Navajo Code 4/28

       Yaa Teeh!

       This week went by really fast as well. It just seems that my mission is getting faster and faster! NOOOOOOOOOO! I want it to last longer but there is no brakes on this thing. :)

       Monday at the end of emailing a guy and his wife came into the fort and we started talking. He's from England. So, naturally, I asked about Liverpool Football Club. THEY'RE IN 1ST!!!!!! Best conversation with an Englishman EVER! :D Then we were going to go to a members house and play pool for the last half hour of our P day but they weren't home. So we, in our prolyhting clothes, went mountain (trail) biking in the outback of Bluff! So fun!! That's actually what we are doing today!

       Tuesday I was up at 3 45 in the morning being sick. So we stayed in until I was feeling better around 5 and we tried some people that we had an appointment with and they both weren't home. 

       Wednesday we went on exchanges. I stayed in Bluff with Elder Phillips and Elders Johnson and Lindsay went to Blanding with Elder Maupin. Is it sad that our most productive day is always on exchanges. :) We got to met with a man named Ernie. We read about the tree of life and he understood it. It was an awesome lesson. Then we had a lesson with Randy and his family. They are doing such a good job! They are on date for the 24th of May and they are so excited!

       Thursday was really busy! We had district meeting up in Monticello. Then on the way to a meeting in Blanding we got a phone call from one of our recent converts telling us that they had just moved! NOOOOOOOO That family was amazing! I loved going over there. But it was for the better. And the missionaries up there need a good family to teach as well so it's an overall good thing. Then we had our meeting with the District Leaders and then we went shopping and then we came home. Later we went and showed some of the Fort missionaries where one of their visiting teaching people live. 

       Friday we had a great lesson with Marvin and Trevor. Trevor is really getting interested in the church. He's read almost 50 pages in the Book of Mormon with out us even asking! Then we tried to wash off some dirt in the community center pavilion, really we just made a big mud puddle. :) Then we played some basketball.

       Saturday we went to a funeral for someone we visited. The service was at the Episcopalian church. Wow that was different. I've never had the sacrament at a funeral before. :) Then we went exploring a big part of our area on less that a quarter tank of gas. :) We barely made it back to Bluff. :)

       Sunday we just had church. Good day.

       So we have transfers on Saturday. I think I will be staying. But please don't send me any mail until next week. Thanks!

Well, I gtg. Until next week, Hagoonee'!

Elder Chipman

Navajo Code 4/21

      Yaa Teeh!

       This week went by really fast for me. Just a lot of small stuff to get done so this week just went by really fast.

       Monday we went on exchanges with the Monticello Elders. I brought Elder Varela down to Bluff and Elders Lindsay and Johnson went up to Monticello. Well we went and biked on the reservation and Elder Varela couldn't breath really well, so he asked me to give a blessing. That was a really cool experience to give him a blessing on the middle of the reservation after only being with him just over an hour.

       Tuesday we went over to the fort to get one of our bikes fixed. We needed to get the gears off. Well almost all of the elders there came to help. They tried everything. They started with a hammer then went to a 4 lbs sledge hammer then finally brought out a 16 lbs sledge hammer. Then they were going to bring out the blow torch but they got it off before they get that fully functioning. Then we went and "explored" a part of the area that I haven't ever really been to. We talked to a few people and placed several books of Mormon. Then we had a really good lesson with Daylene and her family. We taught How to Begin Teaching. I showed them an object lesson on the book of Mormon and that went really well. :) Then we cleaned the truck for Zone Conference the next day.

       Wednesday we went to Zone Conference. Elder Johnson and I actually got to train during the meeting. That was a whole new experience. But it was a lot of fun. We also won 2nd place in the vehicle inspection. President Batt did a really good training on Faith. He is so amazing!

       Thursday we were walking on the reservation because we didn't have our bikes fixed yet. We went to this house that had a black dog. It was nice but after we finished at the house we walked back to the truck and the dog followed us. The best part was that whenever a car was about to pass the dog would hide in the brush, and hide quite well. A few times we couldn't even find it until the car past and it came out of hiding to chase the car. Awesomeness. Then we had a lesson with Randy and family then played dodgeball with the kids. Always fun.

       Friday we got stopped by a random Native that asked if we could go down by the Arizona Reservation and give his mom a prayer because someone had died. One of the senior couples took us down. When we got there we realized that the mom didn't really speak English at all. That was fun. We did leave her with a prayer though. Then we had basketball night.

       Saturday the Fort had a big Easter Egg hunt so we went over and helped. Then we went out to the reservation and visited with Leroy outside. Near the end of the lesson some Jehovah's Witnesses drove up to the house, saw us, turned around and drove away. :) That was fun. Then we helped with a families easter egg hunt. At the end of the night we played some football and soccer with some kids from Bluff.

       Sunday we had Branch conference, so church was full. At the end some kids were outside climbing on our truck so I was going to go out and talk to them. Then I remembered that I had the remote in my pocket. I pulled it out and pushed the alarm button. I watched as the alarm turned from the truck to the kids faces as they ran back inside saying, "It wasn't me! It wasn't me!" Oh fun stuff!

       Well there is my week, thanks for all the support! Until next time, Hagoonee'!

Elder Chipman

Navajo Code 4/14

 Yaa Teeh!

       This week went by really fast so we'll see what I can put down. :D

       Monday we played pool with a member until we needed to go, then we went out to the reservation and found a really prepared 9 yr old little girl named Allyn. She has already read the Book of Mormon Stories book, the one with pictures, and is really excited to get baptized. 

       Tuesday we were on exchanges with the assistants. I was with Elder Knighton and Elder Lindsay. We went up to an area called 5 points, because at one point there are 5 roads going in different directions. So I've only been up there twice while I've been in the area. So we did some truck-ting, yes truck-ting. Most missions go tracting to find people to teach. Out on the Reservation however you have to go truck-ting to go find people. It's really pretty interesting. It's like a game of hide and go seek except they can't run, however they often don't answer the door. :) Fun stuff.

       Wednesday we went out to a place called Toda. We go there a lot and bike a round to save some miles and time. This time we decided to try and find a shortcut. There was a mesa in between us and our next house we wanted to visit. So instead of going around the mesa we tried going over it, with our bikes. So we couldn't bike up the hill to the top of the mesa because it was too sandy. When it wasn't to sandy it was to steep. So we get on top and start walking around, because of how much sand there was we couldn't bike. We eventually found that there wasn't a trail and started walking the general direction of the house we wanted to go visit. We had our bikes on our shoulders for almost the entire time we were up there because of how many bull heads were around. So what normally was a 5 to 10 minute bike ride tuned into a 30 minute hike. lol. :D But hey, it was loads of fun. Then we went to the Oasis village and contacted a referral. Well when we were coming out Elder Lindsay realized he had lost his helmet clip. So we spent 30 minutes looking for that, but we did eventually find it. Then we had a lesson with Randy and family. We read Alma 17 with them, they have an 8 yr old boy so I thought he'd like the story. We also invited them to baptism and... they accepted! That's always nice when that happens. :) Then we had dinner with one of the senior couples here in Bluff. 

       Thursday we had district meeting then we had a meeting with Bro Martin about the tutoring program we are advertising for. He ran us through the program..... oh my goodness amazing. The biggest things I got from it was to succeed in college have a study group and read a head. He said if I brought a flash drive he would give me the whole presentation. So worth it. Then we went and saw Kaeahliyah. She is so smart! We taught her about the sacrament and how it relates to Baptism. Then we had a bar-b-que with all the senior missionary couples. I love having all these senior couples around, they're the best!

       Friday we helped out with a funeral. Then we went and taught Marvin, we actually read and discussed Jacob 1 with him. Then we did some service moving some gravel and then played basketball.

       Saturday was really fun. We help a guy move, then helped another guy put on a hood for his truck plus the grill. Then we got to go out to the reservation and see Wilbert. So we start teaching lesson one. We teach up to the Great Apostasy and then Wilbert starts teaching us the part on the Restoration! It was increadable! It was really quite interesting. Then we went and tried a potential investigator. I've never had a door slammed in my face before. Well, we went up to the door and an 8 yr old came to the door said some stuff that I couldn't really hear then said, "Bye, Bye" And closed the door pretty hard. So I'm going to count it, I've now had a door slammed in my face.... by an 8 yr old.... on the reservation. :)

       Sunday we had fast and testimony meeting. Kaeahliyah got up and almost made everyone cry with her testimony! Then we went up to Blanding for a meeting with the stake president. Then we had dinner with a member in the ward. Fun Stuff!

        Well GTG, until next time Hagoonee'!

Elder Chipman

Navajo Code 4/7

       Yaa Teeh!

        So I have a lot to catch up on, so here it goes!

       Wednesday was also crazy. So we needed to go the the elementary school to have the new Elders sign some papers. Well, when we came out we talked to some students from Mizzou University. Well we left and went to the house for lunch. About 45 minutes later we get a phone call from them asking us to come to dinner................... um.................... sure. :) So we set up a time to go by at 8. Then we went out to the reservation, and the wind REALLY picked up! So the wind was so bad that when you walked into it you couldn't look up because of the wind and the sand. But us being the brilliant missionaries (Elders :D ) that we are, still went tracking and biking! :D Then we got to go to the meeting with the Mizzou students. So there were 10 girls and 1 guy, plus us. Ya that was interesting. But the meeting went sooooooooooo good! We got to know each other for a little while, then they started asking some religious questions. We summarized all four lessons! It was amazing!

       Thursday we had district meeting then we had an interview with a guy to help get some free tutoring program on the Reservation.  Then we got back to Bluff and had some good lessons with Kaeahliyah and then with Tristan and Mckayla. That night I couldn't fall asleep because I was coughing like crazy. I was getting up every 15 minutes to go blow my nose. Finally around midnight I bumped Elder Johnson and he gave me a blessing and then I went right to sleep. :) Blessings are great!

       Friday I slept in because I really wasn't feeling good. Then we went and biked around Bluff. That helped clear my lungs out. That night we went to go play basketball and we got there and found out that they had changed the locks on us. Not cool. So we went back to the house and I finished figuring out miles for the Zone. President Batt had asked me to reformulate the miles for the Zone.

       Saturday we talked to one of the Bluff Fort senior missionaries. He was a lawyer in Delaware, he is so funny! Then we went out to the reservation and had a really good lesson with Aaron. We watched the restoration. He really liked it and still wants to be baptized. Then we had a lesson with Eno. He basically said that he doesn't want us to come by anymore. It's interesting the spirit that you get when you testify about the truthfulness of the gospel when they are rejecting it. 

       Sunday the power went out right after church and it stayed out until about 9 45. So we took numbers for the zone in the dark. We also had to go up to Blanding for a fireside that President and Sister Batt. So good!

       Monday we went down to Farmington for MLC on Tuesday. I got to work that night with my former companion, Elder Krstyen.

       Tuesday we had MLC. President Batt trained on Agency. Amazing! Dad, I'll have to tell you about it. I forgot to write about it in my letter. We also started an exchange with the Montezuma Elders. I brought Elder Lindsay and Elder Wood to Bluff.

       Wednesday we had a really good lesson with Patterson. He has been going through some hard times. We showed him the Book of Mormon and he was really happy about it. I'm excited to go back. Then we got to go biking on the reservation for a little while. That's always fun. Then we went to Randy's house with him and his family. We taught about the Atonement. That was really good. Then we got to go play dodgeball and basketball with the kids. Then we went back into Bluff. We then had one of the best lessons on my mission with our recent convert Kaeahliyah. So she is 8 and we also teach her mom. So we read 1 Nephi 2. I really focused on the mom. I personalized Lehi's actions and trials to her. When I started talking about Lehi's oldest children rebelled Kaeahliyah (who is her oldest) started crying pretty hard. We asked her what was going on, she said that she thought about herself rebelling against her mom but she couldn't do it, she just loves her too much! The spirit was so strong! It was amazing! Then at night when we had gone home I needed to go to the church to make a copy and the light above the door was off and I needed that light. So I said a quick prayer in my heart and asked the for the light to come back on and... the light flickered on. :)

       Thursday we had District meeting and extra meetings with the district leaders. 

       Friday we did a lot of driving because we needed to get a vehicle to Farmington so we met the vehicle coordinator half way. 

       Saturday and Sunday was filled with wonderful conference! 

       Well I gtg, Until next time. Hagoonee'!

Elder Bryson Chipman