word about 50 times. Meanwhile
the 8 year old and I kept reading from the Childrens Friend. In
looking back, we think that because we were there, the son didn't get
physical with his mother. After about 15 minutes it calmed down and
we left, feeling lucky to be in one piece, with a car that was still
there when we came out.
Pretty interesting day.

*********
K'Lyn Lyman