What is the Principle of Non-Distraction?

     Sunday before last we were given permission, or should I say, told not to come to church that day. No, it didn’t snow or hail, or blow a windstorm, or flood. Well, it kind of flooded. The reason we couldn’t go to church was because there was a small electrical fire in the mechanical closet during the night, and it turned on the building sprinklers, which ran for quite awhile, hence the FM group was called in to dry things out. 
     We had already made a 10:30 appointment with a young woman who wanted to see a desk we had advertised for sale, so if we were going to get to another ward, we had to go at our regular meeting time 1:00 pm. The only ward we were sure of that met at that time was C. P. Ward.
     There was an interesting woman in the congregation. She looked like she was ready to host a birthday party for young clowns–no kidding! In her black patent shoes with square silver buckles, were striped socks--red, yellow, and green stripes. Her long, flowing skirt of multi-colored fabrics and her blouse with a wide floppy collar, kind of matched each other like a crazy quilt matches a basket of scraps overflowing at the sides. Sticking out under the blouse on both arms were striped knit sleeves, which did not match the striped socks. These were narrow stripes in yellow, green, purple and blue (at least I think that’s what I remember). Her short pink hair was capped with a colorful cap turned up at the edge, or was it black? My senses couldn’t take it all in at once.
     I learned a new term during Sunday School. The principle of Non-distraction. The teacher, a former member of a stake presidency, while explaining what was going on with the Apostle Paul in I. Corinthians, Chapter 13, looked directly at this woman, (who seemed very knowledgeable about the scriptures from other answers she had offered) and he said, “When we go to Sacrament Meeting there should be nothing to distract our minds from the Savior and the Atonement.” I asked my husband if he had ever heard of the term. He answered , “That’s why we ask all the Deacons (and Aaronic Priesthood youth) to wear white shirts or suits and ties.”
     Come to think of it, we often hear the admonition that we should aspire to reach a “Unity of the Faith”. We sing the song, Come Follow Me. If we follow the Savior’s example we must become more Christ-like in our behaviors and beliefs. But, does it mean also that we are like robots who mindlessly follow the leader? No, we all have different talents, interests and abilities. We choose to follow the Savior’s example because what he does is right, and because we love and respect him. We choose not to draw attention to ourselves as part of this respect. There are some times when it is appropriate to stand out in a group; and other times when it is appropriate to blend in.
     The regular members of the ward we attended are used to seeing this woman dressed like this every Sunday, and just ignore her costume. “That’s the way Sister ----- is,” they say. She must have a desperate need to be noticed, and I’ll guess she might be a very interesting person to talk to, it if weren’t for the fact that she distracts away from her own good qualities as well!

Black Bear Restaurant

Black Bear Restaurants

Over a year ago Merle and friend, Greg, drove a pickup to Arizona and back to bring some furniture down to our newly acquired manufactured home. The only thing Merle raved about was their stop at the Mt. Shasta Black Bear Restaurant. They had the biggest portions of food and the world’s best Marion berry pie. When we drove down to Arizona this January we didn’t stop because we weren’t hungry. But we did notice every Black Bear Restaurant along our route. When we finally arrived at our destination we located not one but TWO Black Bear restaurants within a half hour drive of our home.

On our first trip we were out and about while coming back from Buckeye so we stopped for lunch. I ordered the best tuna sandwich I have ever eaten–no kidding. It came loaded with lettuce, tomato and avocado slices on sour dough bread and included a kosher dill pickle and hot french-fried onion rings. Merle enjoyed his bowl of chili topped with cheese. We shared a hot fudge dessert.

The following week we repeated the tuna and chili adventure. Since then, we took Terry and Linda there. I had a huge and delicious salad with chicken pieces. Our next visitor was Eric, who stayed a couple of nights with us. I had French dip sandwich on sour dough and a green dinner salad with the world’s best bleu cheese dressing. Merle got chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes. The following week we went by ourselves and split an order of BBQ spareribs. It was so good and we both felt too full for dessert, but brought home one of their individual chocolate creme pies to share. Last week we went out to dinner with Merle’s nephew Keven and wife Jan, so you guessed it. This time I ordered spaghetti and sausage meatballs (better than your average meatballs) and a green salad with–you guessed it–bleu cheese dressing. Merle stayed with the chicken-fried steak. Last night Merle’s son Kurt was down here for some classes, so we made another weekly trip to Black Bear restaurant. I ordered the French Dip and another bleu cheese salad, and Merle got the chicken-fried steak. Gee, we’ve only got three more weeks before we head back to the Northwest. Do you think we’ll be able to last through the summer months without our weekly meal?

I think I’ll go get a bite of lunch. I brought home half of a french-dip sandwich last night with the dip in a separate cup–two meals for the price of one!

We planted cacti in front of our Arizona home this week. We planted several kinds of cactus, some desert marigolds and three gardenia plants with shiny dark green leaves and gorgeous white flowers. I have a Christmas Cactus still in the kitchen window in Vancouver which I will bring down here next time.

If you think about it, cactus are like people. Each has its own kind of beauty or talent, and each has its own kind of defense. People are as varied as are the kinds of saguaro cactus you can see in a desert landscape. It would be a boring world if people and cactus all looked alike or acted the same. In this world we all need one another!

Arizona Week 2-27

The week in review:

Terry and Linda stayed with us from Saturday to Tuesday noon. They got to break in a new mattress in our guest room. On Sunday we went to Ward conference at Mike’s ward, Buckeye 2nd to support Mike who conducted the PH-RS session. He talked about following the Spirit and how it applied to their move to Arizona. We went over to Mike and Ayesha’s home for dinner afterwards

On Monday we drove over to Quartsite AZ to see their famous flea market. It was winding down but there was still a lot to see. Merle fell in love with a 3-1/2 foot crystal stalagtite that was marked down from $1000 to $500–a real bargain! He could just see it as the main yard decoration in front of our home. Fortunately we didn’t get it! I don’t know how those vendors got the stalagtites but wondered if they came from an Indian reservation, since they can break some of our laws. He also liked a 300 pound piece of petrified wood that was big enough to sit on. It was too big to put in the car!

We met another neighbor this week–Jen, and her 5-year old daughter, Emma. Jen brought me back a publication with pictures of desert landscaping plants. She told us how to spray for scorpions, spiders and termites. Did you know termites like to eat cardboard as if it is candy?

Traffic reports here make the Portland traffic reporters sound like they’re having a picnic. Any 7:30 broadcast on weekdays will have 10 or more accidents. With big wide streets and turn lanes and one-way parkways, I don’t understand why so many accidents, except for speed. The freeways out in the open spaces say 75 mph speed limit, and in town, about 65 mph, but if we drive the limit we look like we’re standing still. People make left turns on red lights too.

We went to Peoria Stake Conference today. Elder LaSeure was the conference visitor. The mission president told about a native missionary from Tonga who was serving in Fiji. He and his white companion were sent up to a remote island. The Tongan told his companion, “Tomorrow we go to the beach.” The companion told him missionaries don’t go to the beach.
As it turned out, the Tongan walked up to a group of fishermen who were cleaning their nets. He said, “You are fishermen, I am a fisherman. Why do you catch such small fish? We Tongans catch big fish. We eat big fish.“ He told them they caught small fish because they worked on Sundays. “Now do you want to hear what I have to say?” They did.

I did one more thing this week. Filed our income tax with help of Turbo Tax. Yea! We get a full refund.

I've been fascinated by the native cacti. The one I liked this week is a barrel cactus with long spines all over like a porcupine. They're round and about as big as a watermelon. For one week they have yellow blossoms in the center of the top. I've also noticed some real songbirds that can warble a whole song. The pictures I'm posting show T & L at a restaurant called Black Bear, and one of Merle squeezing orange juice and one with Merle and all three of Karen's cats. A difficult shot to take!

Arizona - Things to Wonder About

Cactus - what makes a seguaro plant decide to put out an arm and how long does it take to grow the arm?

Are there two colors of prickley pear cacti, green and purple, or do they change from green to purple?

The is a real art in the field of masonry. Freeway walls have aztec and Indian patterns of various colors and designs. People's driveways have swirls in the concrete. Yard landscaping is done with bricks, tiles, rocks of different colors plus desert plants and I've even seen yards with their rocks painted green.

Some people have orange and grapefruit trees sculpted as topiary trees yet they still bear fruit. But why do they paint the first five feet of the trunks white?

Palm trees come in all sizes from short to very tall but I haven't actually seen any coconuts. I have seen a date palm. I would not want to be under either one when the fruit starts dropping.

We drove up Pinacle Peak road where we saw the site for the new Phoenix Temple to be built. There is a wilderness hiking trail nearby. Last Friday the local newspaper ran an article about local protesters. There are hardly any homes close enough to be affected by it. It reminded me of Sonia Johnson chaining herself to the Seattle Temple gate and the big flap over lighting at the Portland Temple. It will all blow over when it is built.

I never expected to see a boat in the desert. Well I did see one being towed on a trailer, probably came from Lake Powell. In this area there are man-made shallow lakes with big, expensive homes lining the edges, having real green grass in the yards. They each have a big porch where folks can sit and look at the water. Each home has its own boat dock and sitting on the water at the docks are these boats that look like 2-seater sedans with open sides and multi-colored striped awnings for sun covers. It looks to me like they have to be pedaled to move them. I can hear in my mind the tune: "Cruising Down the River on a Sunday Afternoon."

Why was it 80 degrees here today, and in the 50s in Washington? We missed out on last summer due to our surgeries, and now we'll miss one of my favorite seasons, Spring. Pink flowers look so out of place here.
I'm going to get some yellow and orange gerber daisiea to put into blue pots. And I've collected some Mexican pottery art to put on our book shelves. It's fun to do something different!

Next week I'll add some more Arizona observations.