Parkinson's at Navajo Nation

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Best of the Rez Week 60

Best of the Rez Week 60 February 27^th to March 4^th

It has already been mentioned that I have been completely under the weather this week: physically, mentally and especially emotionally. Oh the joys of getting old and wearing out - I guess.

1) Happy Birthday Luke. We cancelled seminary today and slept. The young elders came over for 3 hours to work on the computer and EP entertained them with stories while the other one would use the internet.
We went up to Rock Point and taught piano. We went Home Teaching to the Simpson’s and they were surely excited to have us there. Then we went to find a family and after a bit of a search we found them but no one was home.
We came back to Many Farms and I went right back to bed.

2) EP taught seminary while I watched. We are in Psalms now. Then a big morning nap. We taught Dale Mitchell literacy and then piano lessons were a bit crazy with everyone coming at the same time. EP played BB with some and then I had to teach piano while EP taught ARP. I had 3 new students today.

3) Seminary, and nap for me while EP goes to the church to walk and shot BB. I still did not feel well at all but EP wanted to go try some people. We got the mail and I got a box. EP had to open it right away hoping it would help cheer me up. IT DID! My darling Susan, a student from 1990-91, had decorated sugar cookies into thank-you’s that are so cute. What a talent she has but even more important was her timing. We then tried 7 families but no one was home.
Piano had everyone show up at the same time again including the young elders with interviews so the church was crazy for a few minutes. YM got a new president and he showed up for a minute with Bro. Logan so that was great. (The other counselor works about 2 hours away and stays there during the week.) YW did camp and had a full house.

4) Pay-day! Seminary and then listen to the wind blow. Oh my goodness do we get wind. Our microwave has a vent that rattles till I want to scream. I finally had the energy and time to blog this morning.
I had one piano at 4 that was really late and then her mother came for a temple prep. Then we had a baptism for 2 Francis’ boys. We tried them over a year ago and got hung up on after our first visit. Now they are all happy to be a part of the ward. Elder Openshaw did the baptizing this time. As always, he was right on. Afterward we rushed over to Begaye’s but they were not home so back to the church a minute and then home.

5) Yea – German pancakes with strawberry syrup. Then a bit of a slow day. We went and bought groceries before piano starts at 3. We also got the Wheeler’s back for piano and missionary lesson. Their date for baptism is the 17^th. Cute kids! Then Tivona showed up and as always was so very cute.
Today I also got another little pick me up in my rather ill week. One of the young elder’s mothers sent me a thank you note for my blog. (It is rather interesting how many people are reading the blog that I do not even know.) Young elders are probably the same all over the world and probably do not fill in a lot of details about their mission. It is fun that their families can look at the blog and get a little more flavor of what their son’s are going through on the Rez.
The minute the last piano ended we headed to Chinle to eat with the Roberts before the stake youth dance. The YM Stake President had asked me to do an hour workshop on dancing to start off the evening. I had so much fun at the last one that I was really excited. Well, he got released and the new guy knew nothing. The YW president wasn’t going to have a thing to do with me. The kids tried to get her to do some of my stuff and we finally got to do one number. It really wasn’t the best one to start with and didn’t go very well. After that we left very disappointed. I guess it is more fun for them to play horrid music so loud you get sick and watch the dance floor COMPLETELY empty for 2 hours.

6) Today was busy in a very good way. The young elders had a baptism at 8:00 AM and another at 10:00 AM. Deidrae Deswood was baptized first and then our little Begay brothers were next. We found the Begay’s during the Christmas holidays and taught them one lesson. They missed the next lesson and then I recognized the mother at church the next Sunday. We turned them over to the new set of young elders but since they were closer to people the other elders were teaching they took them. Both EP and I talked at their baptism. Afterwards the one had to have a piano lesson. Boy, did he ever catch on quickly.
Then Buzz Logan came for a piano lesson. Oh my, is she cute. She said she is going to play Sunday and I am praying for that one.
EP got the idea to do a big dinner for our new ward mission leader and the elders to get things going. Chubby (Bro. Gene), loves to cook ribs so we bought a couple of racks and did some chicken too. We cooked most of the afternoon and had quite a fun little party. His wife didn’t show which blew us away but then realized that she was with her mother buying the material to make her mother’s temple dress. I guess that is a good excuse.
After cleaning up we came home to watch Madison play BB – not so good and then listened to the first half of BYU. We were smart enough to turn that off and go to bed.
OH! We had another mission ceremony on the Rez. Elder Shreeve is leaving Monday so we had his suit burning Saturday night. We all got bundled up and headed out. We had a great time burning the suit, the stuffed dog and jumping over the fire. Crazy missionaries!

7) Sunday comes next. I was doing a new baptism board since we had 7 new people to add so I rushed over to get everything done only to realize I hadn’t printed off the pictures. Our attendance was down to about 66 but it was a really nice meeting. We had 5 people confirmed and a baby blessing. Then lots of testimonies—many thanking Elder Shreeve as he leaves his mission tomorrow. And Buzz played the closing song just almost perfect. She was so cute and so very proud of herself. I never thought it would happen. She is only 8 years old and was baptized in December.
Primary was slick with both teachers’ on task. We had fun in sharing time and music time and played a prophet memory game.
Home to left over’s which were just great. I tried a nap but the RS president called the minute I fell asleep and I woke up with a nose bleed. We got her taken care of, finished the missionary baptism board and went for visits. We found a few children at home but the adults must be off spending the pay-day money. We did get a good visit with the Teller’s. I wish we could get them out to church. Her oldest son is an alcoholic and she doesn’t dare leave her home for fear what he will steal from her. So sad.
Then we went over to a 2 year old birthday party. They do such huge things—and the saddest part is they really can’t afford them. Oh well, everyone was having a good time. Then home to collapse and try to get ready for another week of seminary and mission life in general. Hopefully, I will feel a bit better and have some energy again. Then again, naps are wonderful.

And there you have another week on the Rez. The news came in and we are keeping the 4 young elders for 6 more weeks. Elder Shreeve goes home and a new one comes in on Tuesday. I wonder what it would be like for senior couples to transfer.
I do hope all is well for all of you. Rexburg finally got some snow—we did too. March winds are coming for all of us, so hang on to your hats and get ready for March Madness.

The Church is True,

Sugar Cookies make life Sweeter!

Our love,

Elder and Sister Parkinson

Susan Webb Hansen's Cookies.

Cutest ever!!!

Another view. Can you see how the cookies

match her homemade card?

Sister Francis and new baby, Mathius,

Marcus and Brother Murphy Francis.

(When we take pictures, 5 camera's are

going at once, so everyone is looking somewhere.)

Deidrae Deswood's family at her baptism.

Elder Openshaw, Elder Giles, Sister Teresa Begay,

Rodrick, Lamar, their sister, Elder Shreeve,

and the two of us.

Chubby Gene, the rib cook!

Travis Davis, Valeria Davis, Crystal, and Cyrus Wheeler,

and Grandpa Robert Wheeler.

The well worn suit is about to burn.

Elder Bankhead, Elder Giles, the suit,

Elder Shreeve and Elder Openshaw.

Elder Shreeve jumps the fire. GREAT PIX

Elder Giles tries his jump with more style????

I have tried rotating pictures before, so sorry.

I am not sure which crazy elder this is!

Our first baby blessing:

The Fransic Family (minus the boys).

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Best of the Rez Week 59

Best of the Rez Week 59 February 20^th to February 26^th

I was rebuked for wanting to slow down. Well, this week was no slow down, but I am afraid it took its toll on me and I am now on self prescribed bed rest. What a week, what a ride? The bed rest has really taken me out of it and this is the first day I am up with time to work on the computer. It is a marvelous wind storm out there—oh for the Rexburg wind!

1) Holiday so we got to sleep in a minute. We left the young elders at the house and headed to Gallup where we got the ride serviced, bought some groceries and had a bite to eat. Another senior couple, the Brown’s were at Sizzler with us, so we had a fun chat with them.
Then rush home to have both appointments be a no show. JOY!

2) Back to Seminary but we really love it. It was Esther today and we have great video clips of her story. We worked at the church and cleaned up the trailer as well. We taught Dale Mitchell a literacy lesson. Then while I taught piano, EP fixed a spaghetti dinner for Logan’s. Our ARP didn’t show and our appointment fell through. JOY!

3) Seminary and one set of piano. The other fell through. Then we went to a dinner/teaching appointment with the young elders. I taught about the temple and how you can be sealed even to those that have passed. A family lost their son and daughter-in-law leaving them to raise the 2 small girls. I did my best but I have no clue how it was received. Then we rushed to the church to get all the YM-YW interviewed for the temple trip. Next we rushed to an appointment that started late and I think went rather well. Still no expectations—we have been working with them for 13 & ½ months. Home late and very tired.

4) Seminary, and off to visiting teaching with Sister Tsosie. We had a most interesting stop with Joe and Evelyn Sam. Joe is a medicine man that let us read his life history. He and EP got talking about the sacrament, the priesthood and the medicine man ways. Really interesting. His wife asked him to take her to church. That would be nice.
Then we had tuna fish sandwiches (Margaret’s favorite) and were off to Elvira’s Begay’s. That was nice but Scotty slept through it so I missed him. Ardella Mitchell wasn’t home so we headed back to Chinle. We stopped to drop off tablecloths to Robert’s and had a fun chat there.
Then I had a piano and we headed to Round Rock for Johanna’s last lesson – Chutes and Ladders. We rushed out of there and back to Many Farms for a family piano/BB. Then we went and picked up our 7 – brought them back to the church and taught them, took both groups home and waited for our 8 – no show. Oh well, so tired. As we were crawling in bed I realized that we had missed an appointment and that the one we taught was not in our book. I was sick—our new investigators.

5) First muffins, then waffles. We fixed waffles for seminary and muffins for the 8:30 AM baptism of Timitrius. We love Timitrius. His little sister came too and what an absolute doll. We almost made it through the baptism before we were absolutely rushing out the door to Chinle for senior zone conference. We made it with 3 minutes to spare but I should have had all the tables set up. Sister Roberts had done most of it but I tried to hurry and get the dishes where they belonged and all that. I was running in and out of the meeting the whole time.
The conference was good. There are 6 couples leaving before the next one so they gave their final testimonies. Then the food. We had soup, salad, rolls, and cakes. It was so good. Everyone made the best food ever. I was very happy with out well it turned out. They had an ARP meeting but I did the clean up while EP attended.
We rushed out to make it home for piano lessons. We had a bit of a break so we rushed over to see Jimmie who is home from work in Houston. Then back to a no show. JOY!
I heated up the left over soup and tried to split it with one set of elders. They carved apple cores for me to bake apples. Then the other elders showed up so they had to make apples too. Finally, they all left and we could get a minute to organize for tomorrow.

6) We were up early and on our way to the Snowflake Temple with 9 youth by 6:45. We got there in time to go to the cannery for hot chocolate and potato pearls. The temple was so impressed with our beautiful group. We did our baptisms and then went to Pizza Hut. It was really a fun—fun day. (Just a very long trip.)
Of course, we cannot relax and enjoy but had to rush home to get ready for Johanna’s baptism. This is interesting. Johanna and her family live in Round Rock which is in Many Farms Ward. They wanted a grandfather to baptize her that lives in the Tsalie Ward. They went to church there to ask him and that ward took them over. They do plan to build a home there so …. And to keep it interesting they wanted the baptism in Chinle. It all did pull together but it was a bit confusing to run. I was supposed to give the talk on baptism, but the grandfather said he had baptism so I switched to the Holy Ghost. What a confusing night. In the end, we talked her into the water and her father (a new convert) did the baptism after about 10 minutes of instruction and all was well. They had treats afterwards for the grandma’s birthday. I helped get them out and then we rushed off.
Home only to more same ol’, same ol’. The day just never wanted to end.

7) That leaves Sunday. I got up rather early and did not feel well. I was supposed to speak in church so I tried to write my talk. I went to pick up my people but they said they were okay on their own.
There were 2 speakers and the other one took almost 3 minutes. JOY! I finished the talk and went into primary but couldn’t stay. I did one song and had to rush home where I was one very sick lady for a very long spell. Finally it ended and I could get some sleep.
EP tried going out with the elders but they only one person came out to talk with them. Kind of one of those ending to one of those weeks.

And so you have week 59. You cannot complain too much with 2 baptisms and a temple trip with 4 new people attending the temple. If only I wouldn’t have physically collapsed with the dreaded gaumboo maybe I could feel a little more joy about the whirlwind adventure that it was. Another 7 days lived one day at a time.

The Church is True,

And this too shall pass,

With love,

Elder and Sister Parkinson

Can you see how the sun lights up certain areas

of the skyline.

From L to R

Selena Yoe, Great - Grandpa Yoe, Sister Yoe,

Great - Grandma Yoe, Delilah Begay,

Timitrius Begay, his mother,

his grandmother, and the auntie with the rooster.

Add Elder Bankhead, Elder Giles and E/S Parkinson.

February 25, 2012 Many Farms Temple Trip.

E/S Parkinson, Jessica Benally, Kelsey Curley,

Mariah Woody, Kayla Curley,

Junior Ahasteen, Sister Yoe, Selena Yoe,

Brandon Ahasteen, Sister Benally, Nicole Ahasteen,

Tyrell Benally and Bishop Benally.

The happy group at Pizza Hut.

Johanna Yazzie in her white baptism dress.

Lucy, her red Dachshund, is not with her ;).

Grandma, Johanna Yazzue, Jason Yazzie,
Joann Yazzie, Edison Yazzie, and Jacob Yazzie.

Add the happy missionaries.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Best of the Rez Week 58

Best of the Rez Week 58 February 13^th to February 19^th

Greetings to you all. Week 58 is big because 18 month missionaries serve 78 weeks—so that means we are down to 20 weeks to go. Everyone is talking about all the things left to do, and yes we have many, but we are praying more for hanging on. So many things are so very fragile that we pray they are solid enough to last.

1) Today we decided to have a little fun with the young elders. After some very fast haircuts all six missionaries headed to Canyon De Chelly. Two are brand new to the area so we all went and hiked White House. It was so cold and windy I was not sure I was in for it, but the canyon protects you so it was rather nice.

Then we headed to Rock Point to teach piano and stopped at Yazzie’s for a lesson as well. Home, eat, prepare and rest.

2) Seminary this morning was rather unusual – we held a baptism. For some reason the 2 Draper boys (19-20) wanted to be baptized on the 14^th. They couldn’t do it in the evening so they opted for 7 AM. We made it work. After the baptism we all came for hot chocolate and homemade toast.
Then more Seminary -- it was our monthly meeting in Ganado. We picked up Roberts and away we went. Other than the room was freezing the meeting was great. We made it home just in time to teach piano. Kaylana was back tonight so I was very happy.

It was RS work meeting and we made Valentine cookies. We had 8 women show up with about 8 children as well. Sister Davis had made so much cookie dough that people were taking home dozens of cookies. We all had a good time cutting out cookies and frosting them.

We also had ARP which was very good and then ran for a lesson after all this was over. It was a big day.

3) Wednesday was too calm after the hustle of yesterday. After seminary we prepared, did a little exercise, and cleaned the church, taught piano and one missionary lesson but the other people went to the game. They had canceled YM-YW because of ball games so even the night was slow.

4) Seminary, Sister Tsosie in Chinle, groceries, lunch and home. The little Tsosie girls called and wanted a lesson so we went out and picked them up. EP taught a literacy lesson while I taught piano. Fun!

Then Yoe’s were coming and they have Timitrius again. We are so happy to have him back. We had Chow Mein together and then I taught Selena piano while the missionaries taught Timitrius. We are going to baptize him next Friday. Love that kid. He walked into the house before the others, held out his arms, and said, “Did you miss me?”

5) This was cute. Kayla called and said that she couldn’t make it to Seminary because she had to be at school early for student government. We said we could meet early so she could come. We decided on 6:45. They showed up at 6:30 with me washing my hair. It was really fun and we got great at the numbers of the scripture mastery.

Then it was more work on the church and 6 piano lessons. I was feeling all bad because no one was showing up and then they all came at once. Still missed 4 lessons though.

New investigators: we have been trying to get a lady since the first week we were here. She came to RS to make cookies and we set up an appointment. It was great. We went to just talk and get-to-know but they wanted the first lesson as well. Love the kids!

6) So much for planning. I had 6 lessons coming in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. All 9 showed up at the same time. I was running those 3 pianos and EP was doing basketball with the rest. That was intense.

Then Sister Benally cut my hair and we headed to Chinle to eat with the Roberts. So good and so fun. Then home to get ready for Sunday.

7) Yes-sir-ee! We had 88 at church and still had 2 families (14) home sick. The first piano player was late but the others did new, harder songs and did great. McKay Curley played “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief’ while I read the words to all 7 verses. I think it went rather well. The primary was all prepared so I was thrilled. The youth SS class had 20. It was a good day. After church we gave Sister Logan a blessing. She is really sick with a viral infection.
I had a crock pot dinner and then we collapsed but the phone started to ring. Sister Curley needed Miracle Whip.
Sister Martinez and her daughter showed up for a blessing. That was a very neat experience and I do so hope and pray some good will come out of it. That family has really been suffering.
Next we headed to Chinle to High Priest meeting. I taught a piano lesson to a Chinle girl during the meeting and also baked a cake for YW. Then we headed home to a lesson. The girl that we expected to teach did not meet with us, but her mother talked with us. We haven’t seen her for a month and so it relieved us greatly to talk with her. She hasn’t been to church in 6 weeks, but said she just does not have the energy. She has lost her balance, her appetite, sometimes drools and has no energy. She has been to Phoenix twice and is headed back. I hope someone can help her. She said she wanted to go to church but just couldn’t get ready that early. I told her to just come to RS but she said she wanted the bread and water. That really pleased us. EP is going to ask the bishop if he can give her the sacrament at her home.

Then back to the YW new beginners. 15^th ward would have died. It was just a meeting with the YW President and Bishop speaking. However, they had a wonderful dinner afterwards. It was rather a pleasant experience for us. When we came there were the 2 Curley girls and the 2 Benally girls in YW. Tonight there were Tinisha and Kaylana (their brother [care taker] was our first baptism), Selena and her mother (our second baptism), Nicole and her mother (her brother was our 10^th baptism), and Keshawa and her friend (our 16^th baptism). That was fun to see.
Our evening class didn’t show so our tired little bodies could just come home to recover.

So ends week 58 – another landmark event. All in all, it was a very good week. And thank you for a day off tomorrow so we can recover from it.

The Church is True,

Love one Another,

With all our love,

Elder and Sister Parkinson

Elder Bankhead and Elder Giles going to White House.

Elder Shreeve and Elder Openshaw.

A great picture of White House of Canyon De Chelly.

Wow! We got a new camera!

Another view.

And here we are, still going.

Elder Shreeve, Elder Bankhead, me, -

Elder Giles, Elder Openshaw.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Best of the Rez Week 57

Best of the Rez Week 57 February 5^th to February 12^th

I am totally confused. Living this week was positively dull and seemed like nothing was working; but how can that be when you have 3 different baptisms during the week?

1) Monday’s have been taken over by the elders. They use to go to Nawahine’s to internet, but since Nawahine’s went home (boo hoo) we have the joy of the elder’s interneting in our home. That takes a good deal of the day. We went over and worked in the church but it was a slow day.
Then we went to Rock Point and taught piano. Fun! Our lesson fell through since they were in the hospital with their father. Then we tried others but really had no luck.

2) Cold today—more snow. After seminary we prepared and then went to Dale Mitchell’s. I taught piano while EP went with 1 set of elders to teach in Round Rock. ARP didn’t show but we had a nice lesson with Logan’s.

3) After seminary we headed to Gallup for supplies. Good trip. Home for piano. Then the Scott boys were interviewed for baptism. We play a ‘Chutes and Ladders’ game with them that we invented with baptism questions. They had a good time with that. We double scheduled and sure enough, while we were still at Begaye’s we missed 4 piano students. YM didn’t meet but the YW made candy cane hearts and Susan’s little scriptures. We had a good time.

4) Seminary and then Margaret was sick so we took a break ourselves. I was supposed to teach Selena piano and the elders wanted to meet the Mitchell’s so we all headed to Valley. On the way Selena called to tell me she had to stay after at school. Mitchell’s were not home so we thought we would try another Yoe home. They have a guard rooster. After we talked to Sister Yoe we walked back to the car. I walked around the back to see what was happening just as the rooster was charged EP. I screamed and EP jumped back into me and pretty well flattened me. The elders were sure laughing. The Yoe’s all had quite a time retelling the story as well.
Then to Round Rock for Yazzie’s. More of the same! We rushed back to Brandi Clah’s baptism (finally after 3 tries). I gave the talk on baptism. Small and simple baptism but nice night.

5) Friday was pancakes and scriptures at seminary. Kayla and I got a 100% on our scriptures. We went out to Dales for literacy.
I am in charge of a dinner for zone meeting on the 24^th so I called to make assignments. That was interesting. New missionaries would ask what they were supposed to be doing. I couldn’t tell if one couple had just arrived or were just leaving so I asked which was correct. She asked how I got her number. I told her she was on the missionary list. I asked if I had gotten a wrong number or something. No—she said, we were supposed to leave for Tuba City (Rez) in February but they had just received a call for Norway. They were really ticked. It was one interesting call.
One by one every piano student canceled. We finally decided to celebrate and called Roberts and went out to eat with them. That always brightens our day. We say that we are each other’s sounding board. Anyhow, it was a fun night.

6) Saturday started with a baptism. We baptized a sweet little 16 year old girl named Tonira Begay. When the elder went to place her under the water, she shot straight up screaming. It was so funny. It took over 10 minutes to talk her under.
The Benally’s cancelled piano so I had more spare time.
At 7 we had our baptism for Cooper and Cameron Scott. They are so cute. Cameron was first and he has autism. He got a little nervous and was asking a lot of questions. EP talked to him very calmly –he said he was ready and all went very smoothly. He came up just beaming and said, “I got nervous.” Cooper did great also. Their sister Thelma played the piano for the baptism and she did great also. It was a very fun night. We had root beer floats afterwards and everyone had fun.

7) Sunday came all too early. I got ready and ran around trying to pick people up but no one was around. Attendance was down again. Tonira ride broke down so she could not make it in to get confirmed, but the other 3 were confirmed in Sacrament Meeting. Primary and YM had local teachers so we were beaming. The piano was not perfect, but 10 year old Scott Thomas tried to play both hands of ‘I Believe in Christ.’ He can do it slow but couldn’t do it as fast as they sang. 7 year old Darren Thomas played 2 songs and did just fine.
Primary was fun and then we came home and collapsed. We slept forever.
Selena had to miss her lesson on Thursday so we decided we would do a piano lesson with her and a temple prep with her mother on Sunday afternoon. They came just as we were eating so we all had supper together. That was fun. Sister Yoe is very excited about the temple, so that was fun. Lessons went well.We had nothing else scheduled and nothing seemed to want to work. We just took it rather easy.

And thus ends week 57. Our two little boys that were baptized were just darling and very excited. We actually thought we were going to marry their parents that night as well but the father wanted to wait and make it a bigger affair. Hopefully that will be next month and then we can baptize the father. Progress is hard to define or see but I am going to feel that some progress is happening here on the Rez.
The Church is True,

            Happiness is an inside job,

                        Our love,

                                    Elder and Sister Parkinson

Selena and her mother, sister Yoe making hearts.

Sister Curley making scriptures.

Kayla is working hard.

President Curley and McKay helped too.

This is our missionary board for 2011.

It is now full and we took it down to start again.

Irwin Scott, Cooper Scott, Cameron Scott, Thelma Scott,

Anabel Mitchell, Elliot Scott (back), Kaden Mitchell (front),

Georgia Mitchell, Tucker Scott, and Ardella Mitchell.

Add Elder Giles, Us, Bishop and Elder Bankhead.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Best of the Rez Week 56

Best of the Rez Week 56 January 30^th to February 5^th

We all knew that we couldn’t stay as high as week 55 so it was an expected glide down to Rez earth this week. Still we had 2 wonderful events that brought us great joy. Now if we can keep pushing till the end. I mentioned that I was in slow down mode and this was my rebuke:

“Slowing down? Slowing down? Now is the time to sprint to the finish! Come on coach -- what is this "slowing down" stuff?”

I guess it is time to shift into high and see how well we can finish these last 5 months.

1) Seminary, then housework and preparation. It was Sister Tsosie’s 71^st birthday and she loves peach cobbler so we had her over for her favorite. All the elders walked in as well, which tickles her to death so we had quite the little party. We must have sung 4 times as we sang every time someone walked in.
At 3 we headed to Rock Point to teach piano. We literally rushed back to Many Farms and had a great lesson with April but her sister didn’t show. Then we rushed to Round Rock where we got stood up. We went over and got in a quick lesson with Yazzie’s but Wheeler’s still didn’t make it home. We also got stood up for our 8 PM.

2) Brother Watts came to seminary today but he was really late. Still we had a fun visit with him. Then we taught Dale Mitchell literacy and went over to Chinle for lunch. We had piano, gospel literacy, ARP (we showed ‘Finding Faith in Christ), and a great lesson with Logan’s (recent converts). Good day—only one piano fell through and everything else happened!

3) Wednesday was payday—so it was slow. Seminary was great because we showed the ‘Elijah and the widow’ video. We didn’t make any appointments but had a lot of interviews for Bishop during YM-YW. I cleaned the library until it was time for missionary correlation meeting.

4) Seminary was great—we had a hands-on with Elijah and the priests of Baal. So Fun! It was Elder Giles birthday and he wanted a treat like Sister Tsosie got. We had all 4 over for pancakes. Also fun.
We had planned on going to Gallop for supplies, but the snow looked not so good. I checked my email and Chuck Porter had a message that he was close. We called and arranged to meet them in Tuba City. That was GREAT! We had a really fun visit with them and ate at Denney’s. All too soon it was time to come home. We drove straight through Many Farms and headed to Round Rock with Yazzie’s. That lesson went well and then we tried Wheeler’s again but they were not around. Home—and we had to bake another treat for Elder Giles’s and had the elders back for another treat. Finally they left and to bed--so tired.

5) Friday was French Toast and scripture mastery clues. We are getting lots better but I still cannot remember the numbers. The roads were muddy so we didn’t go to Brother Mitchell’s. School was out for Chinle so I had the Benally’s come in for piano lessons.
When I came back from teaching, Brad said that something came today that I would like – it was on the table. I went over to the table and he had his coat laid out covering the surprise. (I really thought that was cute.) As I lifted up the coat, there were 2 bolo ties and eleven necklaces, 2 bracelets and 1 pair of earrings. The mission home had written us a letter about Fred Roundy from Cuba, New Mexico; a 93 year old widower that loved to make jewelry for missionaries. We were supposed to write to him and tell him what we wanted. I wrote and asked for a bolo tie and matching necklace. Well, we got it (and I absolutely love it) and a whole lot more. He sent a little letter about himself and his wife and how he loves to collect rocks and make jewelry but if he charged for it, God would take his talent away. He does it for the smiles it will bring and did he ever get some here. We were just beaming.
Then the afternoon piano showed up but 6 didn’t show. Still felt like a long day.

6) Saturday I had one new student which was fun and then the day was long. On pay day week end you never plan anything. EP was SICK! I mean he was really sick. He never got out of bed. Sister Davis came and we did some visiting teaching stuff. That night Sister Wheeler came over and we did her RS lesson. She was very excited when she left. That was fun. EP was so sick we didn’t even eat that day.

7) That leaves Sunday. This is cool. EP was still sick but he was up and out of here about 6:45 AM. The Bishop, President Curley, Brother Simpson, Bishop Yellowhair and Brother Begay from Chinle, and all the missionaries went to the top of the mesa and rededicated this ward for the teaching of the gospel and home/visiting teaching. Our stake president wanted every ward to do that, and I do believe we are one of the first. It was cold but EP said it was a very nice experience. It really set the tone for a nice Fast Sunday.
Church was down to 65 but the Primary and RS was staffed with natives teaching the lessons so we were happy about that. Between payday and the super bowl our numbers dropped off. We were too sick to really do much. Finally EP got out of bed and said we had to try, but in all our travels we only got in one home and they just sang the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ for the game so we left early there and came home.

The week seemed to end a bit flat but with Chuck and Linda coming and the gifts from Brother Roundy it was a memorable week. Ground hog day brought the snow so I do not know where our weather is going. We are so thrilled about the progress the little ward is making but we hear people may be leaving and worry for the stability in the future. Please pray for Many Farms.

The Church is True,

The Lord needs Valiant Servants Everywhere,

Our love,

Elder and Sister Parkinson