Well, as you can see I have been quite negligent in my entries. This has not been entirely my fault. For one, I am still waiting for an Internet hook-up to be installed at home...home...home...that sound so strange saying that when referring to Scottsdale instead of Riverside, which as been home for over 20 years! Well, I am not in Kansas, I mean California anymore!
But this is home now. This is where God brought Penny and me. We have been quite busy getting to know the people and the territory. We took our first road trip yesterday, Tuesday, and visited three teachers in two different cities to the north of Phoenix. We visited Mark Tamalea'a, the new recruiter for Thunderbird Academy, at Camp Yavapines, in the city of Prescott. He is presently Camp Director for about 800 kids (not all at the same time) from all over the Arizona Conference. Great guy! We had breakfast in a small diner besides a famous creek I of which have since forgotten the name. The hotcakes were delicious, however! We also met Aaron Long, the newly appointed elementary teacher for grades 1-8. Holy mole! How is this poor guy going to do it? He is full of energy and enthusiasm. He has ideas and a full head of steam. He is not waiting for the school year to begin. He is hard at work already. I guess my job is to do everything possible to tip the balance in his direction. Lunch was average. We ate at some brewery he recommended-- lunch only, by the way!
From there Penny and I took the scenic route to Cottonwood, AZ. The route was not by choice. Our GPS took us there. We went over the Himalayas, I believe...wait the Himalayas are not in Arizona, they are in Montana so these must have been the Andes. Sorry about that, my geography is a bit dusty. In any case, as we are coming over the crest of this mountain range above 55,000 feet from the sea bottom in the Pacific Trench, we see one of the most beautiful sights we have ever seen. In the distance was what appeared to be the north rim of the Grand Canyon. I thought it was a bit close to be the Grand Canyon, but I had no other way to explain the multi-colored canyon that was way off in the distance. It was breath-taking!
As it happened it was not the Grand Canyon at all. The Grand Canyon apparently is in Rhode Island. Who would have thunk it? Thank goodness for Wikipedia! In any case, it was Sedona we were beholding! I will be in Sedona late this month. I can't wait to see what those hills look like up close. You gotta see those hills. In any case, I was so captivated by the far off scene of the red rocks of Sedona that I almost missed another odd sight right in front of us-- the town of Jerome. There is no other way to describe it-- it's like a colony of mountain goats became human and decided to colonize the cliffs with human-like housing. No kidding! The houses are right on the rocky cliffs with no visible means of support. The rails on the side of the road could not support a broom handle, much less a human, and there is nothing but down on the other side of the rail. No CAL OSHA here, buddy. It was like going to a third world country in a sense, except it was still America.
I managed to drive our way off the cliffs and to Cottonwood to visit with Donna Oft, teaching principal Verde Valley School. She is a hard worker with a great spirit. The school has beautiful facilities—but few students. It seems to be a recurring problem across the state-- by state I mean the state of Adventist Education.
I sense that God brought me here for a reason. It will take a united effort and a lot of prayer and investment to turn this system around. As I am prone to repeat-- the task if gargantuan, but God's hand is not shortened. He is still more than awesome! If only He installed Internet....
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