Painted Desert

Last week we visited the Petrified Forest on our "Escape from Pinon Day". It was very interesting. Huge trees from a forest several million years ago are petrified. In the visitors center they had a piece they had polished and it was like beautiful stone.

The most obvious bird everywhere we go are the ravens. Their main purpose is to clean up any road kill left by the dogs.

This is the most common bird around the world, the house finch. Under ordinary conditions he would rarely warrent to have his picture taken but he is special. At Christmas time our daughter Shawna and family sent us a birdfeeder since they new how much I enjoyed watching the birds. We bought some seed on our next trip to a city and filled it. We have been waiting ever since for a bird to find it. We  saw some birds in the area so we scattered seed on the ground under the feeder. The last few days they have started to come. Apparently feeders were totally foreign to the birds here. Among the house sparrows we have seen some Cassin finches and crown sparrows.
When driving in the area we have seen flocks of Pinyon jays.

Greg Ute and Elder Gochnour

Last Saturday the Elders quorum organized a service project. This is the ceiling of a Hogan they are dry walling for the Sonny family. The project was expected to take a few hours but it was more like six. As you can see it was all angles. The family had lived in Pheonix where the dad worked but he developed severe back problems and went on disability. They had started this hogan a few years ago on their land but were living in an old log cabin while they finished it. The cabin developed mold and then became infested with bed bugs so decided to move out.. To be sure they were rid of bed bugs they got rid of all their furniture etc. They moved into the unfinished hogan and have been camping. It is quite large and has a wood stove so is warm and cozy.

This week we have found things to do but have had a hard time catching anyone at home, in fact its been that way all month. The people here received a wood allowance and  some  tax returns so maybe that had something to do with so many being gone.
Friday was Zone Conference in Chinle for us seniors and we were asked to bring soup so we made chicken soup. It was a good conference and we came home ready to go back to work. We were given some training on teaching the Adiction recovery class which we needed.

Clay, Shirley and Morgan at Sarahs home beside the rug Victor is weaving.

The most exciting happening this week was when Clay, Shirley and Morgan arrived Sat. afternoon. We had a fun twenty four hours showing them the Rez. and having them attend church with us. We made Navajo tacos for dinner  which gave us an opportunity to improve our skills at making fry bread Navajo style.
Sacrament meeting was good today.  We listened to three good talks which were from the heart. Several members attended that we hadn't seen for awhile. The gospel of Jesus Christ is such a blessing.
Love to all,
Elder and Sister Lybbert