Industries of Pinon

This is Pinon coming in from the west. The school boarding building is on the right, next to the left is our church and the trailer next to it. On the far left is the schools. The schools are the main industry. There are about 420 high  school students and then middle school and elementary. They employ teachers, cafateria staff, bus drivers, mechanics etc. In every school, gate coming into the schools, bashes, service station most everywhere there is security officers.

                                                                Pinon Middle School

                                                                           High School

This where they have pre school and kindergarden. They also board students that live too far away to be bussed or are unable to live with family for some reason. They employ staff to care for them and they have after school activities for the children. I talkrd to a young lady, Tiffany, who lived there most of her school days alond with her siblings. She said she liked living there where there were lots of other kids.

There is a new walk in medical clinic here which has the E.M.S.,dentists and doctors. It is only for the reservation so the benagolies(white) have to go to Ganada or Flagstaff. The doctors and nurses are on contract for a length of time and have housing next to the clinic. The office staff and housekeeping are Navajo so they employ quite a few.
There is also a fleet of vans called safe ride that will take Navajos to medical appiontments in other cities.

The service station in Pinon next to bashes. A busy place most anytime.

The Chapter House

This is like the town hall where the local government office is and where the community meetings are held. Several people are employed here.

There is a coal mine about 45 min. north where some are employed. Several we have talked to worked on the railroad. One branch member is a tribal policeman. The Navajos are traditionly sheep herders and there are still lots of sheep being raised along with a few cattle and many horses although we haven't been able to figure out how they servive on sage brush.

This has been a fairly busy week for us since we made two trips to Chinle. We had an interesting experience yesterday. We were looking for a members house so stopped to ask directions at place that had a couples houses and the usual Hogan. A fellow outside invited us into the Hogan. Inside was an elderly lady sitting on a bed and a young lady cleaning out the ashes in the stove. The elderly lady motioned for me to sit beside her and asked me something in Navajo and touched her head. The grandaughter asked if  Wayne was a Catholic Priest and I a sister but  her grandmother said "gomally" which means Mormon and she wanted a blessing. Apparently at sometime in her grandmothers life she had been familiar with our church and new about preisthood blessings. Wayne gave her a blessing and soon we continued with our day. It was a touching experience. The fellow who invited us in asked to have the young Elders come back to teach him. The people here have a very strong faith and when we visit they always want a prayer and enjoy a scripture even if they are not of our faith.