Words from our Warrior: Navajo Code 1/6

Yaa Teeh!

It has been a week full of old memories and new learning experiences!

Monday was a little rough for me because I have really gotten close to a lot of people in Flora Vista. I never thought it would be so hard to leave an area!

Tuesday we headed to Farmington after studies and there Elder Tucker was waiting for me. We went shopping and then we headed to Bluff. When we got to Bluff we dropped off my stuff and went straight to work. So instead of knocking on doors we just go around villages and talk to whoever is outside. We talked with this one Navajo guy for about an hour. He told us his whole life story. It's interesting how open they are. Then we went around to some potentials and we got to chop some woods. (That's how all the Navajo's say it. :) ) I really enjoy how much service we get to do here.

Wednesday we did more tracking by walking around there villages and talking to people. Let me give you a description of our area. We cover the town of Bluff. To the south of that there is a river. When you cross the river you are on the Navajo Reservation. Villages are about 15 houses and they are super far apart for each other, like 5 miles. You then have some random houses along the roads. Our area goes all the way down to the Arizona Border. I forgot to describe my companion. Elder Tucker is from King City California. He played community college football in California, he has been a zone leader for like 6 or 7 transfers, he has been out for 18 months. Back to Wednesday we found out who one of the pastors were for a church in a village and we decided to go talk to him. He let us in and we talked about prayer. It was really cool talking with a pastor from another church.

Thursday I got to go back to Blanding! Holy cow memory rush! After district meeting we went to Patio's for lunch then headed back down to Bluff. We ran into a Navajo who is like 80% deaf in one ear and like 100% deaf in the other. So he would talk to us and we would have to write down our replies. That was a really interesting experience. It really makes you think of what you want to say. Then we were driving on some back roads and some cows were in our way so Elder Tucker got out and started to chase the cows and so did I, Oh man that was fun and funny! So I have now OFFICIALLY gone cow chasing. All that's left is cow tipping. ;)

Friday we went to contact a referral in Bluff and this lady is super prepared, along with her family! She was talking to us and she told that she had taken her daughter to church last week and ever since her daughter has said her prayers every night and is asking her mom when she can be baptized! AWESOMENESS!

Saturday was a slower day. So, the first Saturday of every month the Natives get paid from the tribe so they over to either Farmington or Cortez to go to Wal Mart. So nobody was home. So we tried almost everyone. We drove done almost to the Arizona boarder and went to a village called Blackwater village. The first house we knocked on they yelled at us to come in, I hate it when people do that cause it's so awkward for us, and we sat down and started talking with this older man and woman. They were just giving us a hard time for the whole time we were there. So we left and knocked a few more houses with no success. Then we got to the last house in the village, the guy was home and let us in. He's been going through a hard time and he just got layed off from his work about 3 months ago. We started talking about the BOM and he said that he had his mom's old one. So he went and got it and he told us that he had been reading it periodically. He was in Alma 25! Awesome! He seemed really interested to learn more. It was great stuff. Then as we were leaving the village we saw the old man going out to chop some woods so we decided to stop and help him. He really appreciated it and I think it softened his heart a little so I'm excited to go back over there and talk to him again. And it's always fun to chop some woods. :D Saturday was also really REALLY windy. So there was dirt flying everywhere. It was really cool to see the dirt go over the hills. I'm sad that I can't take pictures while we are out teaching. But all well. :)

Sunday I got to go to church out on the Reservation. Our branch is split up, so we have the people in Bluff meet at the Bluff building and we have rented an old preschool and we meet there on the Reservation. So I went out to the Reservation for church. There was total of like 10 people there, 11 if you count the spirit because he was definitely there. It really reminded me of church at SOI, not a lot of people but strong in spirit. Then we went back home for studies. During our companionship study our Carbon Monoxide detector went off. So we went outside and called President Batt. He told us to pack a few things and go to another Elders house. So we did and we stayed the night in Blanding. It was weird staying in that house as a guest this time.

It has been a really great week and I'm looking forward to another one! Thanks for all the support. Until next time, Hagonet!

Elder Chipman

I finally get to send picture home!