Parkinson's at Navajo Nation: Best of the Rez Week 68

Best of the Rez Week 68 April 23^rd to April 29^th

You may ask yourself – if I were to leave my family, home, community, hobbies and interests for 18 months, and surround myself with a totally different lifestyle – what would I miss most. What would be some of the things that I would want to do first when I returned home? I thought it would be fun to do a top ten list for our last ten weeks of the mission of things that we look most forward to doing when we return home. At first we tried to rank them, but that didn’t always work, but we are going from maybe least important to most important for the end. So, compare and see if you would be in the same moccasins WHEN you decide to serve.

#10 – Pants. Okay, EP gets to wear pants all the time, but maybe he would like to wear something besides a white shirt and tie. And I think I will see him in a lot more Levi’s. As for me, I cannot wait to put on pants in the morning and wear them all day long—to the grocery store, Wal-Mart, out to eat; I just want to be in pants. Even if I am in dresses, I would love to open the closet to see more than my 3 Navajo skirts. I wear them 6 days a week, but I do have a few Sunday dresses.

1) Monday was a fun treat. The seminary girls were traveling back from Las Vegas so we got to sleep in a little. We got up and headed for the Canyon DeChilly and walked down to White House. It was a wonderful walk and we just about timed it right with the heat. It is starting to get hot. We came home, got cleaned up and headed to Rock Point. Fun! We decided it was time for a treat so we stopped at the Rock Point Giant gas station/store and bought a Mangum ice cream bar. DELICIOUS. We made it back in time to swallow some real food before our temple prep. Both sisters showed up and we had a good lesson. Then we went to read but that family wasn’t home so we came home and prepared for seminary.

2) Seminary was great—Daniel and his friends. There are some great videos from the seminary DVD. The rest of the day was trying to get the addresses and GPS numbers in. Finally piano lessons came or at least 3 out of 6 of them came. ARP also called and said he was too tired. We went over to teach our lesson and they were not ready so we went across the street and read with the no show from the night before and then taught Logan’s. That was a great lesson. We are very excited for them.

3) Seminary, exercise and GPS. We finished everything we have today. We went out and tried to find some new numbers and had a little fun at that. Most people are friendly enough and helpful if they can be. We have been pretty excited about how many people we have found, but once I got everything typed in—there are still way too many NEVER FOUND’s.
My four piano lessons’s showed up and got all ready to accompany Sacrament meeting Sunday. I am excited for them since it is their first time.
Sister Curley called and was nervous about YW so I told her we would help her. The YM came and headed to John Draper’s to help him with his garden. They worked till EP could hardly move. He said these young kids do not understand the concept of work and especially with a shovel. The YW made pot holders and it went really well.

4) Seminary was great as Daniel was in the lion’s den. I love how the king fasted and prayed all night for him. Then we had a little walk and headed for Sister Tsosie. On the way we found Ardella Mitchell and Elvira Begay and had good visits there. As we were driving out to Begay’s (absolutely worst road on the Rez) we found a big King snake. EP had to really swerve to miss it. He, of course, had to jump out to take pictures. Margaret was really getting a kick out of it and said, “I think he rose up to smile and pose for him.” Then we stopped to eat at our trailer. When we went back outside the sky was just dark. We cancelled our plans to finish and headed back to Chinle with Margaret. We didn’t make it before the wind set in. It was scary driving. We dropped her off and went over to the grocery store where we could not even see 30 feet in front of us. We waited there and finally went in. Then we tried to come home. It was the worst ever. We passed 2 big wrecks. After we got home we cancelled all our lessons and just sat. It was so bad!
Later that night a ward member called for a blessing so EP picked up President Curley and they gave a baby a blessing.

5) Waffles and drawing. We finished the picture for our 3^rd section of the Old Testament picture line. EP out did himself on this one. I have no idea where he comes up with all his ideas. The elders came over and we went through the GPS papers with them. We went out and found a few more and then piano started. I only had 4 show up but it was fun teaching.
Aaron Logan called and asked for help. He has been asked to baptize a cousin. He came to the church and EP taught him how to do it. He is sure excited. We really think he is going to stay with the church and be a wonderful asset to the ward.

6) Saturday we waited for the bishop’s family for piano but they never showed up. An investigator showed up for BB so EP went and played with all the young kids. He came home a little sore. We went over to Chinle and watched Aaron baptize his cousin. It was wonderful. They had a dinner afterward so we stayed for Navajo Taco’s. We drove up the Canyon a bit and had a nap and then went back to the church to pick up Kelsey and Kayla from their 1^st Aid Clinic. Kayla was informed that she is ranked #1 out of 141 freshman and Kelsey is also being added into the Honor Society (and she is the top piano student at Many Farms High School), so to honor them we took them out to Garcia’s. They were pretty cute. We had fun eating and then took them home. It seemed all too early but we had plenty of things to do to get ready for Sunday.

7) The Bishop was 7 minutes early today but one of the counselors forgot about the meeting before church and only showed up for the last 10 minutes. I put up a little temple board with pictures of all the temple trips we have made. The Ahasteen’s came way early and we all went through out songs again. They all did great. That makes 22 youth accompanying Sacrament meeting so far. The attendance was 66 and we feel pretty good about that (primary back up to 10). That leaves us 22 more for our June 3^rd meeting. Many Farms also had the 9^th straight ward council meeting today so that was great.

After our little lunch and nap we went out to find some more ward members. We found an area with really old people that only speak Navajo. One little lady was really cute; she seemed scared to death but just kept pointing at EP badge and shaking her head yes. We had some good chats with people and then headed home. We prepared for seminary and typed in all the new GPS stuff.

And so goes the famous week 68. Having only 10 weeks left brings some funny emotions to surface. We counted up our GPS and we have found 92 with 81 still out there. The elders are going to give us the Rough Rock coordinates tomorrow so hopefully that will help a little. We also have been putting in a better address than ‘against the mesa.’ Believe it or not, we found both people with that address. Now for ‘try Windy Valley against back dumpster.’

The Church is True,

We will try again tomorrow,

Our love,

Elder and Sister Parkinson