Parkinson's at Navajo Nation: Best of the Rez Week 26

Best of the Rez Week 26 July 11^th to July 17^th

If there was to be a title for this week, I would call it the ‘no show’ or ‘stood up’ or some title like that. I should probably check it out with Steve Biddulph because he is still trying to figure out how my pianos fell through. We are learning that there are certain times that you do not make appointments, and maybe the third week in July is one of them. Most of the school employee’s are off to workshops and training so I guess the rest of the place left as well. Oh well, another week on the Rez still seems to have plenty to teach us.

1) Monday was a P-Day, through and through. We took the whole day off and showed Doug and Jane a few of the sites. We started with our Many Farms ‘hole in the rock,’ and then went up to the Rough Rock Trading Post and cemetery. We have always been fascinated with cemeteries, and the Rez has its own unique version. Then we took them over Buffalo Pass and was it ever pretty. We even had a rain storm to cool us down so life was very good. That night was the best. We asked the Curley’s to come over for Dutch Oven. Sister Curley said she would bring fry bread. Oh my – what a feast. We had a great time together.

2) Tuesday Doug and Jane headed out fairly early and we headed back to missionary work. Opps, I think I got that wrong. I had 7 piano lessons that didn’t show up, then we had 2 lessons that didn’t happen and then we were scheduled for 3 people to come to ARP and only one came through. Nawahine’s came and I showed her how to cook beet greens – she said she liked them. We did deliver some invites to ward conference but it really seemed like slow day.

3) Wednesday was also a slow day. We went out with Sister Tsosie in the morning and met with Sister Yazzie. That was nice and she said she would really try to get to church. We did get one appointment and that seemed like a great lesson—it was a follow up lesson for our recent convert. Then we rushed to another no show. I did get my piano lesson but she wouldn’t stay for YW. I taught aerobics again and boy was it hot. Then they played BB afterwards and I was worried about Elder Parkinson. He has got to learn when to stop. We both sleep that night.

4) Thursday was piano from 10:30 to 1:30 and then no shows for the rest of the day and night. We had a garden meeting and we are still amazed at the Seeley’s. What a wonderful couple and so willing to give. I don’t know how they keep it up. We rushed away from it only to end up at another no show.

5) Friday was a slow day as well. We made calls and drove around and gave away garden greens and invited people to ward conference. At one house a couple asked us back right when Angella and the girls were coming. We still said fine. We then had another no show, so we cooked some food and ate quickly with the girls and then headed for a teaching appointment. Then Elders were there also, but we split up and hopefully all went well. We had fun anyway. Then home. The Curley’s were over with their garden so I had Kelsey come in to see my granddaughters. There were all doing Mario so Kelsey joined in. That was fun.

6) Saturday we were joined in bed by a very talkative Kaiya explaining the world to us and doing our hair. We had some blueberry pancakes and then they were off. We cleaned the church as best we could. We set up the tables for the pot luck with the Elders. My piano lessons were all no shows. The Elders invited us over for supper and fixed catfish, scrambled eggs and fry bread. They had been cleaning and rearranging their trailer and were they ever proud. We then got in one lesson and then headed to Chinle to buy things for the pot luck. Then I made spaghetti all night.

7) Sunday was ward conference and the Stake President changed our meeting time from 10 AM to 9AM. Right there you can foresee what is going to happen. He told the Bishop to go out with the missionaries and personally invite all the ward members to church. That didn’t happen. The 4 missionaries did our best, but it was the lowest attendance in weeks. We had 5 baptisms scheduled and not one of them showed up so that postponed all of them. The 1^st counselor in the Primary hadn’t shown up for the last 2 weeks and as Primary was starting, she and her husband the YM president, drove off. I could have just died. They had told us the Stake would run the meeting for us. As I walked into Primary, there was only one Stake lady that showed up and she didn’t have anything for us. So I ran home and got my temples and we did the best we could. After meeting we had a pot luck. I needed to heat up the French bread but Elder had the keys. I waited and waited for Priesthood to end. Then I found out why he was so late. Cyrus Wheeler, our mission prep father, was given the Melchizedek Priesthood and asked Brad to confirm him. That was WONDERFUL! Anyhow, I finally got the bread in the oven and Sister Curley said something about a fight over my bread. I didn’t have time to figure that out. Then we all ate and had tons of food left over. Pretty fun if only we would have had people show up. We came home and dropped. Our 3 PM didn’t show and then we taught our 5 and 6 and they both went well. As we were driving back we saw Sister Curley showing her garden off to her sister-in-law. We stopped to chat and I asked her about the bread. Oh my! She (Primary President) and the RS President got in a huge fight over the meal. The RS President lives 35 miles away and lets us know we are on our own down here. The Bishop put Bro. Draper (bachelor) in charge of the dinner. The RS was upset that she wasn’t in charge and Sister Curley told her to be thankful. Well, they got into an argument in the kitchen about how to turn the oven on or what temperature to put it on in front of the 2 Bishop’s daughters that were cutting up the watermelon. The girls started to laugh so the RS yelled at them and then walked out. Sister Curley said she would like to break this (as she picked up a long loaf of bread) over the RS’s head. The RS walked back in to hear that and asked what? Sister Curley grabbed the loaf of bread and said this and bashed it into the counter and broke it in two and then picked it up and threw it at the RS and then she walked out. There were some other words spoken as well. As she was telling this story, we were laughing in the garden so hard and the more we laughed the more she would tell. Cyrus and the humor made up for the low attendance. We then drove out to a family and found all the brothers and sisters (adults) together and went in and had a fun chat with them. Then home to just laugh and laugh. Oh and when we walked in from church, my brother Doug had left a message reminding us that church was moved up an hour so not to be late. How cute.

That about does it for my ‘no show’ week. The opening song didn’t make it on time, but the others were great and the stake was very impressed with them. We now have 2 more Aaronic Priesthood holders (men) and now 2 more Melchizedek Priesthood holders as well. That is very exciting for Many Farms. Now if we could get people to show up and fulfill their calling that would be really exciting. I heard someone once say that we would end up in a struggling little branch and has that prophecy ever been fulfilled. But HELP! What do we do now? We have long since realized the only thing that will help Many Farms is miracles. We pray for them every day. We thank you for adding your prayers along with us.

The Church is True,

May all your gardens be fruitful,

Pray is gift but only if you use it,

Elder and Sister Parkinson