Navajo Code 8/25

Yaa Teeh!

       Monday we got to go to the temple! So good! So needed! I miss going to the temple every week! Then we got to go to Fred's house and Chet (the Less Active member that we've reactivated) came with us. We had a good lesson. It's amazing to see Chet help us, because he knows the gospel and he fills in the parts that we forget or otherwise miss. So nice to have him there!

       Tuesday we got to go see Tonya and go chop some more wood for her. I really enjoy chopping wood! Then we got to go see Lloyd, an excommunicated member that is getting REALLY CLOSE  to getting back in the church! It's amazing to see how much the gospel means to people like that!

       Wednesday we were out walking around and this guy and his cousin were out working on their fence and he started talking to us. Well, we gave them each a Book of Mormon and offered to come back later and help with his fence. We then had to go to a lesson. We watched the John Tanner Story with them. The husband, non member, said, "I see all of these people getting healed in the movies but is it really real? My wife has been having some serious back and hip pain for several years and no doctors can figure it out. Could you heal her?" wow..... Well, I told them how blessings work and asked who they would like to give the blessing. They asked Elder Martin and he gave an amazing blessing! The Elders Quorum President and the High Priest Group leader went over later this week and she told them that her back and hip are feeling better than they have in a really long time. Talk about having faith, and the husband isn't even a member! Later we go back to Daniel's, the fence guy, and help him out. He really appreciated it and let us talk to him about the gospel.

       Thursday after District Meeting we had interviews with President Batt. I love that man! He is such a good example! I can go and talk to him about anything. Later that night we got to go on splits. I went with a member and finished a movie with a part member family.

       Friday was fun... We went and helped Daniel again with his fence. Well he need us to dig some holes for his fence posts to go in. They need to be about 18 inches deep. Oh, and it's all rock below us... So we used a small concrete pole and a small hand sledgehammer and were chipping away at it. Well it was almost time to go but we had the idea to go and grab my maul because it was bigger and heavier. So we did. We started using it and it worked pretty well. We then got it in the ground pretty good where it would stand up by itself. Elder Martin suggested that I just try and hit it as hard as I can without him holding it. "Ok, sounds good." lol..... So we just slides back a little bit and I go for it. Well, I make contact with it but it came out of the hole, end over end, and hit Elder Martin straight it the face...... DON'T WORRY! HE'S OK!!!!! See picture to see true damage. :) Well after that we decided to go for a walk. I am still convised that God has a good sense of humor. We start walking and after two minutes it starts to pour! I mean pour! Well, we keep walking and we walk for an hour and a half. We had one lady pull over and give us this nice looking flower umbrella. So the funny part is about two minutes before we get home the sun comes out. lol. :D All well. It was a lot of fun. My feet got a little discolored from my shoes/ socks. :)

       Saturday we did some more service for Daniel then went to a fireside in Bloomfield were this guy played the piano and talked about the power of music. It was really good!

       Sunday we got to do sharing time in primary which is always fun! :)

So that was my week! Hope you all have a great one too! Hagoonee'!

Elder Chipman

 

 

Navajo Code 8/18

       Yaa Teeh!

        So we literally just got back from the Temple! I love the Temple! So if you wrote me a letter this week and don't get anything back that is because I didn't have any time to write back. Next week I will definitely try to write back!

       So on Monday for P-day we went and got pizza, headed up to the church and watched some church movies and played the piano for P-day. Then we went for a walk and saw some kids playing soccer. I was so excited that I went up and asked if we could play with them. It's a lot different playing soccer in missionary clothes than it is in actual soccer clothes! HAHA. :D

       Tuesday we got to go volunteer at the senior citizens center. I went and played the piano and then we both helped serve. After lunch was over a few of the people asked us if we wanted to stay and learn how to line dance. Wow, I miss dancing. I really want to take a ballroom dance class in college. Jacob Hatfield, we'll have to get together some time so you can show me some moves and stuff. ;) Then we got to go over to Fred's house! He is coming so far! He is progressing in the gospel like nobody I've ever seen! More on that later!

       Wednesday Elder Martin and I sent all of the Elders in our zone on exchanges. :) hehehe. I brought an Elder from Bloomfield second up to Aztec and we walked for a good part of the day. We had a man yell at us from across the main road, with traffic going by, asking us where are church was. We ended up meeting him at a corner and talking to him. He was in the Army and has been wanting to meet with missionaries for a while. :D

       Thursday we went walking for 4 hours just trying to talk to people. Then at dinner we had the member ask us if we could give him a blessing for some health issues he is having. He asked me to give him the blessing. It's interesting how God will tell you that your are doing the right thing and that you still have the spirit with you. That was one way he did it for me, letting me give that blessing.

       Friday, met with Fred... again.... AWESOME!!!! So we started going over the Restoration again just to make sure he understood everything. We got talking about the saviors mortal ministry and the Atonement and Fred brought up how his daughter was acting the way she normally was. He asked us if we could give her a blessing. Elder Martin gave a great blessing. After that Fred said the closing prayer. You could feel how much faith he has just by his prayer! It was almost like a fog, you can't physically grab it but you KNOW it is there. Then we helped him fix his bike tires. We didn't have all the right tools, so we called Chet to come help us. That was great, we got Fred's bike all fixed and ready to go. It's amazing to see people come together in the name of the gospel!

       Saturday we did a lot of service for our members. We did some weeding for one and set up a glass desk for another.

       Sunday we had a member go pick up Fred's family for church. Fred was going to come late because he was working. Normally there older two children are crazy. But when they got to church I was AMAZED!!! at how well behaved they were. They loved church! It is so good to see that family come so much closer to the gospel!

       Thank you for all the support! Until next time, Hagoonee'!

Elder Chipman

Navajo Code 8/11

Yaa Teeh!

       Monday we had a Tri Zone activity. I got to play Ultimate, I did pretty good. I got to play with Elder Provard. He's really good at Ultimate! Then we saw our recent convert and then Chet. They are both doing good. :)

       Tuesday we had MLC. We talked about improving our missionaries and talking to everyone. I really love those meetings. They are so spiritually uplifting. Then we went out with a member and saw a less active lady that is trying to come back to church. Members are so powerful! They can do so much more to influence the people than we missionaries can.

       Wednesday we met with one of our investigators, Fred. When we walked into his house it was like hitting a brick wall of the spirit! He had some piano hymns playing in the background and he had been reading. It's amazing what good music plus reading the scriptures can do to influence the spirit in the home. Well, he's doing great. We set a baptismal date with him for the 20th of September. I'm really excited for him. That night we got to go play ultimate with a group that plays almost every week. They are really good too! They are better than me so I really enjoy playing with them.

       Thursday we did our zone training. We had our sister training leader train on talking to everyone, a district leader train on viewing everyone as if they were going to the temple, Elder Martin trained on the commitment process and I train on potential. That took up a good chunk of our day.

       Friday we got meet with Fred again. He is still doing so great! He's reading and getting a lot out of his reading. It's so good to see how the gospel can affect peoples lives!

       Saturday we went walking for 6 hours in the middle of the day in 94+ degree temperatures. Someone got a great sunburn at his collar line. :) Then we went to a baptism that Flora Vista had. It was interesting because the person getting baptized asked me to speak at it. That was kinda weird but I was excited to do it! Fred was also able to come to the baptismal service and then we gave him a church tour. So it went really well.

       Sunday we had meetings and then we meet with the high counselor over missionary work. Then we went on splits. I went with Bro Black. He does such a good job at fellowshipping people. Members here are just great! I love being in Aztec!

       Thanks for all the support! Until next time, Hagoonee'!

Elder Chipman

 

Navajo Code 8/4

Yaa Teeh!

 

       Monday we got to go play some soccer with two kids that were already there. That was a lot of fun.

 

       Tuesday we went and picked up Elder Leichty from Farmington. Then he got a little unpacked before we had a lesson. We then had splits that night. I went with our elders quorum president and saw bro coleman. Bro Christensen (Elders Quorum President) is awesome! He started testifying and giving suggestions to Bro Coleman of how to quit smoking.

 

       Wednesday was crazy! We had exchanges with Escrito so I brought Elder Brown up to Aztec and Elder Martin and Leichty went down to Escrito with Elder Helsley. Well we had a lesson with a part member family and we brought a member and the member just started testifying about prayer and the Book of Mormon. It was great because that is what the non member needed to here. And plus they've been life long friends! It's great! Then we went for a walk. Well after about an hour and a half of walking in 90+ degree weather Elder Brown needed a drink. So we go try a members house but they weren't home. So we thought we'd stop by sonic and grab a drink for him. Well as we are walking there a lady pulls over and asks if she could by us a drink. Wow. Talk about a miracle! So she gives us like 3 dollars. Then we walk to sonic. Once we get there another lady asks if she could by us a drink. We told her that we'd already been paid for but we started talking to her about random stuff. Well, she was going through the drive through and we were on foot so we are standing outside her car as she is pulling up inch by inch. Well after about 5 minutes of talking to her the manager comes out and tells us that she had just gotten a complaint about us prosilyghting on Sonic's property and she asked us to leave. lol. All well, so we walked over to a gas station and get elder Brown his water. Then we were having dinner at our house when we get a call from President Batt telling us that Elder Leichty is being Emergency Transferred down to Indian Wells. That was a fast tripanionship. So we had to meet up and get elder Leichty back so he could pack what he had just un-packed.

 

       Thursday.... I have never been yelled at, sworn at, and told Christ isn't real so many times my entire mission. But right before we were finished with the walk we were on a lady yelled at us to come back and teach her family! Awesome!

 

       Friday we met with the Catholic guy that tried to convert us. His big thing was Reason before Faith. It was interesting but he was a really nice guy. Then we got to met with one of our old investigator who is going through a hard time. We invited him to go and meet with the bishop on Sunday.

 

       Saturday we met with the guy that we had filled in ditches for all last week. He wanted to pay us for the work we had done. Ya, that was an interesting conversation telling him that we couldn't accept money from him because it was against the rules. So we finally agreed that he could get us gift cards to some food places around Aztec. That night we had a sports night with all three wards in Aztec. We played soccer! That was sooooooo much fun. I did really well. I scored a few goals while I was in the field and had a lot of really nice, some diving, saves while I was in goal.

 

       Sunday.... Fast Sunday. So what do Elder Martin and I decide to do?! Go for a two hour walk before church! Brilliant! Just Brilliant. So we were thirsty all the way through church. But the investigator that we met with on Friday came and was able to talk to the bishop. I went in to him a little more at ease and it went really well. The bishop gave him some great advise and we ended up giving him a blessing.

 

        Well I hope you all have a great week! Until next time, Hagoonee'!

 

Elder Chipman

 

picture of the misquito bites I got from golf. :)