On the road again--la la la. Off we went from Corvallis. I had my morning nap on the way to Portland. We arrived about 11:00 and scooted across the river into Vancouver, WA to follow directions to a restaurant where we would meet Delores Freeman. She has been a faithful Book of the Month member for many years, and we had never even met her! A friend told her about the club and she loved the idea, even without knowing us. We had about an hour to eat, visit and get to know each other. Great fun!
Back on the road and one last look from the highway at Multnomah Falls. Soon we turned north to cross the Columbia River on one of the few bridges there are in the Gorge. The terrain changed immediately as we climbed a steep grade up onto the High Plain of south central Washington. Even though there isn't a lot of vegetation, it has a certain beauty to it. We soon arrived at Toppenish, which is located in an Indian Reservation.
Due to some mis-communication, what happened next was what we called in Spanish, a "fracaso." The person in charge of our visit thought we were to be there the week before! So on that Sunday the preacher had to throw together a sermon and the fellowship dinner was for naught. The contact person left on vacation. So when three of the five missionaries arrived at 4:00 the next Saturday, the preacher didn't know we were coming! He is in transition, his wife still living in the Seattle area, and he lives in an old house that was used as a family unit when there was a children's home there. When we asked about housing, (which is supposed to be provided, along with meals), the young man said, "Well, there are some mattresses--I'm not sure about bedding." (The house was virtually empty of even all but the bare essentials, including most of the furniture. There were, however, 4 turtles, 8 frogs, one spider, but no partridge and no pear tree. We asked about a shower and found out the one in the bathroom didn't function but there was a shower house if he could find the key. But he had no towels but his own. We asked if there were dinner plans, and he said he had something for himself in the fridge! Oh, boy! So after a quick pow-wow, we all piled into 2 vehicles and took off searching for motel rooms. Two towns later, we found some. We then went to a KFC and treated the poor preacher to supper. We made plans on how to share the next morning of church activities with all three missionaries. It all worked out really well. Life on an Indian Reservation, this one being the Yakima Indians, is definitely a cross-cultural experience. Time is not important. When it feels right, you go from S.S. to Church activities. And the whole time there was a ton of activities in the kitchen and church yard. I watched as one man carved up two 3 foot long pieces of fresh salmon. This was seasoned and wrapped in foil and placed in the smoker outside all during the morning activities. Next there was a young fella carving what looked like half a cow. I said, "Big cow!" He said, "Elk." I said "Oh!" So we had a HUGE fellowship dinner with salmon that we would have had to pay a fortune to eat in a restaurant, elk steaks, elk stew, fry bread and bitter root. (These were hand dug and peeled--a rare delicacy--no one liked the taste, but ate them for good luck!) There was so much food, that they just provide styrafoam containers for families to take the leftovers home! Great idea.
Well, what could have been a super unpleasant visit, turned out to be very interesting and fun. Hope we were able to be a blessing, as well.
Susan
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