Best of the Rez Week 55

Best of the Rez     Week 55     January 23^rd to January 29^th

WOWOWOWZEEEEEE!!!!!
Okay, this was a week!  I mean this was one amazing week!  Not that we didn’t have lots of things fall through, but we ended it on one huge high.  It was maybe like bungee jumping only we just went up and didn’t come down.  Amazing thing is that we were just the on-lookers—it didn’t even happen to us.

1)      Monday was Kayla’s birthday so at seminary we told them they got to go on a field trip that weekend.  We would take them to the temple and then on to other great events.  They were pretty excited.  The rest of the day was in cleaning the church.  I am really trying to get a grip on the library.  The elders now need to use our house for Monday emails and it takes a couple of hours. 
I taught at Rock Point and that went pretty well.  Then we got stood up for our first appointment in Round Rock but had another unscheduled one come through.  It snowed all the way home and our last appointment is in about 3 miles on dirt roads.  We made it but the mother wasn’t home yet and we were too frightened to wait. 

2)      Seminary, literacy, piano, new gospel literacy, ARP and a fall through.  Today we also got 2 new elders.  Our house was crazy for a minute with visitors, piano students, Elder Orme from Pinon and then our own old elders and our new elders.  Too confusing for me.
Our 2 new elders are Elder Giles from Tremonton, Utah and Elder Bankhead (greenie) from Malta, Idaho.  They look great and ready to go to work.  This should be interesting.

3)      We made several visits and had a no show.  Elder Parkinson got his new hat band.  Does he ever look handsome now.
I had all 3 Logan girls for piano and that was really fun.  Then I worked in the library while EP did the executive secretary thing.  Very busy day.

4)      Sister Tsosie and I tried again but we only found one person home.  We went out to eat at Thunderbird. 
Humm—this maybe was the bungee jump.  Only it was more of an explosion than a coming down.  I think there are a few parties that need a little more communication. 
I went out to teach Selena and EP took the new elders around.  Then we headed to Round Rock we had one no show and one good lesson with piano afterwards.  We have a baptism date for the 24^th.  Home late and very hungry.

5)      Friday was really fun at seminary.  Then we taught literacy and did our Saturday cleaning since we would be gone.  Piano was rather intense but less than normal.  The minute it was over we headed to Round Rock and taught Johanna Yazzie.  It went quite well.  Their son asked if Jesus really could do miracles.  We got home and picked up Pres. Curley and they gave Evelyn a blessing.  Home and make/bake a pie.  Bed much later than I wanted.

6)      And here we go!!!  We picked the Curley’s up at 5 to 7.  They slept most of the way to Snowflake and I read our new book from Paula Crimon.  THANKS!  They had plenty of help for the baptisms so we did a temple session.  (We were supposed to have a couple sealed to their daughter—but that didn’t happen.)  After a quick bite at McDonald’s we headed to St. Johns.  We found the church but it appeared empty.  We went over to Elder Shreeve’s grandparents and met them.  Then we went through their one store.  I wanted to go back to the church to go to the restroom.  I was waiting their and heard someone yell my name.  I walked all over looking for Brad (since I thought he had called my name).  I peered into a door window just as Elder Bednar took a bite of food.  By the time we got the pie Elder Bednar with Elder Pickard and President Broadbank had left the room and were walking down the hall.  I called out and said I had a pie for dessert.  They all came back and we had a fun little chat.  The girls finally walked around the corner and got to meet Elder Bednar and the others.  They got their picture taken with him and then he gave them some very good counsel and promises.  It was wonderful.  They were sky high. We had been told there wasn’t any time for even a 5 minute visit but somehow it did work.  All we expected was to sit in the evening conference session and get a wave.  We couldn’t believe our good fortune.
We went back to Shreeve’s and played Farkal with them.  So fun—EP won.  Then we went out to eat and made it to conference very early.  We were seated on the front row.  Every single talk was wonderful.  Elder Bednar spoke for an hour.  The conference was just perfect.  At 9 it ended and we were the first people out and then the 2 & ½ hour trip home.  The girls watched a movie while EP and I looked for horses and cows on the road.  NONE!  Finally home—so tired—so happy—so amazed—so well fed.

7)      Sunday was a Sunday.  One girl wouldn’t play her songs.  We had 79 in attendance –yeah!  One primary teacher didn’t show so I had to do that.  We had a visiting/home teaching conference and that went really well.  The bishopric meeting didn’t go that great as one counselor was not in such a good mood but the meetings went pretty well.  Aaron Logan was sustained and had his first day in YM.  He was so happy and afterwards bore his testimony to EP about how happy is now.  Great to see so many—sad that we missed so many.  If we could just get everyone to come at the same time and then have a bit of consistency.
We came home to a bowl of soup and tried for a nap.  We drove the Ahasteen’s to the Stake Youth Conference which was a great meeting.  Fun night.  Then home.  The elders all came for a visit and numbers and we finally got a bite to eat a bit after 9.  Mission life!

Week 55 is now history and believe me—it was history.  The girls are so excited.  We are so excited.  Pray tell, what may the next week bring.

The Church is True,

     Miracles do happen (and we are praying for another one bigtime),

          All our love,

               Elder and Sister Parkinson

Elder Openshaw (not dressed so well) and our new

greenie, Elder Bankhead from Malta, Idaho.

The 4 Elders of Many Farms--another moment in history.

L-R = Elder Openshaw, Elder Shreeve,

Elder Giles, Elder Bankhead.

Oh Elder, Oh Elder, is that your hat?
Does anyone remember the song

 'Oh Roy - Oh Roy, is that your hat?'

Rita Price Tsosie made the hat band.

Dale Mitchell's home.

Dale's sheep.

The Seminary Field Trip at the Snowflake Temple.

#2.  This is the 2nd student I have found on my mission.

Michele Crosby was actually on her way back to BYUI.

Here we are with the Shreeve's of St. Johns.

They taught us how to play Farkel.

Elder Parkinson won!

Elder David A Bednar with Kayly and Kelsey Curley!

Best of the Rez Week 54

Best of the Rez     Week 54     January 16^th to January 22^nd

Up and down we go.  The ride on the Rez continues to keep us on our toes.  Today at church was no different; things happened that we almost felt were miracles and others made us very sad indeed.  I think I am understanding how this mission thing works but I must admit that some days I forget to put on my emotional seat belt.

1)      Monday they did hold the funeral.  We gave Brother Draper $25 for gas money, a ham, potato salad, chips and plates.  He stopped and picked it up around 8 AM.  Then Bishop Benally called and they decided he would ride to the funeral with EP while I taught the Benally’s piano lessons.  The funeral was at 10 about an hour away so they decided to meet at 9 to drive there.  At 10, they pulled in.  I asked if they decided to not go to the funeral.  “No, it won’t start on time.” 
That afternoon we taught the Nez children again.  So cute and a really good lesson.  Then we got stood up only to find out 3 days later they called and asked up to come early.

2)      Seminary again and it was fun.  Then we went to Dale Mitchell’s to teach him a literacy lesson.  This time he prayed in English and said he wanted to teach like he use to.  It broke our hearts that he used to hold a degree and be a teacher and now alcohol has destroyed all that.  So sad.
We headed to Rock Point (over 30 miles away) to teach piano only to find out they had a ball game and they were all gone.  We drove around and found one lady we had been looking for.  She didn’t seem overjoyed to see us.  She only speaks Navajo but she had grandchildren there to translate.  We did a little GPSing and headed home.
Four of the piano lessons showed up, ARP showed up, and then we had a great lesson with the Begaye’s.  We got a soft commitment for baptism.  Tivona would sure like her family to join her.  We were there 2 hours and it was great.

3)      In seminary we made sling shots to kill Goliath.  It was really fun but we did a lot of ducking.  That afternoon piano started and I taught 8 lessons while EP taught a missionary lesson to 2 of them.  Then EP was in a bishopric meeting.  Did you get that?? Our first bishopric meeting since we have been here (except the 20-30 minutes before church starts).  While he did that I taught the Wheeler’s and the Gene’s a gospel principles lesson.  The church was busy with YM-YW and a bit noisy.  We finally all made it through our meetings but I was one very tired and hungry lady.

4)      Thursday we had another fun seminary and then we were off visiting teaching.  Sister Tsosie is so cute.  We had a great visit with Evelyn Sam.  We also found a new sister, Alta Mitchell.  Everyone else was not at home.  Oh and we looked at temple dress sites to give her an idea of how to sew her temple dress. 
We had a good lesson in Round Rock that night and set a baptismal date for Johanna Yazzie.  Then home.  Very long day with 2 trips to Chinle and one trip to Round Rock.

5)      Another change—we had German pancakes and fresh strawberry syrup for seminary.  The girls really enjoyed it.  Then we drew Goliath and tried to hit him with our slings.  It was quite the day.  So fun.
We taught Dale another literacy lesson.  What a dear man!
Then home and the piano lessons started again.  I taught 7 lessons with 2 no shows.  The night went all crazy in trying to figure out where to go and when to wait.  It finally ended with the young elders over here having a bit of a celebration party.  The mission president is going to split our area and give us 2 more young elders.

6)      Saturday we had a baptism for the young elders – Sadie Tso.  It was very nice.  The piano lessons canceled so I had a moment to rest.  That afternoon Selena came and while I taught her piano, EP taught her mother temple prep. 
It was our first real wind storm with the sand just a blowing everywhere.  The windows in the church just howled—which really scared Selena.
The evening was free so we went out to eat.  Afterwards we went over to take the cookies to Roberts.  We all decided to meet the new missionaries, the Vogel’s from Michigan.  They were in Katie’s stake out there.  That was really interesting as we were answering Rez questions right and left.  They had pretty big eyes.  Just as we were getting ready to leave the electricity went off.  It kept going off all night as we were driving home.  Weird feeling.

7)      And that leaves Sunday.  It started early as I was so tired the night before I couldn’t get my primary papers ready.  I picked up Carolyn – she is so faithful.  She comes every week by herself and sits by herself.  Today she stayed for all the meetings.  We had 71 at church.  It looked good.  BUT—we had some wonderful firsts today.  Freda Tsosie  taught the Sunday School lesson.  This is her 4^th week in a row at church after years of inactivity.  She is Sister Margaret Tsosie’s daughter.  On Christmas Sunday she came with her 2 sisters and her Catholic daughter to church.  She has been wonderful ever since.  I was in Primary – but they said it was great.  At the end of her lesson, Sister Margaret Tsosie bore her testimony and just cried to have her daughter do such a wonderful thing.  And she was pretty happy that the ‘Elderly’s’ had come to her door and brought her back to church after 31 years.  Now she and her 3 daughters are all active.  (Now if someone will help with her sons)  Between meetings I was watching the children get a drink when the RS was coming down the hall.  I noticed a new lady and greeted her and thanked her for coming to church.  She beamed a smile and something prompted me.  ‘Teresa – you came.  Did you bring your sons?  Are you enjoying it?’  It was the lady that we had left the meeting early for and traveled over 30 miles to visit and she hadn’t been there.  She came!   We were thrilled.  We quickly set up a meeting to try them again.  (That was a quarter and a half to get the prompting on who she was.  She looked different.) Also, the Logan’s came.  I saw him walking down the hall beaming.  He hasn’t been back since he was baptized.  He was interviewed for the Priesthood and accepted the call of 2^nd Counselor in the YM.  Wahoo!!!!!  What a day for us!!!  That is huge. YM now has a president and 2 counselors.  AND for the first time ever, a ward member taught the Aaronic Priesthood lesson.  Primary went well with both teachers showing up.  Our secretary is great.  We had about 11 children there which is good for us.  This was a very good Sunday indeed. OTHER than my 4 piano players didn’t show up so I was doing a musical shuffle in Sacrament meeting.  Oh and they held their 6^th ward council.
After church I made some bread sticks and rolls and we headed to Chinle.  We had a wonderful dinner with the Roberts and then Sister Roberts and I decorated 8 dozen cookies for the 100 Year Seminary Fireside.  We actually got some people there and it was a great meeting.  You go Peru.  What an example.  Afterwards, we made it to the car and home.

And now week 54 is history also.  We were very excited about the ‘firsts’ we enjoyed at church.  We have no idea if we can hold the numbers till June 3^rd when Elder Callister comes back.  While success is a joy we realize how very fragile this place is.
The new week will bring some excitement as we greet 2 new elders to our ward.  We get another greenie so that should be fun.  (You have no idea what the word green means to me at this point!)

The Church is True,

            Serve Valiantly (you too Federer),

                        May God Bless,

                                    Elder and Sister Parkinson

We bought some more rock art.

A Rez Sunrise!

One of the joys of early morning seminary.

So Pretty!

All we could do, was watch in awe!

Goliath is in trouble with Kayla.

Goliath is doomed with Kelsey's attack.

If you show a sunrise -- you should show a sunset!

This is the darling Sadie Tso.  I just love her.

I think she is a complete convert.

The Elder's wanted us to meet the new Elder!

EP was so mad when we only got one new elder.

He calmed down when he met him.

Besdt of the Rez Week 53

Best of the Rez     Week 53     January 9^th to January 15^th

Hurray, life is back to normal; at least a little bit.  School started today, so we are back in Seminary.  Piano lesson should get more consistent.  We are establishing our teaching poll and all our classes.  I wish I could say I had the energy for all this, but I am sorry to say I am still dragging. 
Happy birthday to Neil.  We held our farewell on his birthday last year and now celebrate it in the mission field. 

1)      We started our new year in Seminary in a most interesting way.  It was like we all had the giggles and couldn’t stop laughing.  So fun.  Then the Roberts came over and we drove them up to Rough Rock.  We showed them the cemetery and took them to the Trading Post.  We bought Blue Bird Flour sacks there for RS.  Everyone loves Blue Bird down here and they use the bags for tons of stuff; everything from pot holders to neckties.  We came back to Many Farms and we fixed a fun lunch for us all.
At 3 we headed to Rock Point where I am now teaching a piano class for 6 youth and 2 teachers.  That worked amazingly well.  I had a lot of fun.  Sister Davis had fixed us lunch, but we had a dinner appointment that we had no faith in, but thought we should show up.  She sent us home with a meatloaf and all the trimmings.  Sure enough, Safe did not show up, so we had our own nice little dinner.  We went over to Begaye’s but Evelyn had gotten sick again and was at the hospital. Then our 7:00 fell through as well.  Still felt like a busy day.

2)      Tuesday we had a Mohawk spiked hair kid show up and asked if he could donate money to the church.  He really liked the Christensen’s – missionaries from Alta, WY.  He said not to judge him on his hair; that it was an expression of freedom of speech.
We gave Evelyn a blessing with April there as well.  Then we got ready for RS.  We only had 11 showed up but that is still pretty good.  Sister Tsosie was sewing with Sister Arthur and Sister Curley did a little.  The rest all made hearts out of candy canes.  Everyone had fun.  We had a soup, sandwiches, dessert muffins and frozen fruit blended like ice cream – only it was all fruit.  EP taught ARP and I taught 5 piano lessons and then we took Sister Tsosie back to Chinle.  Long day!

3)      Wednesday was a huge piano day.  We are also teaching the Scott children missionary lessons along with piano.  We were supposed to go to Round Rock but they cancelled so we took a birthday cake out to Nizhoni Tsosie.  That was a great experience as we got a good lesson in about prayer.
We also got some bad news.  John Draper had just got his brother out of jail.  He said he was really in a bad way and he wondered why he was even here instead of the valley.  Well, they found him frozen to death by his house.  Alcohol is one deadly thing on the Rez.  I cannot believe they cannot shut down the boot-legers.  We took him some money and food to help him out.

4)      Thursday we went to Chinle to teach Sister Tsosie.  We tried to find people and set up appointments, but it did not go so well.  It was basically a slow, unproductive day.

5)      Friday we had district meeting with the seniors.  Our zone leader talked and said how hard Sunday’s were on him.  Boy—could we all feel that.  Still, it was fun to get together.  We are expecting a new couple today from Michigan but they didn’t make it for the meeting.  Then we bought groceries and headed home. 
It was a big piano day and we are also teaching the Nez children both piano and missionary lessons.  They were really cute.  Fun day.
That night we helped John make a funeral program.  Oh my!  Did my house ever stink afterwards.  Remember, he is the man that leaves with 30 cats.  We cleaned and sprayed and vacuumed and washed.  That night we watched ‘Lord of the Rings.’

6)      We cancelled our trip to go to the temple to go to the Draper funeral.  We got a call late that night that the postponed the funeral because the family was fighting and mostly drunk. 
We went out and read with Dale Mitchell.  EP is going to teach him literacy lessons as well.  We love Dale but such a sad story.  Alcohol ruins lives—even many that live through it.  We found others and did some inviting.  When we went to Yoe’s house she was just leaving for her ranch so we drove up with her.  It was a wonderful ride—very pretty.  We took a little hike as well.
That night we went to Garcia’s and had supper to celebrate our year mark on the Rez.  Yummy!

7)      Sunday was nice but so I get so tired.  The music all did really well and that was fun.  Then Sister Martinez didn’t show up so I taught her class for her.  I was so tired I could hardly make it through sharing/singing time.  Finally it was over.  We came home to our little roast and ate.  We rushed to a 1:00 but we were stood up.  Then we headed to Chinle where Sister Tsosie was supposed to be getting her temple recommend interview.  The stake president was ill and hadn’t shown up.  We stayed around there waiting for her, a Priesthood Meeting, and then a family history meeting.  We got Sister Tsosie there and then made it through most of the meetings.  We had to leave the family history meeting early (sad—it was good) to rush to Round Rock.  Of course, you guessed it—we got stood up for both the 5:30 and 6:30 appointments.  We came home and just collapsed.  I was so tired I was sick. 

The week was rather stressful and non-productive with so many people missing appointments.  Sometimes that happens on missions.  Actually more than it does not.  Keeping positive is the hardest part of being a missionary.  We had over 70 at church so we were happy about that, other than thinking about all those we had hoped to be there.  Elder Parkinson was looking out of the window and said he did it again—he had expectations. 

The Church is True,

            Eat your roughage,

                        Our faith and prayers,

                                    Elder and Sister Parkinson 

Best of the Rez Week 52 One Year

Best of the Rez     Week 52 (Yes a year ends)     January 2^nd to January 8^th

I wondered if I would ever see the day; now that it is here, I cannot even imagine how it passed.  Did we really live this past year or is it a big dream.  I usually talk about amusement park rides, but maybe this last year is more of the movie ‘Inception.’  I sometimes wonder if I am awake or asleep.  And more times than that, I wonder if I want to be awake or asleep.
This really was a perfect day for a 1 year mark.  We had 85 show up to church.  I do not know if I am proud of this or not, but little Sister Tsosie (70 years old and suffering BADLY for arthritis) hitch-hiked to church in a cold wind.  She was scheduled for a temple recommend interview and was going to make it.  And her inactive daughter came for the 3^rd week in a row.  We had 4 investigators and the young elders had 10.  WOW!  We are just sitting here wondering what is going on.  People are coming to church.  In one of the meetings, they had them introduce themselves (EP idea), and one young man said he was here because some lady told him he had to come.  It was the boy we helped repair the road and the lady was – of course – me.  I wish Elder Callister would have shown up today, but maybe we can keep some of them coming!!!

1)      We actually had a hopeful start to the New Year.  We taught Ardawn a great lesson.  She would give anything to join, but has nowhere to go but with the member she lives with that will not marry her.  Sister Gene and Sister Wheeler sat in as well and it was a great lesson on Joseph Smith.  We gave April Begay a blessing and are crossing are fingers we can baptize her to join her mother.  Then we went to Logan’s and had a good lesson with them.  He even turned off the Rose Bowl for us.  Then we taught our Gospel Insights class and that went well also.  Good day!

2)      Tuesday was a bit slower, but we are starting back with piano lessons.  ARP didn’t happen but we had a wonderful lesson with the Begaye’s.  (Notice an E now)  Tivona would love to have her family join her.  I think the lesson went well.

3)      Wednesday we drove over to Chinle to interview with President Jones.  I think that went okay except for the coaching comment.  We came home and worked on Seminary and then piano lessons started.  I started 4 new students tonight and then my regular 4 showed up as well.  Long night, but our appointment was not there so we got a little rest.

4)      We taught Sister Tsosie and then went to eat with the Roberts.  That always brightens our day.  Sister Tsosie was in so much pain that EP went to get Elder Roberts to help give a blessing.  When we left she was walking and laughing.  We set up her day to go through the temple.  She seems excited. 
I met with the Primary President and showed her how to hold presidency meetings.  We got everything set up for the year—hopefully!
Our 4:30 fell through but we had a great lesson in Round Rock.  A husband/father got baptized in August and has never been back.  We were trying to light a fire there and hopefully some good will come of it.  Our next appointment fell through, but we are confident they will come through later.

5)      Friday are always fun.  EP cleaned the church while I taught piano lessons to the Benally’s.  That afternoon I taught a few more piano lessons while EP went out with John Draper making visits.  They went over to Round Rock. 
That night they young elders had a baptism.  It was suppose to be at 7 and at 7 there was not one soul here.  They came over and just shook their heads.  About 20 after one car drove in.  It was the family!  We called the bishop and he was in Gallup.  We went to find John Draper and he came out not ready at all and said he thought it was at 7:30.  Well, it was 7:30.  Anyhow, we got him to come and President Curley showed up with Kelsey and so we had a very tiny baptism.  They Elders felt a little sad but happy to have baptized Dakota Plante, an eleven year old, that is bringing his family back into activity.
After the baptism, EP got the idea to watch a movie that he had bought – “Next Three Days.’  It was a bit more intense than we had bargained for and I was a complete wreck.  I couldn’t sleep, but I did like the movie.

6)      Saturday was a youth temple trip.  Bishop had called and asked us if we would drive his children over so we headed to Snow Flake.  It is a very long drive to and back again.  We took 4 and Curley’s brought 2.  Sister Yoe showed up with her parents to see the temple. (They did not have recommends so it was a bit confusing but I think all ended well.) We also had a bit of fun chatting with Brian Lord’s that also taught in Rexburg and is now at Window Rock.  Anyhow, it was a very nice day but a very long day.  We got home about 8:30, completely beat.

7)      Sunday was the welcome surprise.  It started with me in a panic trying to cook for the Begaye’s after we had slept in.  Then I rushed to pick up Carolyn and made it to church.  Tivona didn’t show for the opening hymn but came in right after – with everyone else.  As we watched that chapel fill up it was just a complete thrill.  They had the 6 that had gone to the temple bear their testimonies and then the High Councilman spoke.  It was a great meeting with all 85 of us.  The place looked packed—so wonderful.
After meeting I took Carolyn home and then rushed back for dinner—only to find out that the Begaye’s weren’t coming.  Evelyn and Tivona were here but said the others all had plans.  I asked Evelyn if that was normal, that you could invite someone to eat and work like mad preparing and then they just didn’t show up after they said they would.  She started texting and within a few minutes all the Begaye’s came.  Everything but the rolls was good—I just made them too fast.
Then we started out on our appointments.  The first was a no show, the second was sick.  We did find 2 up in Round Rock.  The boy offered a prayer thanking us for coming to help them through their struggles.  I wish we would have known them before Christmas.  The next appointment was fun for us – her son is the champion team roper, Eric Rogers.  The mother had been on placement with some of her other siblings.  We had a nice visit there and they said they would take us back and the daughter going to school in Farmington would take the missionaries over there.

By then, the sun had long gone and so had our energy.  We made it home and talked with the young elders for a while.  Everyone was so excited about all the people at church and all the possibilities for the future.  Our teaching pool is growing right along and we want to do better with follow ups.  The young elders are doing great.  We have old members reactivating and new investigators coming.  It felt good but we all realize how much work there is left to do. 
And so ends our first year in the mission field. The best thing I can say is that we made it this far, hopefully we can finish out strong. 

The Church is True,

            Lead, don’t follow,

                        All our love,

                                    Elder and Sister Parkinson

The others left us, but here are (l-r)

Tyler Benally, Mariah Woody, Jessica Benally,

me and Tyrell Benally

Best of the Rez Week 51

Best of the Rez     Week 51     December 26^th to January 1^st

The lessons may have slowed down dramatically but I do believe we were busy this week.  Lots of visits and invites and a lot of croqueting.  By the time I finished on Saturday evening, I had made 33 hot pads, 4 hats and a scarf.  I am more than sure that within a week or two I will get feeling back into my hands.  Now, if I can get enough rest to get my energy back.

1)      Monday we went over for our final party with the Nawahine’s.  We sat around and talked, played Toss Up, and ate pie.  Oh, will we ever miss them in more ways than one.  They are the best at feeding the young elders.  They also let all the elders do their email at their home every Monday morning.  From now on, they will be in all our homes.  And they are just the happiest, most giving couple ever.  They make you feel so good to be around them.  They gave us a couple of homemade rag pot holders, a Merry Christmas plaque and a card telling us how much Elder Nawahine appreciated having Brad’s father for a mentor.  It was so touching.  And now they leave us – so sad.

2)      Cool!  Elder Byron and Sister Joanne Webster made the Church News. 

3)      Most of our lessons fell through this week.  Elder Parkinson had 2 literacy lessons, and I had 2 piano lessons.  I had canceled piano for the holidays but these girls just got a piano so they were too excited to wait. 
As I would finish a couple of hot pads, we would run out and deliver them and have a fun chat.  Then home to make some more and run to another home.  We had a lot of fun doing that (except for my hands – but I got so I could do 4 a day).

4)      We also tried to go out finding.  Elder Parkinson was looking for Eric Rogers, a famous team roper.  We stopped at a house where this girl gave us directions.  I was only watching but I had little faith we could find the house.  Elder Parkinson drove right to it.  The mother wasn’t home, but at least we are getting better at finding places on the Rez.

5)      I think a lot seems to be getting to me, but the other day at lunch, I was eating a sandwich and was literally too tired to chew it and couldn’t swallow it whole.  I said I was sorry and went to take a nap.  3 & ½ hours later I woke up and still felt tired.  This has been a very emotional and busy month indeed.

6)      Friday was the Stake New Year’s Eve Dance.  We went over early and went out to eat at Garcia’s.  So good!  Then we bought our groceries and 14 more liters of pop.  Then we went to the dance.  We told several I would be willing to help teach them how to dance and get things going.  They all looked at us like we were the weirdest people ever.  It must have been because the dance was such a huge success.  Every single person was sitting on the sides with Tyler and his sister, Jessica, every once in a while getting up and doing about 32 counts and sitting back down.  Finally Tyler came over and asked if I would help.  I told him to go to the DJ (YM Stake President) and ask him.  Elder Parkinson got our music and within 5 minutes we had the dance floor booming.  We did the Teton Mountain Stomp, the 2 step, Cotton Eyed Joe and Achy- Breaky Heart.  I taught them how to ask one another to dance and escort them to and from the floor.  We did men’s choice and girl’s choice and we had everyone at the dance involved the whole night.  It was wonderful but I did leave a little tired.

7)      Saturday was more visits and finds and croqueting.  By 9 PM I had everything done.  Just a week late; no big deal—right?  We started our fast early for our children and then the Elder’s showed up with food.  We entertained them without food and tried our best to enjoy our last day of 2011.  The Rez had a few fireworks, but lots of gunfire.  The noise kept going till around 1:30 AM.  We didn’t stick our heads out to see as we were rather frightened of what would happen.

8)      Sunday our Bishop only held the one meeting.  It really was a great Fast Meeting as people were home visiting.  We only had 51 but felt good about that.  We went out contacting that day and ended up teaching a great lesson to more of the Begay clan.  We delivered all the hot pads and pop and made a few more contacts and appointments.  All in all, a pretty good day. 

So, 2011 has ended and what a year it was.  51 weeks were spent in the mission field.  Oh, how life can change.  Oh, how a person can change.  We made it – one day at a time. 
Life has changed at Many Farms – perhaps more slowly than we expected, but still there were some good things that happened.  For our records, we are listing things that have changed.  We are in no mood to consider this boosting.  Most of these things just happened, but at least we were here to see the change.  The Many Farms ward was the first to start holding ward council meetings –five to date.  There are now Aaronic Priesthood lessons being taught.  When we came there were 4 ward men holding ward positions – now there are 6 with some hopefuls coming.  There were 4 women functioning in ward positions and now we have 5 in RS, 4 in Primary, 2 in YW (one other accepted a call but not functioning yet), 2 called (one today) in YM and a youth SS teacher.  We hope more women will be called as well.  16 youth have accompanied Sacrament Meetings (even a 6 year old) – all music now being played by the youth.  The average attendance was in the 30’s and we have had several weeks hit mid 50’s, 4 weeks in the 60’s with our 95 attendance Christmas Sunday.  As missionaries we have 2 sisters that have returned to full attendees, 3 marriages (1 already split), 16 & ½ baptisms (with the young elders adding 3 & ½  more) and one family married and sealed in the temple.  Our YM-YW was probably functioning better than any other stake unit, but they continue to be an example to the stake.  We are very proud of the fact that the Aaronic Priesthood now meets seperately for Sunday meetings.  Another thing we feel is huge is that when we came the young missionaries prepared and blessed the Sacrament every week.  Now, only on rare occasions do we need a missionary -- the YM or ward members are doing it every week.  Our youth are wonderful and of course we think our opportunity to teach the Curley girls seminary has been a high light of our year.  Our RS was holding monthly work meetings but we have watched that program grow and grow as well as in Sunday attendance.  Both Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching have been organized but we hope to get it functioning next year.  And our softball team beat Ganado 21-11.  Change one number there and that would be the summation of our 2011.

I guess 2012 has begun.  The election and the Olympics are bound to be the big news.  I doubt we will get much of either one here on the Rez.  I just hope we can find the energy to work valiantly till the end.  We finished all those baptisms in December and said, “Okay, now we can relax.”  That lasted about 10 minutes and Elder Parkinson had to be out finding again.  I do hope we can have some of the good experiences in this next 6 months to match our first year.

The Church is True,

            Happy New Year,

                        With all our love,

                                    Elder and Sister Parkinson

We took the presents from Utah out to Begay's.

They live in a hogan without plumbing or electricity

out against the mesa.

Little Scotty was so excited about his toy.

Jerald and Elvira got gloves.

They said they had been wearing socks on their hands.

As we were driving by, Elder Parkibnson stopped quick.

A logger-head shrike.

I can't believe he knew the name of a bird

he had never even seen before.

The Ahasteen's were sure excited about their new hats.

A Rez Sunset

Trying to get Kayla in the picture with

Mariah, Kelsey and Keshawna at the

Stake New Year's Dance.