Navajo Code 2/17/14

Yaa Teeh!

       Monday was good, we went up to Blanding and played some sports with the zone. 

       Tuesday we were out walking around the Rez to save some miles and I found a Canadian penny from 1964 ON THE NAVAJO RESERVATION!!! Talk about random. We had some good lessons with Ernie and then with Randy and his family. Randy is so prepared! I love going over there because he is always waiting to learn more.

       Wednesday we went over to a members house and they pulled out one of their ancestors patriarchal blessings. The blessing had been given by Hyrum Smith!!! It was so cool! Then we went down close to the Arizona boarder and saw Aaron. We taught him about the second half of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, well really just reviewed it because he somehow already knew it all. That was such an amazing experience!

         Thursday we had Zone Training. I trained on Hope. Mainly the attitude missionaries put into the work and how it affects them. It went really well. Then we went back down to the Reservation and had 4 really solid lessons with Randy and Family, Daylene and family, Kaeahlyiah, and Dory and family. They were all really good lessons because each of them were so excited to keep learning more about the gospel!

       Friday we didn't use the truck because we had used a lot of miles in the past week so we walked around Bluff and did some service. The nice part was it was over 70 degrees so we could take off our suit coats. We painted this older ladies patio. It looks pretty good. :)

        Saturday we drove out to the rez then took out or bikes and biked around. If you want to get fit fast then go biking in sand. :) That was crazy fun. Plus we had to go over some wash boards, bumps in the dirt roads. It was pretty intense. :)

       Sunday was church and I was sitting by a family with a 1 or 2 year old girl. Well I was playing around with her and I had my foot up on my other leg. So eventually she grabs my shoe lace and guess what... Most toddles would try to put it in their mouth. NOT THIS ONE!! Nope she went straight for her nose. I kept pulling it away and she would grab it and go after it again. Crazy little girl. :)

       So that's my week. A number of people have asked me what I want for my Birthday. So here is the best wishlist I can put together.

-Jericho Road music

-Church music in general

-I don't need any ties, I'm set for life on those. :)

-healthy food

-and i'm always game for surprises just don't spend to much on it.

Well thanks for all the support! Until next time, Hagoonee'!

Elder Chipman

Navajo Code 2/10/14

  Yaa Teeh!

       Well another week has come and gone, and it's been a great one!

       Monday we went hiking in Blanding for P day. That was fun. Then we went back to Bluff. When we pulled in I hoped out to go close the gate. Well I jumped out and E Tucker started to drive off. Well my suit coat got stuck on the truck some how. Thankfully he wasn't going very fast. :) That was some funny stuff. We both got a laugh about it. 

       

       Tuesday we met with Bob, a Navajo guy that is basically deaf with out his sound amplifier that we have to yell into. He has been meeting with the Jehovah's Witnesses and the have been giving him some anti stuff. His biggest concern about the BOM is, "If the Nephites were fighting with metal swords why haven't we found any? And we didn't' they teach the Lamanites to build swords like that? Cause when the spanish came they were fighting with stone knives!" (face + palm) I tried arguing with him for like 30 seconds but it wasn't going anywhere so we just invited him to read and pray about the BOM. When the day was over we went back to the house and E Tucker was laying on his bed reading. Well you can see his bed from the opposite side of the house and right above his head are those plastic blinds that make a lot of noise. Well I was playing with a racquetball that we had found and so I decided to bounce it off the ground, over his head into the blinds. Sooo FUNNY!!!! It scared him way bad!

       Wednesday was absolutely insane! So we got to go do some service for this Navajo family. We moved some tumbleweeds away from there house and then we got to watch them burn it. The pile of tumbleweed was 8 feet high, 8 feet deep, and 30 feet long. No joke! It was awesome! It made a popping sound. Like a bunch of bubble wrap going off at once. The flame so so hot though. It was just awesome! Then we started going around the back roads trying people and making our way to the Tapaha village which is where our next activity was. Well we were on this dirt road and we went down this really steep hill, like really steep. Like you couldn't see the whole thing until you were on it, steep. So we went down it and I said, "That would be so much fun to bike down." E Tucker said, "You want to?" "Either way." Next thing I know we turned around went back up the hill and took out my bike. So I biked down the dirt/ sand/ rock hill at 40+ mph with E Tucker behind me in the truck. AWESOMENESS!!! Then we got to the Tahapa village. The reason we were there was because we had been invited to come to a worship service for a Navajo Christian Church. So we walk in and no one was there. So we started looking around. Then some people walk in and the main girl asks us, "Can either of you play the piano?" I said that I could and so I followed her up to the stage and sat down at the keyboard. She marked 3 songs for me. I started looking through the first one. When I got through that I went to the second one but before I could practice she asked if I was ready. Uhhhhhhhh, sure. So I sight read all the songs while they were singing. And then they threw another song on me in the middle of the service. That was crazy! Oh and half the songs were in Navajo so I had no clue what was really being said. Lol!

       Thursday was pretty cool. We had District Meeting up in Blanding. On the way back I was really struggling with some stuff as a leader. I then had a prompting to listen to the Atonement track that we had in the truck. It's so cool to receive meaningful revelation for your benefit and others at the same time. Well then we went out to White Rock. So the first house on the north side of the road, whenever we walk in has 15 dogs. Every time we leave there is 15 cats. It's pretty weird but funny.

       Friday we decided to do a vehicle fast so we just walked around Bluff all day and tried to do some service.

       Saturday we a baptism for an 8 year old named, Kaeahliya. This girl is solid! She said the opening prayer at her baptism and had all the women in tears and even some of the men! Then on Sunday she ask.... ASKED to give a talk! She did such a good job too! Well her baptism went really well. She had asked me to do the confirmation. That was really special for me. That night we also got transfer news. I am staying here with Elder Tucker. E Provard is going to Blanding South!!!!!! My first area!!!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!! I went nuts when I found that out!

       So my mailing address for the next 6 weeks will be:

             PO BOX 116

             Bluff, UT 84512

       Sunday we had church. I sang a solo, "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul" again. And again it went really well. Then we had a meeting with the stake president in Blanding. Then we stayed for a fireside. The speaker was Clive Romney, the author of "Scripture Power" in the primary song book. It was so good. I got to talk to him after. He actually lives less than 2 miles away from my home in WJ! I also got to talk to some people from Blanding that I haven't seen in a while. It was really good!

       So that was my week! It was a good one! Well, until next time, Hagoonee'!

Elder Bryson Chipman

 Kaeahliya's baptism

3 main Navajo foods: Fry bread, beans, and salt

Navajo Code 2/3/14

       Yaa Teeh!

       It's been an interesting week. So for a general notice the post office isn't forwarding mail anymore. So this is the address you will need to send mail to. 

PO Box 116

Bluff, UT 84512

Don't send me anything this week because we have transfers. If you sent me something this past week I probably won't get it until next week or so.

       Monday I got a package and a letter inside that talked about mom. That was cool but that night we went down to Kirtland because we had MLC the next day. We went on splits with the zone leaders there and in the lesson we taught mom got brought up. That was really kinda interesting how mom got brought up so many times during the day. But it was good.

       Tuesday we had MLC, always good and full of learning. Then I went and got a hair cut and the person who cut my hair is from Flora Vista. It was so good to see her again and be able to talk to her. She and her family are super funny and great to be around! Then we drove back to Bluff.

       Wednesday I went on exchanges up to La Sal with Elder Means. That was a lot of fun. I got to play a 121 year old piano! AWESOME!!!!!! It was even in tune!

        So Thursday was basically the first day that I got to work in my area for the week. Not much happened but we taught a couple of lessons and we FINALLY started to get sprickled with rain. That was the first time of the year for rain.

       Friday we had another funeral at the church, only this time I was the pianist. It's a really interesting feeling knowing that you are the only person that about 100 people are hearing. So if you make a mistake EVERYONE knows. I did pretty good. Then we had a lesson with Kaylia, an 8 year old. She is so prepared! She has been taking great notes from reading the book of Mormon. She said the opening prayer and just blew us away because she quoted a little of I'm a child of God. Then she started talking about the pre earth life and how she wants to live with God again. It was just awesome!

        Saturday was the funny story of the week, I just got new water bottle, someone sent it to me in a package. It's one of those metal ones that's circular and about a foot tall. Well I take it with me when we go biking cause it's a little harder to take the jug. I have this clip that i use to clip it to my backpack. So when we are biking we get attacked by a lot by sheep dogs. So we've ended up grabbing some rocks and putting them in our pocket so when we are biking we can throw them at the dogs. Well we've started keeping score between the missionaries vs the dogs. We get a point when we hit them with a rock or kick them and they get a point when they bite us. A really friendly game, I know. Well the score was at 2 - 0 missionaries then here came some more dogs. My companion kicks one in the face and I almost hit one with a rock. So the score becomes 3 - 0 missionaries. Well we get to our destination and I start bouncing up and down on my bike trying to be all cool and I had forgotten about my water bottle which then came up and hit me right in the eye, and it was full of water too. Haha. So the end score, for now, is Missionaries 3, water bottle 1, and dogs 0. Oh fun stuff. And then on the way back the sheep decided to run in front of our bikes so we almost ran into them! Crazy stuff.

       Sunday was spent with members watching some Mormon messages that I had. It was awesome!

       Well I gtg, Until next time! Hagoonee'!

Elder Bryson Chipman

1/27/14

Yaa Teeh!

        For a funny title I'd call this week drug week, but for a serious title I'll say move in week. :D

       Monday we finally got to meet with Dory (The new mission rule is I can use first names.) and Family! They have come to church for a whole month but we haven't been able to meet with them yet! It was so nice. She has one son and one daughter. They are really prepared to receive the gospel!

       Tuesday we went to a little village on the reservation called Little Water. Well we met with Randy and his family then went out side and played basketball and football with all his kids. Then the whole village showed up to play. It was awesome!

       Wednesday we went on an exchange with the Montezuma Creek Elders. I brought Elder Patterson to Bluff. We went down and talked to this guy named Ernie. We asked if we could help him with anything and he said we could chop some wood. SCORE! So we went to town. We really didn't chop for that long, but we over filled his pile. He had to start another one. :) Then we got to go out with our Branch President. That was a lot of fun. He is a professor at the college in Blanding. He talked to us about the Navajo Code Talkers. AWESOME!!!! Then we came in that night and started to do our nightly planning and it was cold! It was really cold inside our little trailer! So we called Elder Tucker, because he likes to do some jokes. He didn't know why it was so cold but he told us to go out and check the propane. Yep, we were out. So we packed up and headed to the church and we slept there. That's the second time I've slept in the church on my mission. :)

       Thursday we exchanged back and then went to district meeting. Then we came back and cleaned the trailer because we had gotten word that we would be moving into a new trailer right next to the church on Friday so that trailer could go up to the missionaries in White Mesa. So we spent the day cleaning. 

       Friday we finished cleaning the trailer and got our new furniture for our new trailer and moved in and got settled. Our new trailer is sooooo big! It's awesome!!!

       Saturday we went to a funeral at the church. It was weird for me because the last funeral I went to like that was for my mom. But it was good. I didn't know the guy who had passed. Then we got to go down to black water and visit Shawn. Well he has a really cool converson story. He was in jail and his native prayers weren't helping him. So he grabbed a Bible and prayed, then 2 days later he was out of jail. He is a lot of fun to talk to. 

       Sunday was good. So funny story, I have my gallon jug of water with me when I go out and teach. Well yesterday I had a member with me and we went and tried to find this person to teach. We went to his house and his dad said he wasn't home. Well later that day me and my companion went back and knocked on the door. The dad came again and said he wasn't home. Then the conversation went like this, "Ya, two guys came by earlier today looking for him. They were dressed like you too. One was old and one was young. One of them had a jug, I don't know but it might have been Moonshine!" I had to turn my head and put my hand over my mouth so he couldn't see me smiling. To make it even better my companion started playing along. Eventually I turned to him, still covering my mouth, and said, "Just tell him that we stopped by. Thanks." We walked up the street and I was laughing so hard, I was crying! It was really funny. Well right after that we went into a lesson with Eno. He is a native christian. He said he had been thinking about the book of mormon and that he had decided to just stay with the bible. Well he invited us in and  we were able to talk with him. The spirit really influenced Elder Tucker and I. We pulled different scriptures out but they fit perfectly with what we were talking about. I was able to boldly testify that we need a living prophet and that we have one in President Monson. It was one of the most spiritual lesson of my mission.

       Well It's been a great week, Until next time! Hagoonee'!

Elder Bryson Chipman

 

 

Navajo Code 1/20/14

     Yaa Teeh!

       So this week was a week of exchanges! So good!

       Monday we headed up to Blanding and got to play a little ultimate, it was so good to play again! Then I went on exchanges with Elder Yingling up in Monticello.

       Tuesday we tried a lot of people with not much success but it was a good day over all.

       Wednesday we had Zone Conference. So we practice our baptismal invitations at ZC and we a practice where we were supposed to say no because our family was against it. and then the missionary was supposed to find a way to still commit them. Well Sister Ray gave the invitation and then I said, "No, my dad's brother got murdered by a Mormon. So he really doesn't like Mormons." Ya, that was mean. :) But she did a really nice job and then did what she was supposed to. After ZC we headed back to Bluff with the Assistants and then we went on exchanges with them. So I went with Elder Christensen. He is a really good listener. We went and saw someone on the reservation. He can talkkkkkkkkkkkk. wow. But we taught a little and then we headed back for the night.

       For the first half of Thursday we were still on exchanges. We saw this LA guy who doesn't like to come to church. We started talking with him and I asked the question, "What would make you come to church?" He started twitching in his face and tearing up and said, "my dad." The spirit was so strong. We were able to talk about eternal families. It was really cool. The we headed out to the Rez and we knocked on this ladies door. She went inside to grab something and then we heard something on the roof above us. It sounded like it was caving in on us. We both flipped around an saw a cat climbing down a pole. Funny stuff! Then we exchanged back. We went over the the Mattesons (the senior couple) and they gave us a bunch of food along with the movie Ephraims rescue so we could watch it. SOOOO GOOOD!

       Friday the balloon festival started in Bluff. So there were lots of hot air balloons in the sky in the morning. Cool stuff. Then we headed out to the rez and we got to a house we a dog that was up to my rib cage. It was big and black. I got it come over to me and I petted it. Then E. Tucker tried and it almost bit his hand off. Then the owner came out and stopped it from killing him. Crazy!

       Saturday we biked out towards Montezuma and there is this house that we pass that has 2 really, not so nice dogs. Well we passed it a couple of times and they almost bit our ankles each time. Well we were about to leave, but to do so we have to pass this house. So I pick up some rocks and put them in my pocket and we start riding. E. Tucker is infront of me and we get to the house and out come the biggest dog. Great... So I pull out a rock, while still biking, just in case I need it. Well it keeps coming towards E Tucker on a 90 degree angle. So I throw the rock as hard as I can and it hits the dog in right in the chest behind the front leg after bouncing off the ground. Missionaries 2 Dogs 0. MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! It was pretty sweet! Then we got to watch the balloon festival. Interesting stuff.

       Sunday. I can now say I have had some strange foods on my mission! So we went to a birthday party for one of our investigators. At the party they had muttin stew and blue mush. Muttin doesn't have much taste neither does blue mush, yes it does look like blue mush. You could also think of oatmeal colored blue. Interesting stuff.

       Good week! Until next time, Hagoonee'!

Elder Bryson Chipman

 

 

Navajo Code 1/13

       Yaa Teeh!

       Lot's of traveling this week but it was good!

       So Monday we got together with part of the Zone and played Football and Death ball, super fun! In fact right after I'm done emailing today we get to go play.... ULTIMATE!!!!!! Sweetness. :D Then we drove down to Farmington for MLC (Mission Leadership Conference) tomorrow at the mission home.

       Tuesday we had MLC. We just talked about how we can become better leaders and how we can improve the mission. It was a really great experience. Elder Provard had to come down for some stuff so I got to see and talk to him for a little bit. Oh man I Love that Elder! Then we travel back to Bluff which took the rest of the night. We were able to stay in our trailer though because someone had come and checked it.

       Wednesday we had a great lesson with a native. We went for a walk and talked about the Restoration then we stopped and had him say a prayer. AWESOME! Then he got up and said he was going to feel great the rest of the day. Almost immediately we turned and saw that his dogs were killing is Aunt's sheep. (Face + Palm) So we got the dogs off of the sheep and then Elder Tucker and I ran back to the truck. It felt like I was back in SOI running with my backpack in dirt. Oh it was fun! Then we brought the truck back and hauled the sheep to his house. The sheep ended up dying. So that was an adventure in it of itself. We had gotten some bikes from Farmington and so we spent the night fixing them. I have this Youth bike that has to stay in  gear 1-5. Let's just say that I miss the Pacific bike that is back in WJ. Haha :D

        Thursday I had a really incredible experience. We had Zone Training. So ever since I had gotten to Bluff we've been preparing for it. Well Wednesday night came and I just didn't feel right about it. So I decided to pray about it and I changed what I was going to train on. In the end, after praying about it, I decided to train on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. But I really didn't have much time to prepare. So I got up there and the Spirit just took over. It was incredible. That was one of the best training's that I have ever been apart of. I know have a much greater testimony of, Taking no thought of what you should say before hand and just letting the spirit guide you. It was so Amazing!

       Friday we finally got our bikes up to riding and we got to go BIKING ON THE REZ!!! That's way fun! I'm surprised how much I've missed biking! There is a lot of sand here too so you randomly start drifting. It's just straight up awesome. I just wish I had a better bike. :)

       Saturday we biked across Bluff to try and go contact some referrals. Well right before our turn off we saw some sheep and then came 3, not so friendly dogs. So we just biked through them, but I'm so glad I was on a bike! On the way back Elder Tucker actually kicked one of them in the face. Missionaries one, Dogs zero. Game, Set, Match. MWHAHAHAHAHA! Then we kept biking and I saw a Blue trail blazer that looked like one of my recent converts. Then it pulled over and out came my recent converts!!!! Oh what a wonderful feeling to see them. We talked for a minute and then we got going again. Later that day we were in the truck down by the Arizona border. We were at a place called Blackwater and we needed to get to a place called Navajo Cortez, about 10 miles away. Well the regular way took a lot of miles so we decided to try and save some miles and go cross country. We got to the main road and then saw there was a dirt road straight in front of us. We said, "this road will work. 40 miles later we found ourselves in Navajo Cortez. Oh, the explorations of a missionary! :D

       Sunday we had church then we got to go teach a lesson. Well the native were going to see really knew how to talk. WOW! We were there for probably an hour and got maybe a hundred words out. Oh man, fun stuff. :D Then we got to go up to Blanding and meet with the stake president. It's crazy to be a Zone Leader over my first area. Then we got to take numbers for the zone that night. That's some crazy insane stuff. Lot's of numbers and names going around. I also got to learn how to FAX something. :)

       It's been a good week for the missionaries of Bluff. We've also been doing language study for a half hour every day and I figured out that I'm been spelling my closing remark wrong this whole time. (Face + Palm) :D So let me do it as correctly as I can. There are some high marks that I don't know how to put on the computer. So, until next time, Hagoonee'!

Elder Bryson Chipman

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!

 Baptism in Flora Vista

 Another baptism in Flora Vista

 A drawing given to Bryson from a recent convert

 The drawing 

 Elders Chipman and Krysten

 A recent convert family Bryson got really close to

 Elders Reeder and Chipman

 Wanna guess what he's holding? :)

Elders Chipman and Tucker