Hey everyone,
It's been another good week in CBQ. We've met some awesome people
that are so ready to come back to church. One family that has been inactive for
5 or 6 years came to church this past Sunday. He was the Branch President at
one time but fell off the wagon a bit. Many people were very excited to see
them.
So, you remember my companion's cut elbow from last week? Well,
after much effort on our part, we failed to keep an infection from grabbing
him. It was pretty bad. The surrounding area was swollen and red, so we took
him to the hospital. This was after the longest 4th of July parade that has
ever taken place in the history of mankind. Back to the elbow - They did some
blood work and x-rays and IV's. Well, the infection hadn’t made it to the bone
but it was beginning to get into the white blood cells. We got some antibiotics;
however, by the next day, there was no improvement, so we got another antibiotic.
Then, President decided that he shouldn't be in CBQ with such an infection.
Well, we drove down to Mesa and traded him for Elder Vete (just for the week).
We went the short way through the Salt River Canyon, which is a beautiful drive
of about 2 1/2 hours. Elder Lomu drove us down and I drove us back. Allow me to
say that driving back, the same way, took much longer: 4 hours to be exact because
the monsoons are starting, and they are big! We had the wipers on full blast but
that didn't do much. The water had caused some landslides in the canyon, which
made the drive even more difficult. Fortunately, we had traded our car for a
truck just the day before. The thunder was deafening and the lightning was all
around us making an almost continuous light that could put the sun to shame. We
got home about 12:30 that night.
President is kind of expecting that we will, at some point, have
to battle with drunken hoodlums. So he has asked us to get some solid boots so
that we can kick these people if we need to.
The other night, we went into the church to watch some of those
scripture cartoons before bed. When we walked to the front of the building, we
noticed that there were about 10 Crips hanging out by the gate, drinking. We
watched quietly in nervous anticipation, but they never crossed the fence line.
The ground we live on surely is dedicated soil that will not be defiled. After
an hour or so, they trickled out and left.
We are very happy to have a police station in CBQ for the first
time in all history! Previously, an officer from Whiteriver would patrol
periodically. Now, we have about 3 officers stationed here. The only problem is
that they always seem to end up right in front of our house. Three times we've
come home to a handful of police and medics out front. In fact, in one single
day someone was tortured (we heard him scream and so we got the police), a
woman was badly beaten and then a large rock was thrown on her face, and
someone was stabbed to death.
There is a lot of work to be done here and a lot of people that
need to feel loved. We added another focus to our service which is to
strengthen the community. There are good people here that just get trapped in
Satan's lies. We are here to free them.
I love you all and I hope that you had a good 4th of July.
Elder Kirk
Elder Kirk
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